A group trying to bring the 2024 Olympics to the Washington and Baltimore area named Washington businessmen Russ Ramsey and Ted Leonsis as leaders of its campaign, according to the Baltimore Business Journal.
Ramsey will be the chair and Leonsis the vice chair, according to the report. Leonsis is the owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals.
Leonsis and Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder backed D.C.'s effort when it was first announced in August.
The U.S. Olympic Committee has not said it will definitely bid for the 2024 Olympics, but it reportedly visited potential bid cities in the months before the Sochi Olympics. USOC Chairman Larry Probst said “it is our intention to bid for 2024" if elements are in place to facilitate a bid.
USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said in December that the USOC was in discussions with less than 10 cities. Blackmun did not name specific cities, but visits to Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco were scheduled, according to Around the Rings.
The USOC said late last year that it would focus on a potential 2024 Olympic bid after the Sochi Olympics.
“We’re on track to make our decision by the end of 2014, whether we want to bid, and if we do, who our city would be,” Blackmun said in December.
The U.S. hasn’t hosted an Olympics since the 2002 Winter Games and is in the middle of its longest stretch between hosting Olympics since a 28-year gap between 1932 and 1960. The USOC sent letters to more than three dozen cities in 2013 to gauge interest in potentially hosting the Olympics.
Other potential 2024 bids could come from South Africa, Paris, Rome and Berlin.