Los Angeles Unveils More Venues -- 2024 Bidding Roundup

(ATR) One of the cornerstones for Los Angeles in its bid to host the 2024 Games has been the use of existing venues in order to present a low risk and sustainable games in line with Olympic Agenda 2020.

LA 2024 announced on Thursday the addition of the Honda Center in Anaheim, Long Beach’s Arena, Convention Center, Waterfront and Pier and the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles as part of its new Games Plan.

The Honda Center, home to the National Hockey League’s Anaheim Ducks, will host volleyball, bringing the sport to a professional sports arena that seats more than 18,000 fans.

The Long Beach venues will be transformed into one of the four unique Sports Parks envisioned by LA 2024 to replace a single Olympic Park.

The Long Beach Sports Park will offer handball in its Arena, a 13,500 seat facility that recently received $10 million in upgrades, along with warm-up facilities and other production space at its connected Convention Center. BMX, water polo, marathon swimming and triathlon will be located along the Long Beach Waterfront, and sailing along the Long Beach Belmont Pier.

Finally, the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles will host men’s and women’s golf. The course has hosted the US Open, two PGA Championships and is home to the PGA Tour’s annual tournament in Los Angeles.

"We're very pleased to add more world-class existing venues to our fiscally responsible and innovative Games Plan for 2024," LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said. "By relying on Southern California's wealth of top sports, housing and transportation infrastructure, LA 2024 will minimize construction risk, operational struggles and costs, and can focus on providing athletes with the perfect stage to perform their best, without distraction."

LA 2024 says the venue changes will be in part two of its candidature files when it submits itto the IOC on Oct. 7. The dossiers cover governance, legal and venue funding.All bid cities must make that deadline as well as the Feb. 3, 2017 deadline for part three. IOC members are set to elect a 2024 Host City at the 130th IOC Session on Sep. 13, 2017 in Lima, Peru.

Paris Looks to Spur Tourism

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo wants you to visit.

Hidalgo, along with the city of Paris, released a new promotional video aimed at growing the number of tourists that visit Paris yearly. A release from the city of Paris says that visitors to the French capital have been declining since November 2015, when a coordinated terrorist attack rocked multiple parts of the city.

The city of Paris says they are investing $2.23 million in a recovery plan to recoup visitors. The video, entitled "Paris, I love you," was directed by Jalil Lespert and highlights portraits of Parisians throughout the city.

"Whether it is culture, fashion, history, gastronomy, reasons abound to make Paris a unique and magical," Hidalgo said in a statement. "We are determined to reaffirm the vocation of Paris to welcome visitors from around the world. Paris is a resilient city, and invites you to come discover today, an innovative and lively city. Paris will always be Paris."

Watch the video below:

#ParisJeTaime por mairiedeparis

Budapest Visitor Center Opens

Budapest 2024 opened an official visitor’s center on the River Danube.

The center, located just across from the Hungarian Parliament, will showcase the 2024 Olympic bid and the 2017 International Aquatics Federation World Championships. According to a release from the bid, the center will be open every day, except Monday, with free admission for visitors.

Budapest 2024 expects 10,000 visitors to come to the space in the next 12 months. Budapest mayor István Tarlós and Chairman of Budapest 2024 Balázs Fürjes opened the space earlier this week.

"It is great to be working together with the bid team and the city authorities to deliver a facility to promote the dynamism and ambition of Budapest," Tarlós said in a statement."

The center will be accessible through Batthyány square, or from a special dock on the Danube River designed for tourists disembarking from river tours.

Written by Aaron Bauer and Gerard Farek

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