Coates to Bid Cities: Vote, Then We'll Talk

(ATR) How to save the Olympics: require cities to vote before bidding. According to one IOC member that’s one simple solution.

For the 2026, 2024, and 2022 Olympic bid cycles, voters and governments the world over rejected bids after cities had formally declared themselves Olympic candidates. Individually, the loss of 10 bid cities were humiliating blows for the International Olympic Committee. Collectively they provoked existential soul-searching about the future of the Games--the answer to which remains maddeningly elusive.

One way to manage (at the very least) the perception problem, was proposed by John Coates. An IOC powerbroker, Coates is also in charge of efforts to overhaul how the IOC selects bid cities.

"It’s not unreasonable to say before [the IOC] consider you have to satisfy us that you’ve got the public and government support consistent with that," Coates told reporters outside Wednesday’s meeting of the IOC Executive Board. "If you come from a country that requires a referendum, come to us after you’ve had the referendum.

Coates outlined the way the future host committee will work, should the Olympic Charter changes necessary be approved at the IOC Session.

"The future host committee has to target cities or a city or cities can come to them. The future is you’ve got to get a recommendation from [the committee].

That would be a reversal from current practices where the IOC EB selects which cities in the applicant phase move on to the candidature phase and then are put forward to the IOC Session.

Powers to be granted to the committee are vast including veto, consultation to bids and proposing multiple Games votes at a Session, similar to Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028.

It’s not just Olympic Charter approval that needs to be sorted out. It’s when the powers of the new committee take effect.

"By the time you tell everyone around the world this will be the new rules, I can’t say no but in terms of governance, 2020 would be a bit early."

Coates, whose second career involves serving as a corporate director, likened some of the future host committee’s work to a company’s CEO succession plan.

"You identify cities and say: ‘we think you’re ready for this year or not ready for this year--You ought to concentrate on the other one and you ought to get a bit of experience hosting world championships.’"

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