IOC completes briefing with 2020 bid cities
(Mainichi Japan) November 5, 2011
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) -- The six cities vying for the 2020 Olympics completed a two-day IOC briefing Friday on the bid process, including a shorter international campaign phase designed to cut down on spending.
Attending the closed-door sessions in Lausanne were delegates from Baku, Azerbaijan; Doha, Qatar; Istanbul, Turkey; Madrid; Rome; and Tokyo.
The International Olympic Committee called the meeting to explain the bidding process and rules as well as outline the scope and scale of hosting the games.
The IOC will choose the host city by secret ballot at its session in Buenos Aires on Sept. 7, 2013.
The cities must submit bid files to the IOC by Feb. 15. The IOC executive board will meet next May to decide whether to keep all six candidates or reduce the list.
The biggest change in the bid process is the reduction in the international promotion phase.
Instead of starting international lobbying efforts 16 months before the vote as in past bidding contests, the cities will only be able to begin that phase in January 2013.
"The last bids maybe spent too much money," Tokyo 2020 bid CEO Masato Mizuno told The Associated Press. "This time we only have nine months on the international campaign and we can save much money from last time."
(Read complete story on The Mainichi website)
