Feeling Great (-ish) RE: IOC Vote for '24 and '28

Around noon July 11 word arrived (in the form of back-to-back media advisories from the International Olympic Committee, LA2024 and Paris 2024 and a live stream) that an unanimous vote in Switzerland will change the game for summer Olympic Games bids and hosting.

And now the world officially knows, for the first time in a single IOC Session, Olympic leadership will award both the 2024 and 2028 summer Olympics through a vote set to take place in Lima, Peru, two months from now. 

If IOC President Thomas Bach has his druthers, the dates for the next Games of Los Angeles and Paris will be known as early as August, with the September decision a mere formality. During his remarks with the mayors of Paris and L.A., the notion of "everyone wins" came up repeatedly, and this is apt. 

I applaud change and innovation. It also was good to see the official (and outstanding/flawless) presentations by Los Angeles and Paris earlier today. See the base of this post for the YouTube versions.

During the joint press conference featuring Bach and the mayors of both bid cities flanked by the bid leadership, I was trying to get a read on Casey Wasserman. 

On one hand, there must be some relief. The Olympics WILL RETURN to Los Angeles. Bravo!

On the other hand, there's gotta be a twinge of ... I don't know the right words ... a waft of sour grapes over the decision. Like two Olympians worthy of gold, two Olympic-level committees brought their A-Game, and the IOC is trying to divvy out two top-of-podium medals as if only a millisecond or micrometer separates the two champions from victory. Don't both "Olympians" in this fight deserve to know THE victor for posterity? 

I singled out Wasserman for a read on this because I believe it was his passion and communications savvy that kept LA in the race even with Boston's false start win early in the 2024 domestic race. Though I can only armchair quarterback on the Olympic bid front, I've been in a similar seat-- for comparison, I sat at PRSA and PR Week Award ceremonies awaiting word as to which client (mine or another agency's) would take home top honors, and tie wins kinda suck more than getting a silver! 

Wasserman's game face was all smiles, but I can't help wonder what he said behind closed doors with family or closest associates with less skin in the game. Was he beaming with glee or relief, or a little bit disappointed that his team will always have to wonder "who won, damnit!?"

But this is just speculation and Olympic armchair quarterbacking. I am thrilled that Los Angeles and Paris will follow Tokyo's 2020 Games in some order. The 2020's will be an outstanding and thrilling decade for summer Olympiads, period. Everyone wins, indeed!

Photo via LA2024

Paris 2024 -- Part One: The Arrival

About a month ago -- May 12, to be exact -- I boarded an Air France flight at LAX bound for Paris.

Ooh, la la -- what an amazing experience the trek to the Paris 2024 IOC Evaluation Commission events proved to be. 

Now, before diving in to the French connections made during six days in the City of Light, a quick note from the similar LA2024 experience the prior week.

For arriving media during that experience, the organizers and U.S. Olympic Committee were very generous in providing an Uber account for use in the City of Angels -- much appreciated. It was reassuring to know that upon arrival I could quickly get my own transportation to our downtown media hotel.

So on the approach to Charles de Gaulle airport, I took similar comfort in knowing -- via text from our Paris hosts -- that "someone will meet you at the airport to coordinate transportation."

I envisioned getting through customs, picking up my bag then searching for a welcome committee volunteer or similar to help me board a bus into Paris. 

You can imagine my surprise and delight to find my greeting smiling with his sign "Beinvenue, Monsieur Wolaver" only two steps off the plane and into the gateway. In moments, I was whisked through the diplomat line at customs, acquired my checked back (expedited) and invited to relax in the back of a Mercedes-Benz limousine-style sedan for the drive into the city.

Speechless!

ATR Reporter Kevin w/Mayor Hidalgo

Two hours later our international media entourage joined Paris 2024 communications team members on a floating restaurant on the Seine, later joined by the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, who spoke with each of us 1x1 with a personal welcome.

