Swiss Building Toward 2026 -- Bidding Bulletin

(ATR) The Swiss Olympic Committee (Swiss Olympic) takes the next step toward a possible bid for the 2026 Winter Games next week.

A little over a month after Swiss national sports bodies voted to launch the 2026 bid process, cities and regions interested in hosting have been invited by Swiss Olympic to an informational meeting on April 20 in Lausanne.

The session will be led by Jörg Schild, president of Swiss Olympic, and Judith Bongard, head of the project 2026, according to FrancsJeux.com.

The potential candidates will have until May 31 to officially put in a bid to Swiss Olympic.

The Olympic committee says sports bodies will decide by September 2017 which city to put forward. But the decision will come only after a referendum is held in the canton, or state, of the proposed candidate.

A favorable vote is not guaranteed. A bid by St. Moritz and Davos for the 2022 Games was rejected by voters in 2013.

Switzerland has not hosted an Olympics since the 1948 Winter Games in St. Moritz.

California on Track to Provide Financial Guarantees for LA 2024

Legislation that would cover up to $250 million in cost overruns for Los Angeles hosting the 2024 Olympics has cleared another political hurdle.

A California state panel advanced the bill out of the Senate Governmental Organization Committee by a 7-0 vote, according to multiple media reports.

But there are still a few steps left before the state government signs off on it. The Appropriations Committee is next up. Should the bill get through there, the full Senate would vote on it. If approved by the Senate, it would then go before the state assembly.

The bill is expected to pass. California did give similar financial guarantees to two recent failed bids: Los Angeles for the 2016 Olympics and San Francisco for the 2012 Games.

Los Angeles is competing with Budapest, Paris and Rome for the 2024 Games.

Written by Gerard Farek

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