San Francisco Could Pull Out Of 2016 Bid

Following on what was called a “candid” meeting with U.S. Olympic officials Thursday, San Francisco’s Mayor Gavin Newsom said the city could pull out if its bid to become the U.S. candidate for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games if it can’t deliver on its promises.

He said, “two months from now, if we’re not able to guarantee certain things”, San Francisco won’t pursue the Games. “We’ll have real clarity in the next month whether we can deliver”.

According to the Mercury News the Mayor gave the strongest indications to date of the deficiencies San Francisco needs to overcome to win the bid. Newsom said, “there is a growing feeling that NFL stadiums are not the best Opening and Closing venues”. Although the Bay Area has 83 per cent of its venues in place, it needs an Olympic stadium for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, a world-class track and field facility and perhaps an aquatic centre.

Newsom said the USOC representatives expressed concern as to whether the stadium at Candlestick Point would have enough seats to host a major event such as the Olympics, and whether the facility and other sites in the city’s bid would be finished in time.

Newsom said, “either the city can or cannot perform. We want to make sure they have confidence in us and we have confidence in the process…whether we can deliver on their expectations. And there is a chance we might not be able to do that”.

The USOC team also questioned the adequacy of the Bay Area’s transportation system and whether the Golden Gate Bridge and other significant landmarks made the region especially susceptible to a terrorist attack.

Scott Givens, managing director of the committee overseeing San Francisco’s bid to host the 2016 Games, said that after sitting through the three-hour meeting he was “supremely confident we can answer the questions of the USOC and present a very good case for the San Francisco Bay area.

The Mayor said that during Thursday’s talks there were “some adjustments that we’re committing to”.

The committee raised questions about how the city can accommodate track and field events, the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and said that any decision by the San Francisco 49ers about how to move ahead with constructing a new stadium would run “parallel” to the city’s efforts to polish its Olympic bid.

The decision on who will host the 2016 Summer Games is 10 years away and Newsom said it was the USOC’s timeline that might force a decision for the city to bow out of the competition. The USOC said it will decide by the end of March if it will choose a city to compete internationally for the 2016 Games.

Newsom said, “I don’t want to lead the USOC on, that San Francisco can deliver a Games if we feel there’s some risk”. Write or read comments about this article

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