We also shook hands with several Olympians including Paris 2024 Co-Chairman Tony Estanguet, the three-time Olympic champion in canoe/slalom.

We drank so much wine I don't recall much about the walk and ride to the hotel except the Saturday night riverbank crowds, the strobe and search lights atop the Eiffel Tower, and the warm glow of an exciting welcome to Paris on the eve of my 44th birthday. Welcomed, indeed!

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Games-Minded Media Explored Potential Olympic Venues While IOC Evaluation Commission Quizzed LA2024 Leadership on Wednesday

The official first day of the 2024 IOC Evaluation Commission on Wednesday included more than a half-day of Q&A for LA2024 bid executives and simultaneous venue tours for media during the closed selection process.

May 10 began early with International Olympic Committee officials greeting LA2024's bid team to their 35 hot seats facing two rows of about 20 Evaluation Commission desks in a large downtown conference room. 

Media enjoyed access to opening remarks by IOC Member and Commission Chair Patrick Baumann before the Los Angeles team leaders -- including the city's Mayor Eric Garcetti and LA2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman flanked by the IOC's three delegates to the United States Anita DeFrantz, Angela Ruggiero and Larry Probst -- took turns sharing personal stories of their past Los Angeles Olympic experiences. 

Citing her review of 74 Olympic bid campaigns and her work on eight previous USA bids, DeFrantz put into context the task at hand for her fellow IOC members across the table.

"One of the biggest responsibilities of IOC membership is selecting host cities," DeFrantz said, adding her colleagues at LA2024 are the "finest [she had] ever seen."

Wasserman and Garcetti earned the nickname "boys of the Olympics" of 1984 as both were kids when Los Angeles last hosted the summer Games. DeFrantz spoke of the many legacies of LA84 while Probst and Ruggiero spoke of their passion for a future legacy should the IOC's decision favor California when the Commission votes in September.

Paris, which also hosted two summer Olympiads and presented bids for 1992 and 2012 is LA's lone candidate, with the IOC and media embarking to France this Friday.

I snapped a few photos from the media platform and spotted many faces of LA2024 staff who appeared relaxed and eager to share their part of the city's bid presentation. Calm, cool and collected are each apt descriptors for everyone with the bid team, and though many must have felt a degree of relief after Wednesday's most intense of the three-day Commission visit, guarded confidence seems to reign with this group. 

After the opening session, media boarded buses to the day's first tour stop, Pasadena's iconic Rose Bowl. Olympic medalist and world champion Brandi Chastain spoke with reporters outside the stadium before joining the entourage of reporters and cameras on the field that made her a world icon of female strength. 

In her prepared remarks, Chastain mentioned her first Olympic experience came as a teenage volunteer during LA84. During some 1x1 Q&A on the way into the stadium, I asked her to expand on that story of the first experience, and Chastain explained she vividly recalled "waiting hours and hours for her uniform and credential" and how that experience became "... just a preview, and I didn't know it, of what it would be like to be part of the Olympic Family." 

After on-the-field photos and a few more questions, media trekked south an oceanside rooftop experience atop the Long Beach Hyatt Place Hotel overlooking the harbor, Queen Mary cruise ship, shipping cranes and the sands that would welcome spectators for water polo, triathon. sailing, BMX cycling, open water swimming and handball. 

Southern California-based Olympians Tony Azevedo and Haley Anderson spoke briefly and answered questions on their roles with LA2024's Athlete's Advisory Team. 

The high rise media stop also afforded me a few minutes to speak with Olympic gymnastics champion Nastia Liukin, who joined the media tours most of the day to photograph and post several social media items in real time. We chatted about the bid team experience and a few mutual connections to Olympic gymnastics in Oklahoma.

Then the group was off again to Stubhub Center at which media enjoyed lunch and more venue peeks before LA2024's press conference announcing a detailed Sustainability Plan. Slightly exhausted and sunburned in spite of an overcast sky, media returned downtown in time for a pair of end-of-Day-One press conferences hosted by the IOC and LA2024, respectively, at Staples Center. 

