Follow this tag to curate your own personalized Activity Stream and email alerts.
The rare decision to name the hosts of separate Games simultaneously — established with a unanimous vote of I.O.C. members on Tuesday — is an effort by the organization to counter diminished interest shown by democratic nations in hosting the Olympics amid exorbitant costs, white-elephant stadiums, widespread corruption, rampant doping and limited appeal to the youth audience. — NY Times
Delegates of International Olympic Committee will vote on future hosting cities on Sept. 13 in Lima, Peru. "Paris is favored to hold the Games in 2024, the centenary of the last time it hosted the Olympics, while Los Angeles is expected to hold the Summer Games for a third time in 2028." Paris and... View full entry
The Eiffel Tower is to undergo a €300m, 15-year refurbishment, Paris’s mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday. [...]
The planned refurbishment is intended to bolster the French capital’s bids to host another World’s Fair in 2025 and, before that, the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games [...].
The project will be managed by the tower’s operator, the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, a public service company wholly owned by the City Council.
— theartnewspaper.com
The 15-year refurbishment of this most-visited monument anywhere in the world (the 127-year-old wrought iron structure has been operating at its maximum capacity of about 7 million visitors since 2003, according to Wikipedia) will take more than a few buckets of paint and also comprises the... View full entry
Virginia Raggi, who was elected in June and has faced a tumultuous start to her tenure, said in a highly anticipated press conference that it would be irresponsible to move forward with the bid, given the debts that it would accrue and the burdens it would place on Roman taxpayers. [...]
The 38-year-old lawyer said the city was still paying debts it had accrued for the Games in 1960, and would not stand for more “cathedrals in the desert” – abandoned stadiums – that the city could ill afford.
— theguardian.com
Take the Olympics, please!Wilkinson Eyre, designers of Rio's biggest Olympic stadium, reflect on the Games' architectural legacyHow are London's Olympic grounds being used 4 years later?Boston backs out of 2024 Olympics bidJapanese slam highly unpopular Tokyo Olympic Stadium design with hilarious... View full entry
The Associated Press reports a California legislative panel advanced a bill Tuesday committing the state to cover up to $250 million in cost overruns as part of Los Angeles’ bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The Senate Governmental Organization Committee approved the bill in a 7-0 vote after proponents said they’re confident they can provide the Games without the serious deficits that have challenged other recent host cities. They pointed to Los Angeles’ profitable hosting of the 1984 Olympics.
— gamesbids.com
Previously in the Archinect news:LA 2024 plays up a sunny disposition in their logo for the Olympic bidL.A. seeks to accelerate infrastructure projects in advance of potential OlympicsLA mayor Garcetti confident that 2024 Olympics in his city would pay for themselves View full entry
'Every day people follow the sun to our city in pursuit of their dreams,' bid committee chairman Casey Wasserman said in a statement, adding: 'We're inviting the world to follow the sun to California in 2024.'
The Olympic movement takes such things seriously. In the past, millions of dollars have been spent on the design of emblems and the often-ridiculed mascots.
— Los Angeles Times
You can read LA 2024's full press statement about the logo's unveiling here, and watch the promotional video below.More on Archinect:L.A. seeks to accelerate infrastructure projects in advance of potential Olympics2020 Tokyo Olympics panel launches nationwide call for new logo designZaha Hadid... View full entry
Citing L.A.'s quest to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles County transportation officials are seeking to fast-track two of Metro's most anticipated rail projects.
In letters sent Tuesday and obtained by The Times, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority formally asked to join a Federal Transit Administration pilot program that could accelerate construction on a subway to the Westside and a rail connection to Los Angeles International Airport...
— LA Times
Pending federal approval (and cash – $1 billion, to be precise), Metro hopes to pursue an "extremely aggressive" schedule, completing the Purple Line subway extension as well as the LAX "people-mover" by the potential opening of a 2024 Los Angeles Olympics.Currently, the Purple Line is scheduled... View full entry
As Los Angeles moves closer to bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics, officials said they can host the massive 17-day sporting event for $4.1 billion and offered to guarantee that the city will cover any cost overruns. [...]
