San Francisco to submit bid for 2024 Olympics

[November 21, 2014]  (Reuters) - A group of San Francisco Bay Area business, sports and civic leaders will bid to host the 2024 Olympics and is putting together a proposal for the United States Olympic Committee, officials said on Thursday.

Should the USOC decide to bid for the Games and the Paralympics, the cities challenging San Francisco are Boston, Los Angeles and Washington.

San Francisco Giants President and Chief Executive Larry Baer is leading the bid committee, along with venture capitalist Steve Strandberg and 1960 Olympian Anne Warner Cribbs.

"We believe a San Francisco Bay Area Olympic and Paralympic Games would be an enormous success, and would benefit the region, the nation and the Games themselves, well beyond 2024," Baer said in a statement.
 

"Our region is renowned for connecting the world in new

ways every day and we are ready to put that spirit and ingenuity to work for the Games."

The group is proposing to build a $350 million temporary stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as for track and field events. After the Games, the stadium parts would be recycled and the area turned into a park, officials said.

"We have the opportunity to put our unique stamp on the Games and inspire a new generation of American youth to pursue sports and fitness," said Cribbs, a swimmer in the 1960 Olympics.

The proposal calls for the beach volleyball court to be set up in front of San Francisco City Hall, while table tennis would be located in Chinatown.

The USOC said it will wait to make a decision on a U.S. bid until after the International Olympic Committee meets in December. The IOC will select the host of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2017.

(Reporting by Steve Ginsburg in Washington; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.