During his IOC press conference remarks, Baumann briefly described LA2024's "excellent proposal" while citing the bid's innovative "two-ceremonies" plan which would double the seating capacity for the opening and closing of 2024's Games by filling Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the new LA Rams' stadium set to open in 2019.

At the LA2024 press conference held courtside (with the mayor and Wasserman standing on the LA Lakers' free throw line) "the boys" described many aspects of the day's Q&A and anticipation of Thursday's venue visits for the IOC. Several reporters asked questions that were on my brain (see here and here for a few responses) while I asked about how the bid might serve as a reboot for the Cultural Olympiad (the mayor responded on point, describing involvement of Getty Trust leadership rallying the arts community for programs spanning several Southern California museums and arts organizations. 

LA2024 capped the evening with a media night in the BMW box at LA Dodgers Stadium (great fun). In the suite, fellow-Atlantan Stan Kasten -- a former client of sorts (in his leadership role for the Atlanta Braves, Hawks and Thrashers, we worked on a few photo opps with him to open Philips Arena in 1999) -- showed up to say hello.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Discover LA Rolls Out #EveryoneIsWelcome Mat On Eve of LA2024 IOC Evaluation Commission Visit

This week the good folks at LA2024 will host the IOC Evaluation Commission official visit to check out the Olympic bid city.

Upon receipt of "blogger Nick" media credentials for the festivities a few weeks ago, I booked passage to LAX for a week blending work and fun, family time (relatives in Thousand Oaks) and visits with a few longtime friends.

As a far away LA2024 registered volunteer, I was also mindful of potential options to donate hours while in town, and a fun opportunity -- via LA2024 partner Discover Los Angeles (the City of Angels' tourism authority) -- proved to provide a fun kind of card game at a park just north of the airport.

On Saturday morning it was fun to join hundreds of local Angelinos as stood in assigned spots on a field and followed instructions from an Israeli-American filmmaker engaged to create several "Everyone Is Welcome" human signs that greeting inbound flights to LAX.

On site, volunteers received a designated spot on a grid, a giant two-sided card (about five-feet square), sunscreen, shades and a loaner headset that at first seemed like a noise-cancelling device but proved to be the transmitter for our special instructions and cues to hold aloft our cards.

It was not easy to snap photos with hands full of card!

From the ground you could almost make out the faces of passengers on the jets overhead. No idea whether they could see our waving, but we were told a handful of planes included camera crews set to capture moving images. Two boom cameras and a small army of on-the-ground film crews also moved above and about our volunteer group.

For the morning shift, I was in spot Brown-157, about 10 spots from one side and three rows down from the top edge (the first "e" in the English sign "WELCOME" and also a part of the first "e" in the Spanish sign "BIENVENIDOS" (I hope that's not me who is the crooked part of the "e" in the Spanish image from the event.

After lunch I was more in the middle for a sign greeting Air China flights before we flipped for a two Middle Eastern jumbo jets on the approach to the airport's north runways.

It was fun making new friends including an aspiring actor, a preschool teacher, a special events coordinator for several top Hollywood awards events, and a woman who drove down from Oakland to volunteer (she would have had the record for longest distance traveled if this Atlanta-based blogger had not arrived). At least one LA television station filed a report from the stunt.

Also enjoyed brief visits with a few new friends from LA2024 including their media relations executive, volunteer coordinator and Anita DeFrantz of IOC, USOC, LA2024 and many other key organizations.

Check out the images and local Los Angeles TV coverage of Discover LA's work and recently-unveiled #EveryoneIsWelcome campaign.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver and/or Discover Los Angeles

USOC Announces America's 2024 Olympic Bid City

Team USA just added a new chapter to the evolving book of L.A. stories by officially naming Los Angeles the U.S. Olympic Committee entry into the 2024 Olympic bid process.

