IOC Set to Award 2024, 2028 Olympics Concurrently

BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

Like it was done by FIFA in awarding to editions of the World Cup at the same time, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) under serious constraint is set to take similar action.

Following withdrawals of city candidates for the 2024 Olympics, IOC which will be meeting later in September has unanimously approve a plan to award both the 2024 and 2020 Olympic Games at once to the two remaining city candidates for the 2024 Games.

Whichever loses out for the 2024 takes that of 2028. The two remaining candidate cities are Paris and Los Angeles, both which had hosted the Games in the past. Budapest in February was the last candidate city to withdraw.

Before then, Rome had withdrawn last September while Hamburg and Boston dropped out of the race as far back as 2015. The escalating cost of hosting what is dubbed “Greatest Show on Earth” has been the reason countries are no longer keen at hosting the Olympics.

The last hosts, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil is still reeling in debt with IOC unwilling to offer any help. Sports Village Square has gathered that the public outcry necessitated the withdrawal of Budapest last February.

More than 250,000 Hungarians signed a petition asking the government to withdraw the Budapest bid, saying the money would better be spent on hospitals and schools.

There were six candidates for the 2016 Games which went to Rio. Before now, it was generally considered a great honour to be bestowed the hosting rights of the Olympics.

It was opportunity to showcase a city and indeed a nation’s splendour and welcome the entire world. But the escalating cost has been scary. It was claimed that Russia spent over $50 billion on Sochi Winter Olympics. This is a world record as the most expensive ever.

A report has it that it took Montreal, Canada, 30 years to pay off the debt it took to finance the 1976 Olympic Games which Nigeria and most African countries boycotted.

With just two candidates for the 2024 Games, it is the smallest ever after three contested for the 2020 Olympics which Tokyo won. The two other contenders were Madrid and Istanbul.

Sources informed Sports Village Square that the reason IOC will award the back-to-back games at once is to maximize both drama and opportunity for cities to bid are rooted in the changing reality of the Olympic Games.

Cities have wised up to the astronomical cost and financial repercussions of hosting the Olympics; the IOC was facing a future where only authoritarian regimes with total control of their nations’ treasuries would be lining up to host Games.

If Los Angeles gets the nod for 2024 in September, it will be hosting again after that of 1984 and also become the first US city to host since Atlanta ’96.