US will not bid for 2020 Summer Games

Updated: 2011-08-25 15:29

(Agencies)

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NEW YORK - The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) said on Monday it will not submit a bid to stage the 2020 Summer Olympics.

New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Dallas, Tulsa and Las Vegas all had vague discussions with the USOC about the 2020 race but the organisation said there was not enough time to put together a winning bid ahead of the Sept 1 deadline.

"We're not going to bid for 2020," said USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky. "With such little time left we just didn't think we could put a winning bid together."

Rome, Tokyo, Madrid and Istanbul have already announced their intentions to bid.

After a failed attempt by Chicago to host the 2016 Olympics followed by a missed attempt to stage the 2022 World Cup, the US expressed only mild interest in pursuing the 2020 Games.

The US has been hesitant to re-enter the bidding process until it completes a contentious revenue-sharing agreement with the International Olympic Committee.

The dispute, over how to cut up global sponsorship revenues and US broadcast rights, is believed to have been one of the key issues that scuttled Chicago's bid to stage the 2016 Games that went to Rio de Janeiro.

"That's a separate issue unrelated to bidding," said Sandusky. "We haven't been focused on bidding at all. We've been focused on the deal with the IOC and we continue to work on that deal with the IOC."