Replacing Boston just two weeks after scrapping a Bean Town bid, USOC officials joined a beaming LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and several Olympians at an afternoon press conference emcee'd by Al Michaels in the Annenberg Community Beach House on Santa Monica Beach. 

I caught the latter half of the press conference online, then dialed-in to a media Q&A, informing several perspectives on the news of the day.

An impressive element of the announcement was that many official participants stayed on message proclaiming #LA2024 is "America's bid city" for Olympic hosting honors. Olympic champion Janet Evans rallied fellow Olympians and other press event participants stating the bid enjoys 80 percent thumbs up approval, but it will take more than Angelinos' local support to win.

"If we are going to win these Games we need every American behind this bid," said Evans. "[This is the start of] a national campaign and a national celebration." 

This message of national unity is appropriate and something that was, in retrospect, buried or never part of earlier bid news. 

During the media Q&A call, USOC Chairman Larry Probst expressed gratitude while acknowledging stumbling out of the bid city gates with Boston.

"[We are] incredibly grateful to have a partner in Los Angeles," said Probst. "We did not take the most direct route to get here today ... [a day of] excitement, enthusiasm and hope. I think we are going to make L.A. and the Olympic Movement better (through this bid)."

Other key messages resonated with this blogger. Garcetti described his city as the nation's "most connected city" and a "global city of diversity ... ready to compete globally" to which other officials explained LA's unique ability to help athletes of the world "feel at home and enjoy a home field advantage" no matter their nationality. 

Press materials also strike a positive and future leaning tone stating the bid and the city's connectivity will engage "the next generation of global youth" in new ways. The City Council's unanimous (15-0) vote in support of the LA bid is another feather in the new cap for #LA2024.

As a public relations executive I was dying to ask which agencies or other communications professionals are already on board with the LA bid committee. I also want to know definitively whether San Francisco and Washington, D.C., also tried to reel in USOC attention after the Boston debacle. It would also be interesting and timely to find out how many jobs may become available through the bid committee featuring Casey Wasserman at the helm and a former political strategist who resigned his Mayor's office post to join the bid. 

I am genuinely energized by the LA24 and Team USA bid -- it is such a relief to feel the organizers have their stuff together, a vibe never felt at any stage of the Boston 2024 effort. 

It also was cool to hear an LA city official express gratitude for the bid committee's "courage moving the city in an Olympic direction" (a sentiment never felt in Massachusetts) and astonishment that they "got it done in two weeks" during which they reigned in community support. 

Confidence also reigned on the media call. When veteran Olympic reporter Philip Hersh asked if LA would pursue a 2028 bid if locked out for 2024 (New York 2012 and Chicago 2016 did not repeat bids after one loss each), officials quickly and energetically responded "we are in this to win" and "ready to win again" (after hosting in 1932 and 1984) with no interest in discussing an alternative ending to a victorious 2024 bid game.

With confirmed competition from Budapest, Hamburg, Paris and Rome -- and a possible Toronto bid also TBD -- Los Angeles has some hard work to complete before the IOC vote in Lima, Peru, two summers from now. 

LA's initial budget and fiscally-responsible approach may resonate. 

There is one communications-related Achilles' heel not yet tested through today's media Q&A: Disclosures. Boston's bid team shot off one foot then the other by failing on the public disclosures front. I hope there won't prove to be a "Gotcha!" moment for LA24 in this regard. I'm still dying to know what other lessons learned the Los Angeles team noted and learned from in the last several months, and time may reveal their key takeaways. 

"Convincing IOC members that LA is the place to be ... is now our mission," one official stated. 

Images via #LA2024 and BigSkyline.com

Beantown Blows 2024 Olympic Bid

In case others didn't already spill the beans, the Athens of America -- Boston -- today ended its 2024 Olympic bid by "mutual agreement" with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Titletown now has a new nickname about which to brag: Olympic bid flunky.

Unlike Detroit with its ill-fated bids (seven of them) spanning the 1940s through early 1970s, Beantown is not likely to emerge as a future U.S. bid city in the lifetime of any living resident.

