In an MSNBC interview, USOC CEO Scott Blackmun explained why the U.S. Olympic Committee has a better chance going into the 2024 Olympic race with Boston than when Chicago lost in the 2016 Olympic bidding.
Blackmun cited the USOC’s “challenged relationship” with the International Olympic Committee and the Chicago bid committee six years ago, but also the fact that it was time for the Olympics to go to South America for the first time. Rio de Janeiro was chosen as the 2016 Olympic host in an IOC members’ vote in 2009.
Since then, Blackmun said the USOC and IOC rebuilt their relationship, thanks to work by USOC chairman Larry Probst and others.
“I think we go in not with an advantage, but at least with a level playing field in terms of how will we be considered as hosts,” Blackmun said.
Boston is vying for the 2024 Olympics along with Rome, either Berlin or Hamburg and possibly Paris, among other cities. The IOC will vote to choose the 2024 host city in 2017.