The International Olympic Committee will “let the Games begin” in the summer of 2024 … if it can find a host.
The governing body of the Olympics had a tough time finding a city willing to host the 2022 Winter Games, and now the 2024 Summer Games just lost another one of its contenders.
In a referendum on Sunday, 51.6% of residents of Hamburg, Germany voted down the city’s bid for the 2024 summer Olympics. It was one of five cities left in the running. Now Rome, Paris, Budapest, and Los Angeles remain. Boston withdrew as a potential host in July due to lack of local support.
The rationale behind the no vote is the same as what’s sunk other host bids in the past: money. The “no” camp in Hamburg reasoned that the funds required to host the games—estimated at $11.9 billion—could be better spent.
Last year, four cities—Oslo, Stockholm, Lviv, and Krakow—withdrew as contenders for the 2022 Winter Games, leaving just Beijing—the ultimate winner—and Almaty in Kazakhstan in the running. Most of the dropouts were concerned about the expense of hosting the games—with good reason. The 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver cost $6.4 billion, the 2012 Summer Games in London ran the city over $14 billion, and Sochi, Russia spent a staggering $51 billion on hosting the games in the winter of 2014.