(ATR) The United States Olympic Committee is "not even discussing" the possibility of being awarded the 2028 Olympics.
Recently published minutes for its December Board of Directors meeting show the USOC board discussed "public reports" about the IOC naming the 2024 and 2028 Olympics together. The USOC board concluded that the Los Angeles2024 bid "is specifically configured and calculated for 2024 rather than 2028 activation".
Going further, USOC head of communications Patrick Sandusky told Around the Rings that the potential of being awarded the 2028 Games was never discussed.
"We are 100 percent focused on 2024," Sandusky said. "We are not even discussing 2028. We are bidding for 2024."
Sandusky confirmed there were no discussions of a 2026 Winter Olympics bid, if Los Angeles fails to secure the 2024 Games. U.S. cities such as 2002 Olympics host Salt Lake City, Bozeman, Denver, and Reno-Lake Tahoe had previously expressed interest in bidding for the 2026 Games.
Speculation to whether changes to the Olympic bidding mechanisms were coming arose after the IOC Executive Board meeting in December. IOC President Thomas Bach told reporters that the bidding process produced "too many losers". Three cities - Boston, Hamburg, and Rome - have already dropped out of the bidding procedure for the 2024 Olympics.
IOC Executive Director Christophe Dubi told ATR that the IOC is always considering ways to strengthen its mechanisms, but reforms are not imminent. He said that Bach’s comments were "very sound" but more focused on promoting a "good legacy" in the candidature process.
"What he said was very important, about a constant review of bidding," Dubi said. "This is what we do for each and every review of the Games. We review and we improve and we are currently doing this."
Written by Aaron Bauer and Mark Bisson
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