(ATR) The AOC is supporting a potential bid from Queensland for the 2028 Olympics.
IOC vice president John Coates announced Friday that the AOC had agreed to support the mayors of South-East Queensland, who have launched a feasibility study to determine if Brisbane and the region should submit a bid for the 2028 Games.
The AOC president today wrote to the group of mayors committing to support them and their communities in their bid exploration process. "We look forward to working with you on this project of national and international significance," he said in the letter.
Formal expressions of interest in bidding for the 2028 Games are not due with the IOC until January 2019.
Coates told the mayors that "international interest in the cities bidding for the 2028 Olympics will intensify once the 2024 host city is determined in 2017.
"Accordingly, the AOC proposes that your Council of Mayors complete its feasibility study by the end of 2016 and, if you wish to proceed, take the first half of 2017 to secure the necessary government support in order for the AOC to finally consider your bid and make its decision in the second half of that year".
His comments come two weeks before IOC president Thomas Bach heads to Australia.
Bach, who has made remarks encouraging a 2028 bid, is set to urge Australian prime minister Tony Abbott to get behind Queensland's quest for the Olympics at an April 29 meeting.
The Council of Mayors are exploring the possibility of a regional bid for the 2028 Olympics.
Coates encouraged them "to clearly demonstrate all of the benefits for your region and residents to which you refer" saying it would aid them in securing "the necessary support of the Queensland and federal governments, business sector and the sporting and broader community".
He said the group of mayors should study and take advantage of the IOC’s Agenda 2020 reforms aimed at reducing bidding and staging costs "to present an Olympic project that best matches their sports, economic, social and environmental long term planning needs".
The Australian Olympic Committee noted that the IOC was releasing later this year its Olympic Games Framework, which will allow potential applicant cities to shape their project and build a sustainable budget, and the new Host City Contract for the 2024 Olympics, detailing the legal, commercial and financial rights and obligations of the IOC, host city and NOC.
"It will be an important guide for you," Coates said in the letter.
"In your study you should recognise the elements for the two different budgets related to the organisation of the Olympic Games: long term investment in infrastructure and return on such investment on the one hand, and the operational budget on the other," he added.
Coates, who was heavily involved in the Agenda 2020 reforms and chaired the bidding commission, detailed some of the IOC’s requirements in his letter to the mayors.
He remarked on the IOC’s efforts to cut infrastructure budgets by focusing on using existing, temporary and demountable venues and that Bach’s committee would contribute estimated $1.5 billion to the operational budget for the 2024 Olympics.
Australia last hosted the Olympics in Sydney in 2000. Brisbane, host of the 2018 Commonwealth Games, bid for the 1992 Games which was awarded to Barcelona in 1986.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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