I predict Boston's Olympic aspirations will only echo Katy Perry's lyrics to "The One That Got Away" for many decades.

It's not entirely the Boston bid team's fault, though this armchair quarterback does believe some significant missteps were committed by, and rest at the feet of, Boston 2024 leadership. I'll come back to these questionable local choices in a few lines. 

For this blogger it feels like Boston was unintentionally teed up to fail from day one. 

Maybe when the U.S.O.C. met in early 2015 to choose the nation's candidate city, they should have given the winning metropolis a few days to get ready for a winning selection announcement with a more robust public Q&A option to instill confidence from the start. I hope this is a key takeaway the powers that be at Team USA will keep in mind for their next bid selectee for 2024 (assuming a bid will still occur) and future bids. 

Up until January , the U.S.O.C. was doing well with a new approach to Olympic bidding. They invited several cities to submit their interest and pose questions, and earlier stages of the new process seemed to go smoothly. If on a roll with new processes, I wondered then and now, "Why go back to the pre-2014 playbook after choosing Boston from a solid pool including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.?" 

A bigger lesson learned the hard way in Boston: No modern Olympic bid will succeed without the power of transparency. From the first day of their selection, Boston 2024's occasionally milquetoast and often dismissive Q&A responses (I suspect misguided by some old-school, non-P.R.-savvy execs at the U.S.O.C.) proved to be major Achilles' heels. 

The opening press conference was convincing (sort of), but the honeymoon period -- if there was one for Boston's bid team -- was short-lived. Public opinion spiraled in the wrong direction. Even at last week's televised debates (the selected event's title/theme itself seemed a communications flub) there was too much remaining room for skepticism. 

The biggest lesson, perhaps, is that the message "no public funds will be used" is a statement that worked only in a social media-free world of long ago. Like Joan Crawford at a Pepsi board meeting in "Mommy Dearest," too many citizen journalists, longtime Olympic reporters and plain folks have 'been to the rodeo' on Olympic bids and know that federal, state and local investments are part of the mix. 

It seems to me that if a future U.S. Olympic bid city would just put into plain English a summary of likely public funds to be spent, this transparency would diffuse some dissenting voices like those heard in Boston. Another way to get around this? Present Olympic bid "must haves" on one list with a matching list of "nice to haves" about which the public may pick and choose. To wit, clearly explain to the public and media what is negotiable (or isn't) with the IOC, leaving only the "negotiables" for debate.

A fellow Olympic historian believes the U.S.O.C. should frame a 2024 candidate as "America's Bid" (a national bid) rather than the work of a single metropolis. Monday's New York Times report on Boston's aborted mission lends credence to this "national approach" as an Associated Press survey found a vast majority of U.S. citizens -- nine in 10 or 89 percent -- support a USA bid, but their support wanes the more localized the bid city and financial responsibility gets. 

Speaking to the Boston Olympic naysayers with a Colonel Slade/Al Pacino Scent of a Woman voice, "F*ck you, too!" 

Members of No Boston Olympics or No Boston 2024 may feel like 'heroes' for 'defeating' the bid, but history will not likely be kind to you for your efforts. You not only killed the team dream for 2024, but also for several future generations of Boston bids. Like so many other anti-Games organizations who both loathe the power of the Olympics but also thrive only because of the Olympic news hook, your voices in Boston will soon be only a murmur. Best of luck on your next quest to improve Boston without the Olympic news machine to keep your messages on Page One and local broadcast news.

Yesterday, when the trade publication "Inside The Games" broke the news of the U.S.O.C. conference call to decide Boston's fate, their reporter mentioned Los Angeles as a likely 2024 alternative. 

This is an option I support, but today's NBC report deflated my expectations in LA2024 as the city's mayor "hasn't had recent conversations with the U.S.O.C."

