15 Decisions to Watch in '15

2024 Bid Decisions

Should we bid for the 2024 Olympics, yes or no? That is the question multiple national Olympic committees will have to answer in 2024.

First up is the (1) United States Olympic Committee. The USOC is deciding whether Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco or Washington D.C., will carry the USOC banner. The French and German Olympic Committees are also considering a bid from (2) Paris and (3) Berlin or Hamburg, respectively, and both will make their intentions known soon. Other bids are expected to join the race, though only has Rome at the moment.

IOC Executive Board Opinion on Rio 2016

For the first time, the entirety of the ruling IOC Executive Board will convene in Rio de Janeiro. They’ll hold the first of their four-times-a-year meetings in Rio from Feb. 23-25.

Organizers of the Rio Olympics have come under fire for their slow pace in construction. However, since the World Cup and 2014 Presidential elections, stakeholders appear to be optimistic that Rio will be able to complete the task at hand. While previous iterations of the EB have expressed concerns about progress, this will the first time the current EB will have a first-hand opportunity to (4) make up their own mind about Rio’s progress.

Qatar World Cup Date

More than four years after Qatar was chosen as the 2022 World Cup host, FIFA will finally decide the (5) date for the tournament. The Qatar 2022 task force holds its final meeting in Doha on Feb. 23, where a recommendation will be made to relocate the competition to winter.

The Gulf nation’s fierce summer heat is viewed as a risk to players and fans, despite Qatar’s promise of stadium cooling technology. November-December remains the most likely outcome, although a May-June slot is a possible alternative. The FIFA ExCo will approve the Qatar World Cup schedule at its meeting in Zurich, March 19-20.

PyeongChang, Tokyo Coordination Commissions

Decisions on venues for the (6) PyeongChang and (7) Tokyo Olympics are possible at their upcoming Coordination Commissions. The IOC heads to PyeongChang March 17 – 19 and Tokyo on June 30 – July 2. Both Games have venue plans that remain in the air. Sliding sports could be moved from PyeongChang and Tokyo has proposed a full-scale review of its venue plan since winning the right to stage the Olympics in 2013.

FIFA Presidential Election

Incumbent Sepp Blatter has vowed to (8) stand for a fifth term as FIFA president at elections on May 29, a U-turn on his 2011 promise to step down in 2015. Only Blatter’s former FIFA ally Jerome Champagne stands in the way of his re-election – so far.

However, it is thought UEFA may put forward a candidate to take on the Swiss, who turns 79 in March. Candidates from CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation could yet emerge. The deadline for candidacies is Jan. 29.

2019 European Games Host

The European Olympic Committees is in talks with six bids for the 2019 edition of its continental multi-sport Games. The EOC executive committee (9) will select its preferred candidate in the next few months, working with the city to develop a unique concept that will differ in scale and scope to the inaugural Euro Games in Baku.

The Games will be tailor-made to the host city’s "needs, capabilities and priorities". The 2019 European Games concept will be presented to EOC members for approval at the Extraordinary General Assembly in Belek, Turkey, May 13-15.

FIFA Russia 2018 World Cup Draw

(10) The Russia 2018 preliminary draw takes place in St, Petersburg on July 25. This will determine the qualification matches for the FIFA showpiece.

IOC Session

On July 31, the world will know if (11) Beijing or Almaty, Kazakhstan will host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

That’s when IOC Session is scheduled to vote on the 2022 host city. Both bids will have the IOC inspectors pay visits in February and March. The 2022 race has been noteworthy for the number of candidate cities that dropped out. Munich, Oslo, Stockholm, Switzerland and Krakow, Poland failed to secure political backing for their campaigns. The Ukraine bid from Lviv withdrew due to the ongoing political unrest in the country. A year ago, Almaty and Beijing would largely have been viewed as the least-likely-to-win candidates.

Also on July 31, the IOC will select (12) Lausanne or Brasov, Romania will host the 2020 Youth Olympic Games. New IOC members will be voted on (13) during the Session as well. Any new additions to the Tokyo sports program will also likely be (14) approved by the Session in July.

IAAF President

A leader of the largest Olympic sport federation will come (15) during the International Association of Athletics Federations World Congress on August 17 – 20. Scheduled for the eve of the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, the presidential vote is the top agenda item for the Congress. So far only one candidate is in the running: LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe. Other rumored candidates include Sergey Bubka from Ukraine and Morocco’s Nawal el Moutawakel.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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