GamesBids.com: Lake Placid 2016 Youth Games Bid Not On Agenda

Lake Placid 2016 Youth Games Bid Not On Agenda
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GB Staff on Friday, September 3, 2010  11:25am EDT
 
The Colorado Springs Gazette reported Thursday that the United States Olympic
Committee (USOC) is considering a Lake Placid bid for the 2016 Youth Olympic
Games, but USOC Communications Director Mark Jones told the Adirondack Daily
Enterprise Thursday, "we have no current plans to bid. Does that mean we're
ruling out a bid? No, but it's not currently on our agenda".
The deadline to submit a bid for the 2016 Youth Games is two months away. The
newspaper reports while a 2016 bid may not be possible, local officials remain
interested in hosting a Winter Youth Olympics and instead go for 2020.
Local officials said the Nov. 15 deadline to bid for 2016 doesn't give them
enough time to get a bid together, so they're leaning toward 2020. James
McKenna, president and CEO of the Lake Placid Convention and Visitors Bureau
said, "I think that's the preferred bid for us. 2016 is a little too quick for
us, and to put a bid together by (Nov. 15) would be difficult".
Village Mayor Craig Randall said, "both Jim (McKenna) and I have felt 2020 was
the more probable date we'd be looking for. That would give us the time to put
together the organization and the proposal bid, and we haven't started on that
process yet".
Serge Lussi, head of the Lake Placid Regional Winter Sports Commission, said the
village has the facilities and could host a Youth Olympic Games "tomorrow
morning" if it had to. But local officials reportedly want to gauge the success
of the first Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and the first Winter Youth
Games in Innsbruck before proceeding with a Lake Placid bid.