Garcetti and his team have proposed to spend $500 million less than what Boston had planned and expect to finish with a $150-million surplus by generating billions in broadcast and sponsorship revenue.
— latimes.com
Related Olympic news on Archinect:Will Rio's Olympic venues be ready in time for the 2016 Games?Boston backs out of 2024 Olympics bidToronto ventures into sixth bid to host Olympic GamesZaha's Tokyo Olympic Stadium cancelled – Abe calls for a redesign from scratch View full entry
The United States Olympic Committee said Monday that it was withdrawing Boston as its proposed bid city because resistance among residents was too great to overcome in the short time that remained before the committee had to formally propose a bid city by Sept. 15. [...]
U.S.O.C. intended to move quickly to prepare a bid from another city. While he did not mention Los Angeles by name, many people involved in the Olympics expect Los Angeles to enter the competition.
— nytimes.com
More news from the 2020 and 2024 Olympics:Zaha's Tokyo Olympic Stadium cancelled – Abe calls for a redesign from scratchDavid Manfredi, the architect behind Boston’s 2024 Olympic bidBoston wins U.S. Olympic Committee's bid for 2024 GamesWhich U.S. city will win the 2024 Olympic bid? Boston... View full entry
'Given the way that bids in the last few years, even the last decade, [have] attracted opposition in liberal democratic countries, the IOC is going to insist upon some clear measure of support — not just a council voting yes — but some demonstration of popular support...And to get that together in a few months is going to be a challenge,' said Bruce Kidd, [University of Toronto professor and member in two previous Olympic bid teams]. — cbc.ca
The president of the Canadian Olympic Committee confirmed this past Saturday that the office will support Toronto's bid for the 2024 Olympics. But given the outcomes of Toronto's last five attempts — plus a fast-approaching September deadline for cities to register their intent to host... View full entry
Two years later, Manfredi’s focus on Olympics facilities is much more than professional curiosity. He is an essential member — and a public face — of a planning team racing against a June 30 deadline to deliver a new venue plan for Boston’s bid for the 2024 Summer Games. [...]
“It has benefitted enormously from time,” said Manfredi, a principal of Elkus Manfredi Architects, referring to the pending 2.0 plan, in development for months.
— bostonglobe.com
Previously:Boston wins U.S. Olympic Committee's bid for 2024 GamesWhich U.S. city will win the 2024 Olympic bid? Boston, LA, DC and SF duke it out View full entry
“Boston is a global hub for education, health care, research and technology,” said Boston2024 chairman and Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish in a statement. “We are passionate about sports because we believe in the power of sport to transform our city and inspire the world’s youth. A Boston Games can be one of the most innovative, sustainable and exciting in history and will inspire the next generation of leaders here and around the world.” — boston.com
Previous news on the 2024 Olympics: U.S. in the race for 2024 Olympics, no host city picked yet and Which U.S. city will win the 2024 Olympic bid? Boston, LA, DC and SF duke it outNot all Bostonians are happy with the decision. According to the same boston.com article:"Boston’s bid has... View full entry
The United States Olympic Committee seems ready to bid for the 2024 Summer Games. But the hard part is deciding which of the four finalists — Boston, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco — has the best chance of being chosen by the International Olympic Committee. The U.S.O.C. could make its selection as soon as this week, so we asked New York Times reporters in each city to describe the view from each place. — nytimes.com
Some tastier nuggets from each city's reporter:Boston: "Boston’s modest $4.5 billion proposal envisions a new Olympic model: a walkable, bikeable, sustainable Games that uses mostly pre-existing structures. This compact city of 646,000 plans a downsized, compressed, antisprawl Olympics. No... View full entry