Rome 2024 to Announce Bid Future -- Monday Memo

(ATR) The Rome 2024 Olympic bid could come to an official end on Tuesday barring an unexpected turn of events.

The Rome bid met with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach on Oct. 4 ahead of the inaugural conference on faith and sport in Vatican City. Bach had dinner with Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago to discuss the political situation surrounding the bid and possible next steps.

Rome 2024 told Around the Rings that an official decision about the bid’s future will be made on Oct. 11 following Bach’s advice. An announcement was not made directly after the meeting as to not interfere with or overshadow the Sport at the Service of Humanity conference. Pope Francis was the headline speaker at the event along with Bach.

The Italian bid suffers from a lack of local support from Rome’s newly elected Mayor Virginia Raggi. The Rome City Council voted down support for the bid last week making the odds of the city staying in the bid race with Budapest, Paris and Los Angeles a long shot.

The IOC confirmed that Rome 2024 submitted the second part of its bid file on Oct. 7, keeping the city in the race for now. The bid already paid the $50,000 installment for the second dossier in July.

FIFA Council to Provide Update on 2026 World Cup

The FIFA Council will meet on Oct. 13 and 14 in Zurich at world football’s global headquarters to give updates on the federation’s upcoming tournaments.

The match schedules and draw procedures for the U-17 and U-20 World Cups taking place in India and South Korea respectively will be determined before a review of the Olympic football tournament that recently concluded in Rio.

The council will also hear a report from the Russia 2018 World Cup organizing committee while approving media regulations, the World Cup final match and dates for player release and rest periods.

FIFA leaders will then provide an update on the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup. FIFA has not conducted a World Cup bidding process since Russia and Qatar were awarded the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in 2010.

FIFA will hold a media briefing following the meeting on Oct. 14 at 2 pm CET.

Road Cycling Championship Heating Up in Doha

The 2016 edition of the Road World Cycling Championships is underway in Doha, Qatar.

The competition began on Sunday, Oct. 9 being hosted in the Middle East for the first time since the event began in 1921. The championships are usually staged in September but had to be moved to October due to the high heat in the region.

Hosted by the International Cycling Union, the Road World Championships will welcome 1,000 racers from 75 countries. The annual event is also expected to draw 30,000 fans as well as 5,700 members of national federations, technical delegations and the media.

The event will come to a close on Oct. 16.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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