Balazs Furjes: Olympic Bids Should Start with Referendum -- ATRadio

(ATR) Leader of the failed Budapest 2024 Olympic bid Balazs Furjes says cities should reconsider the way they seek support for their Olympic projects.

"Next time, we have to start with a referendum," Furjes tells Around the Rings on a special edition of ATRadio from the 2017 SportAccord Convention in Denmark.

"Make the referendum from the very beginning, make the Olympic case clear, engage with the people, have public debates and have public discussions," Furjes says is the process bid cities should use to garner public support for an Olympic project.

The Budapest 2024 bid was the third and final city to drop out of the 2024 race following fellow European cities Hamburg, Germany and Rome, Italy. Political opposition collected enough signatures to force a referendum on the bid in February but the bid was terminated before a public vote could take place.

"Political opposition is natural," Furjes says. "I really think Budapest was about to make [Olympic] Agenda 2020 real, and without it I think Budapest would not have bid."

Budapest’s bid chairman says that if the city had more opportunities to explain its project to citizens and IOC members alike that it may have been able to remain in the race.

"It must be possible, especially to newcomers, to elaborate and tell their story to the IOC members," Furjes tells ATR. "Something needs to change in order to facilitate or change the dialogue."

Listen below to the full conversation between Furjes and ATR Editor Ed Hula on the sidelines of SportAccord Convention.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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