BERLIN (GERMANY) – In what is seen as a first step towards deciding a host city, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will announce on Wednesday its choice of a non-binding preferred bidder for the 2032 Games.
According to a source, the IOC would finalise the decision during its executive board meeting on Wednesday.
Across the globe, several cities and nations have expressed an interest to play host to the 2032 Games, including Australia’s Queensland, Indonesia, Budapest, China, Doha and Germany’s Ruhr valley.
The Committee revised its bidding rules in 2019 to bring down costs and expedite the process for cities. There are no official candidate cities canvasing votes as was the case earlier.
For the Winter and Summer Games, two ‘Future Host Commissions’ have been formed to explore interest with potential bidders.
As the next step, the IOC will order the commissions to begin extended discussions with one or more cities that are ‘preferred hosts’, taking a more detailed examination of the bids along with their financial guarantees.
One or more preferred hosts are put to a vote at the IOC session based on the commission’s evaluation.
It is not clear when the vote to choose the host takes place. The rule of voting on it seven years in advance has also been scrapped.
While Paris is hosting the 2024 Games, Los Angeles has been confirmed for 2028. Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy will play host to the 2026 Winter Games and the Chinese capital will stage the 2022 Winter edition.
