Washington, D.C., lost its bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, with the U.S. Olympic Committee’s announcement last Thursday that it had instead selected Boston to represent the country.
Despite D.C.’s unsuccessful bid, Washington 2024 Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis, majority owner of the Wizards, Capitals, Mystics and Verizon Center, argued that the movement was a positive force in the city.
“Through this endeavor, we saw once again that Washington is home to proud sports fans of all ages and from all walks of life,” Leonsis said in a statement. “I have no doubt that the shared enthusiasm and passion for sports will continue to drive economic growth and opportunities for our community.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser echoed Leonsis’ sentiments about the city’s efforts in organizing the Olympic bid.
“I am proud of how the District and the region presented,” Bowser said in a statement. “I want to thank the talented and hardworking Washingtonians whose efforts got us to the short list of American cities.”
Despite the lost bid, Bowser also acknowledged that the city needs to continue to address issues that were brought up during the bid process.
“We must build on the tremendous regional and federal cooperation embodied in the D.C. 2024 Olympic bid, in focusing on the big issues facing our region — transportation, affordable housing and expanding job opportunities for residents in the District of Columbia,” Bowser said.
Although disappointed, Washington 2024 Chairman and CEO Russ Ramsey said he does not regret the D.C. campaign.
“It was an honor to work with dozens of leaders from across the Capitol Region to envision how the Olympic Games would advance the goals of this community,” Ramsey said in a statement posted to the D.C. 2024 Twitter page.
In addition to Boston and D.C., San Francisco and Los Angeles were finalists for the U.S. bid.
The district’s proposal highlighted the city’s role in the international community, as well as its many train and airport hubs.
“We are at the crossroads of the world,” reads D.C. 2024’s website. “Home to international institutions, established destinations, transportation hubs and world-class accommodations.”
Because the 2012 London Games were credited with revitalizing the economy in the city’s poorer areas, D.C. Olympic supporters had hoped the games would benefit poorer areas in the District, including Wards 7 and 8. For example, they aimed to build the Olympic Village at Hill East, the current site of a homeless shelter.
Additionally, the committee looked to construct new venues for the games, considering an aquatics center in Arlington, the main Olympic Stadium on the site of RFK Stadium and a tennis facility east of the Anacostia River. Events such as badminton, gymnastics and weightlifting would have taken place at the pre-existing Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Prince George’s County, Md.
As the majority of new venues that were being considered existed in or near the Capital Beltway, with a special focus on proximity to D.C. Metro stations, no particular plans were specified near the Georgetown area.
Organizers envisioned a total operations budget between $4 billion and $5 billion. In 2012, London had set itself a budget of $4.4 billion but went on to spend nearly $20 billion.
Because of the high expected cost of hosting the games, the proposal drew trepidation from prominent city officials, including D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson. Brian Flahaven, commissioner to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in Capitol Hill, also criticized the proposal for insufficiently engaging the community.
“We need an opportunity to learn more about your plans and to ask you questions,” Flahaven wrote in a letter to Ramsey in November. “Washington 2024’s Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis said that D.C. would host the ‘most transparent’ games in history. It is in this spirit that we send this invitation.”
Though organizations in Boston similarly protested the potentially prohibitive cost of the Olympics, the ultimately successful bid stressed the strength of the city’s public transit system, which could handle the massive influx of tourists. In contrast to the D.C. proposal, Boston emphasized the area’s universities, envisioning turning college campuses into areas for athlete housing and events, since the games would take place when the city’s thousands of college students are away.
Suffolk Construction Company CEO John Fish, head of the group behind the city’s bid, said college facilities would account for three-quarters of the venues for the Olympics.
Boston will compete against Rome, a yet-to-be-named city in Germany and possibly Paris or a city in South Africa. The IOC is expected to determine the 2024 finalists in the spring of 2016 and elect a host city in September 2017. The U.S. has not hosted a Summer Olympics since 1996 in Atlanta.
