San Diego has submitted a host city bid proposal for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics to the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).
Officials from the Californian city hope the 80-page dossier – produced by a team of more than 700 volunteers – will see it among the three shortlisted United States cities that expressed an interest in bidding, with the USOC expected to make the announcement in early May.
But Vincent Mudd, chairman of the San Diego 2024 Exploratory Committee, claimed they are not successful this time they will keep trying at least until the 2032 Games.
“We have excellent momentum,” he said.
“San Diego has something that doesn’t exist in other cities – a youthful culture and an active lifestyle.”
Mudd claimed San Diego has put forward a multi-region proposal that highlights its cross-border ties to Mexico, which itself abandoned a possible 2024 bid because of “economic and infrastructural” difficulties, but stressed that none of the events would actually be held outside the US.
He also claimed that most of the venues needed to host the Olympics and Paralympics already exist and revealed that Fiesta Island would become a key site for the Games, which he expects will cost about $4 billion (£2 billion/€3 billion) to host.
The public are now going to be asked to help choose a bid mascot and create a logo for the event.
“This is something to rally around as San Diegans,” Mudd said.
The submission of the host city proposal document came as William Earley announced he is to step down as vice-chairman of the San Diego 2024 Exploratory Committee.
He is leaving to start his own private law practice and admitted he is “not in a position to volunteer full time without some compensation”.
The USOC revealed at the end of last year that it was talking to less than ten cities about the possibility of bidding for the Games, but San Diego could face a fellow Californian rival in Los Angeles, which is also said to be interested in bidding to host the Olympics and Paralympics for a third time having staged it in 1932 and 1984.
Elsewhere across the world, Paris, Berlin and Rome are said to be preparing bids.
Bidding for the 2024 Games will officially begin in 2015, with the winning bid due to be announced in 2017 at the 129th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session.
This article first appeared in www.insidethegames.biz and is reproduced with permission.