You mean to tell me the U.S.O.C. decided to pull the plug on Boston without touching base with LA2024? This seems like another avoidable misstep to me. Only time will tell. 

As stated in my early 2015 post, my vote and Olympic bid hopes remained pinned on Washington, D.C. The city already has solid mass transit that actually connects points of interest, they are skilled at hosting mass-security gatherings, and the area's wealth of destinations provides an unlimited array of non-Games options to keep folks busy on the days when they have no Olympic tickets.

Given the aforementioned AP poll, Washington seems all the more appropriate as "America's candidate," a city getting ready for the world's Olympic spotlight for 200+ years. I can just picture Olympic wrestling and fencing at The Kennedy Center, archery on the National Mall or at Mount Vernon, and rowing on the Potomoc. The IOC could bring back the mostly dormant Cultural Olympiad at the Smithsonian and National Gallery of Art or Hirshhorn Museum.

The worst thing the U.S.O.C. could do for a fiasco encore would be to select San Francisco as its go-to candidate. If you think opposition was rough in Boston, wait until you see Olympic protesters in Shaky Town!

Do I support a 2024 Olympic bid from either D.C. or LA? Yes, absolutely. Would the 2024 Games rock in either city? Certainly. My preference simply is for a new city (Washington) to enjoy the opportunity to compete against Budapest, Hamburg, Paris and Rome.

And I'd prefer that the U.S.O.C. set a sturdier course for its next candidate city from day one.

Images via Boston 2024, this Flickr account and Conde Nast Traveler. Cartoon by Dan Wasserman via Boston Globe.

USOC Selects The Athens of America for 2024 Olympic Bid

In case you did not already hear, on Thursday the U.S. Olympic Committee selected Boston -- a.k.a. "The Athens of America" -- as the USA's applicant city for the 2024 Olympic bid process.

Titletown" joins a long list of confirmed and potential (and some surprising) bid cities from five continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and North America). Rome, Paris, Berlin or Hamburg, Saint Petersburg (Russia, not Florida), Istanbul, Doha, Durban or Johannesburg and even Casablanca round out more than a dozen metropoli with 2024 Olympic aspirations.

GamesBids.com an informative archive of related news, and the organizing committee has a video series worth a peek.

I tuned in to the Team USA morning press conference and media teleconference on Friday with a few questions that weighed on me since the previous afternoon's selection: How does Boston plan to market itself as a domestically famous destination with less recognition outside U.S. borders? What specific points came up in the U.S.O.C. voting? What are more specifics of the bid? As noted in my most recent post, Boston was not my top pick, and skepticism lingered.

But most of my initial questions did get answered, and it seemed clear the Boston team plans a transparent and inclusive preparation for the many stages of the bid process. Venue plan and committee member/supporter specifics will start to be unveiled.

I like that they announced a series of public meetings and a bit of detail on community engagement. It also impressed me the committee gave a shout-out to Chicago 2016 bid team leader Pat Ryan for some innovations he introduced when The Windy City was a candidate (specifically, a type of insurance policy to prevent public funds getting flushed during the bid process).

Finding myself also enjoying the Boston Globe's initial reporting on this hometown news story. A solid opinion piece inviting public discussion set a positive tone for what comes next -- a lot of hard work. Though I'm certainly supportive and now excited about Boston as the USA's applicant city, I do think it has some tough company vying for IOC votes.

It would be nice to know more about the in-room discussions the U.S.O.C. board shared with regards to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., but the spokespersons stuck to the script when Philip Hersh and others inquired with procedural questions also on my mind. Oh, well -- transparency must be back at the Denver airport meeting rooms where those discussions took place.

One factoid learned from a brief email exchange with a Globe reporter: Though the current Boston bid team really got started in 2013, Boston's Olympic hopes (or at least the hopes of a handful of locals) go all the way back to the 1970s.

I personally recall meeting a Boston 2008 bid team executive for a pin trade at one point.

At any rate, glad to see Boston get off on the right foot for the next phase of the city's Olympic pursuits.

