Bach Hopes for Olympics Agreement By Next Month

(ATR) If all goes well the decision of which Olympic Games Los Angeles and Paris will host could be known next month, IOC President Thomas Bach says.

Bach told assembled journalists in Lausanne that the two bid cities can begin discussions as soon as tomorrow on hosting the 2024 and 2028 Olympics. Earlier in the day all assembled, eligible IOC members voted on a proposal to allow for the dual allocation of the two Summer Olympic Games.

The agreement allows for the creation of an Evaluation Commission for the 2028 Games to be formed, and for the IOC to begin negotiations in earnest on a dual award. During the session IOC Executive Board members and Bach said a tripartite agreement between the IOC, Los Angeles, and Paris must be complete ahead of the 2017 IOC Session in Lima. If such an agreement is not complete, then the 2017 Session will move ahead on a vote for only the 2024 Games, as was originally intended.

"In fact, from tomorrow on we can start discussing what we also have to respect and the procedures to be followed in the two cities," Bach said. "First of all we will contact the two bid cities and sound out the situation in the next weeks to come and after having probed the situation there will be a tripartite meeting that could be finalized with the two cities, this could be in August.

"If we do reach an agreement it has to be made public. I believe there is no use to sit on it and conceal something as historic as that."

Bach was flanked by the mayors and bid leaders from Los Angeles and Paris. The IOC President called the decisions taken a "happy moment" for the Olympic Movement that "ensures stability" for the next decade. Bach’s optimism was supported by the comments of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.

Both mayors said they were eager to finalize an agreement as soon as possible, but neither would give hints as to where negotiations would head. The speculation going into the session was Paris was the favorite for the 2024 Games due to the Olympic Village questions and Los Angeles the favorite for 2028 due to its flexibility.

Throughout the candidature process both cities emphasized bidding only for the 2024 Games, although Paris had explicitly denied the feasibility of the city hosting the 2028 Games.

Garcetti, when asked about the arrangement, downplayed the speculation and said both cities would have to review the new rules of engagement and determine a course of action.

"Today is the first moment where [the dual award] is not purely a hypothetical," Garcetti said to reporters. "Whoever goes first has an opportunity to take the first step and those who go second would have a responsibility to take that even further."

The LA mayor downplayed heading into negotiations from a point of "leverage," given the bid’s flexibility. Garcetti said that negotiations would come as a "moment of friendship and common understanding" between LA, Paris, and the IOC.

Hidalgo thanked Bach in her remarks for preventing a loser coming from the two bid cities. She called the vote by the IOC a "historic moment…seeking winner only." Hidalgo pledged to begin negotiations immediately with an eye to making the upcoming session in Lima a "wonderful one".

"A new stage is now opening up for us and now we will be able to work in partnership in order to forge an agreement," Hidalgo said. "I pledge all my creativity and desire to this agreement. We want the Games in Paris and our citizens to feel this enthusiasm."

Written by Aaron Bauer

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