Washington, D.C., Considers 2024 Olympics Bid

Officials in Washington, D.C., have announced an organizing committee to consider a bid to host the 2024 Olympic Summer Games. The effort, DC2024, is being led by Bob Sweeney, president of the Greater Washington Sports Alliance.

A potential bid from Washington, D.C., would also include venues in Maryland and Virginia. Washington also bid for the 2012 Olympics, losing to New York for the rights to be the potential U.S. host. Those Olympic Summer Games were later awarded to London.

The bid also has support from Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder. “We look forward to assisting the Washington Olympic Committee in presenting the nation’s capital and fabulous surrounding region to the Olympic sporting world,” he said in a statement. “We are fortunate to have most of the venues needed in an internationally recognized city that is accustomed to staging high-profile events.”

The U.S. Olympic Committee is in the process of determining which U.S. cities would be interested in hosting should the U.S. seek a bid for the 2024 Games. A host for those Games will not be selected until 2017, but the USOC would have to bid on the event in 2015 and is doing preliminary work to determine which city it might put forward to host. A short-list of two or three cities is expected by early next year.

Several other cities have declared their intention to bid or explore a bid, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Boston, Dallas, Seattle and Philadelphia.