Images via this link and Boston 2024. Image of 2008 Boston Olympic bid pin via OlympanArtifacts.com.

A Tale Of Four Cities

Later today at the Denver airport, the U.S. Olympic Committee will select Boston, D.C., L.A. or San Francisco as the nation's 2024 summer Olympic bid candidate city.

Though I like the many merits of each market and their bid committee efforts to date, and it excites me the USA will enter the race, I also see bigger Achilles' heels for two of the four bidders.

San Francisco's 2008 treatment of the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay -- during which the city was seemingly shut down by vocal anti-Games demonstrations -- should itself be a major red flag to the U.S.O.C. selection team. Who wants to go see an Oscar winner in a theatre full of screaming infants? Choosing SFO seems the most doomed from the start, and as much as I'd like to experience the Games near the Golden Gate, the timing does not seem right.

I also perceive Boston as a long-shot. Though the city worked on previous bids, and the area's sports legacy is solid, I just don't see Boston as resonating with I.O.C. members. Like Chicago, Boston has a lot of name recognition stateside but may be less-known outside the USA.

Which brings us to Los Angeles (a two-time host in 1932 and 1984) and the District of Columbia.

Love both cities. Love their plans. I also love trying new things and think the USOC may feel that way, too, by placing more faith in a Washington bid.

My friends in each city share universal concerns that past U.S. bid cities faced: Won't the traffic get only worse? Do we want to suffer and endure an eight- to 10-year buildup period? Other general fears of the unknown.

As proven by most Games cities, traffic seems to clear up miraculously during the Olympics (as many locals head out of town). And as for other concerns, didn't someone once say "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" or similar?

I do think it's a shame that Chicago could not mount a follow-up bid to 2016, but too many people remain scarred by that experience (from my view the Windy City did not get a fair shake since the U.S.O.C. shot itself in the foot with an ill-timed pre-vote launch of an Olympic TV channel that went over like a turd in a punch bowl for many IOC members). Fortunately, the USOC has mended bruised relationships and it is encouraging there is now restored confidence in a 2024 bid.

Looking forward to the big decision and announcements of the next 24 hours.

Images via Newslocker, this site and this site.

Blast In Boston

Sad to learn yesterday's news of explosions on the home stretch to the Boston Marathon finish line.

As tragic it is that so many were injured (with three reported deaths as of this post), from my view things might have been a lot worse (thank goodness not) had the explosions detonated near grandstands filled with fans for the first-to-finish celebrity/international runners.

Not long after the Boston blasts, I noted many news outlets quickly drew comparisons to the Centennial Olympic Park bombing during the 1996 Olympics, and NBC Nightly News pointed out how a lot of counter-terrorism measures kicked in after the 1972 Munich Olympics. The Associated Press compiled a list of U.S. bombings since the 1800s, with many bomb blasts with which I was not familiar.

Of course, sitting today in the Oklahoma City suburb Edmond, memories of April 19, 1995, are on the brain. So pleased it was not worse in Boston (those days/weeks just after the OKC bombing were rough).

Comparing notes with an Olympic friend last night, I shared my hunch is that the Boston attacks are the work of a domestic attacker, perhaps someone trying to copy the Centennial Olympic Park bomber in some way. The same friend suspects the attack is politically motivated given the international field of runners in the prestigious race. North Korea comes to mind but only as a result of recent headlines (seems highly unlikely they could pull off something in Boston and then sit on it without taking credit).

It's frustrating that only time and hard work by investigators will reveal the culprits. Here's hoping this one can get solved quickly with a lucky break (like investigators enjoyed in Oklahoma, leading to a quick arrest).

One has to wonder how the Boston Marathon attacks may guide the potential beantown Olympid bid for 2024, the city's third consideration of an Olympic bid. Security updates are already announced for the 2016 Games and the 2020 Olympic bid candidate cities in response to yesterday's events.

