LAUSANNE, Switzerland, July 16 (AFP) - Nine citieshave submitted their bids to host the 2012 OlympicGames, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said onWednesday.
Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, NewYork, Paris and Rio de Janeiro, lodged their bids withthe IOC here by the deadline of midnight Tuesday, theIOC said in a statement.
The IOC will make their choice in Singapore on July 62005.
We are delighted to field such a long list ofprestigious cities,'' IOC President Jacques Rogge said. I believe this reflects the strong image of theOlympic Games and the IOC’s policy of reinvestingrevenues in the staging of the Games and the care for astrong urban legacy,’’ he added.
The next hurdle for the bidding cities is a detailedquestionnaire which must be submitted by January 15 nextyear.
The IOC’s executive board is meant to endorsecandidate cities in May 2004, opening the way for afull-blooded assessment, including visits by anevalutaion commission.
``No city will become a candidate until it is selectedas such by the IOC executive board in May 2004,’’ thestatement said.
Toronto had been expected to enter a bid but pulledout of the race when Vancouver clinched the vote for the2010 Winter Olympics two weeks ago.
Paris and London are regarded as the favourites butRogge said last week that Vancouver’s victory in the2010 Winter Games campaign did not automaticallypreclude New York from staging the 2012 Summer Games.
Rogge disputes the theory that IOC decisions on hostcities are driven by geographical rotation.
Observers believe that giving the 2010 games toVancouver bolsters Europe’s chances for 2012 because ofa reluctance to give back-to-back Olympics to NorthAmerica.
Rogge has revealed that the field is so strong the IOCmight not be able to reduce the number of candidatesbefore the vote in Singapore.
The IOC usually draws up a short-list of candidateswho are visited by a special evaluation commission inthe months before the vote.
In the race for the 2008 Games - won by Beijing twoyears ago - the IOC selected five finalists from anoriginal field of 10.
An IOC evaluation commisssion submitted four cities --Beijing, Paris, Toronto and Osaka – but Istanbulsuccessfully lobbied the IOC Executive Board to get onto the final list.
Istanbul eventually came second to eventual winnersBeijing. It is going to be hard for the IOC to drop anycities this time.
The only realistic candidates who might fail to makethe cut are Leipzig and Havana but the IOC is likely tofeel it is not worth hurting Cuban and German feelings.
Cities who advance to the final round must make outanother cheque for 500,000 dollars. If all nine cities are included, thatwill mean 5.4 million dollars for the IOC.
The only comparable contest was in 1997 when a record11 cities entered the 2004 contest. But the field was reduced to five beforethe final vote in Switzerland.
A key player in the 2012 race could be the Americantelevision network NBC, which was believed to have comeout in support of Vancouver winning the 2010 Games.
Last month NBC signed a 2.2-billion-dollar deal toremain America’s Olympic network for at least nine moreyears.
NBC paid 3.5 billion dollars in 1995 for the rights tofive Olympics from 2000 to 2008 and the new deal gives them contracts forthe 2010 and 2012 Games.
NBC will pay 820 million dollars for the 2010 WinterGames and 1.181 billion for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
TV rights fees provide the bulk of the IOC’s revenue,with the US share accounting for about 60 percent of thetotal. About half the money goes to host cities, withthe rest split among the IOC, international federationsand national Olympic committees.
So the NBC deal guarantees the 2012 hosts about 600million dollars.
:eek:
The bid will go to New York.
Same here - New York all the way. Now start planning a trip to New York in 2012.
The only contenders, I think personally, would be Paris and maybe Madrid.
U.S had the Olympics in 1996. North America will also host the Winter Olympics in 2010. DMA - I wouldn’t purchase any plane tickets yet…!
True GF - Surely North America/Canada won’t get another one?
Rio gets my vote! Not sure if they could fund it but imagine the party…
Why would NBC hand over so much money, after two ratings killers in a row (Sydney and Beijing, due to time zones) unless they had a guarantee that 2012 would be a winner for them?
What? An IOC decision swayed by commercial interests. Surely not… 
Good point - me and GF just wishfully hoping for somewhere in Europe
… (Phoenix Park!!! GF eh?)
Lets get even more controversial - Croker !!!
Let’s not. Just wait and see.