Philly pulls out of competition to host 2024 Olympics
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A statue of William Penn atop Philadelphia's City Hall can be seen in the forefront of a portion of the city's skyline (NewsWorks Photo, file)
The city of Philadelphia is giving up on hopes to host an Olympics… for now.
City officials have notified the U.S. Olympic Committee that Philadelphia no longer has plans to bid on hosting the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
Mayor Michael Nutter said the city, instead, is preparing to host other big events.
“it is a tremendously costly endeavor for where we are right now,” Nutter said Wednesday. “Going forward at this time, we would not put in or submit a bid. I do believe the city of Philadelphia, in the future, should be, will be a bidding city and ultimately successful.”
Nutter cited the cost as a major factor for pulling out of the running.
“You have to build an Olympic village for people to live, you have to build Olympic-scale facilities for swimming, for track, for things you don’t have enough of,” he said. “And in many instances, those facilities just go away.”
The mayor says the city’s bid for the 2016 Democratic National Convention is still being put together and it could try for a later Olympics.
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