It's interesting to note Boston's many nicknames include The Athens of America. Be safe. Keep running!

Photos via this link

USOC Asks America About 2024 Olympic Bid

A couple of nights ago, Chicago Tribune Olympic reporter Philip Hersh posted Chicago's curt "no thanks" to the United States Olympic Committee's letters asking several large city mayors a question: Can we talk?

Severing tradition to set the stage for an Olympic bid battle on home soil, the U.S.O.C. is surveying the landscape for cities interested in hosting the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Hersh posted the text of the U.S.O.C. letter.

Five minutes later I had an email in to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed's office asking for his response. Atlanta interested?

Around The Rings was on this story quickly. It took 24 hours for Atlanta media to finally jump into the discussion. And though it took 36 hours for Mayor Reed's office to get back to me, they did, with the following statement:

Atlanta was thrilled to host the Centennial Olympic Games and welcome the world to our great city in 1996. The games fueled the city’s economic and population growth, enhanced our international reputation as a leading global city, and continues to be a source of pride after more than a decade. We are pleased to be on the short list of cities with which the U.S. Olympic Committee will have initial conversations. This opportunity is worthy of thoughtful consideration, and I plan to discuss it with the city’s civic and business community in the weeks and months ahead. -- Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed

I'll take that as a cautious "maybe" on Atlanta's interest.

This morning I spoke with Atlanta attorney Charles H. Battle, Jr. ("Charlie"), of counsel at Miller & Martin PLLC. After serving on the Atlanta Olympic Committee (AOC) for Atlanta's successful Olympic bid in 1990, Battle was managing director at the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG), later counseling Beijing, Vancouver, Sochi and PyeongChang through winning bids (he also worked on New York's 2012 and Chicago's 2016 bids).

In other words, Battle knows a thing or two about Olympic bids. But what of Atlanta's prospects for 2024?

Battle quickly pointed out Atlanta would have serious work cut out for it to make a case for a bid. Paraphrasing Ambassador Andrew Young in an Around The Rings article, Battle said there's a "been there, done that" perception that would be tough to crack.

"The IOC is looking to go to new places," said Battle.  "So [for Atlanta], it's not realistic. There's not a new story to tell to come back to Atlanta."

Not even with a new stadium for the Atlanta Falcons.

I asked Battle about the trend in IOC selection of host cities that bid multiple times (Salt Lake, Athens, Beijing, Vancouver, Sochi and PyeongChang each one after multiple bids), and Chicago's prospects as a repeat bidder that already politely declined the option.

"Chicago had a very outstanding technical bid and might have had a great opportunity," said Battle. "But sadly Chicago and New York got tied up in the IOC/USOC revenue issue."

For Battle, New York (a.k.a. "the capital of the world") is the most compelling city -- stateside and worldwide -- yet to host the Olympics.
"New York could have a great story," said Battle.

Battle also mentioned some other players on the USOC's mayoral mailing list, including Olympic bid enthusiasts from Tulsa, Okla., and cities in western New York.

"The thing that is tough is that bidding is very expensive, and hosting is even more expensive," said Battle. "Atlanta, or any city, would be hard pressed with questions in the decision they make (to bid)."

And if Mayor Reed calls Battle to chat?

"I'd be happy to talk to them," said Battle when asked if Reed was in touch (as of 11 a.m. today, no calls received). "I just don't think this is something Atlanta would seriously consider."

For this Olympic blogger, I tend to agree that New York is the world's most prominent city missing from pantheon of Olympic host cities. Mapping out the potential Olympic host cities in my lifetime (the next 40 to 60 years), from my view, the USA may only host the summer Games one or maybe two more times now through 2072. New York and Chicago are, to me, the greatest prospects. And with Chicago already removing itself from consideration for 2024, well, that's disappointing.

Not yet sure how I'd feel about Atlanta giving it a go. But I do think the USOC should bid for 2024. Definitely. I heard somewhere that the important thing is not to win, but to take part.

Photo via this link