Two Bay Area cities are on the list of U.S. Olympic Committee targets for potential hosts for the 2024 Summer Games.
The USOC sent letters to the mayors of 35 cities this week to gauge interest in a potential bid to bring the Summer Olympics back to the USA for the first time since 1996.
San Jose and San Francisco were both on the list. All of the major marquee cities in the country were also sent the letter including Los Angeles., New York, Chicago and Atlanta. Read letter here (pdf).
A spokeswoman at San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee's office said he was honored to receive the letter. The spokeswoman said right now the city is focused on getting Super Bowl 50 or 51 as well as preparing for this summer's America's Cup races. She said that getting the nod from the Olympic committee proves San Francisco is a world class city.
"Our objective in this process is to identify a partner city that can work with us to present a compelling bid to the IOC and that has the right alignment of political, business and community leadership,'' USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said in the letter.
Following failed bids by New York and Chicago for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, the USOC is taking a measured approach before moving ahead with a new campaign and wants to be sure it has a good chance of winning.
The city of Chicago is a leading contender for becoming the host city. It suffered a stinging first-round exit in the vote for the 2016 Games, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro. Chicago's defeat was blamed partly on the revenue-sharing feud between the USOC and IOC. The two sides have since resolved the dispute and signed a new agreement that clears the way for a U.S. bid.
Sports
The USOC said Tuesday it has two years to decide whether to submit a 2024 bid.
The letter also reminded the mayors of the huge undertaking involved in hosting the Olympics. Blackmun noted that the operating costs would be in excess of $3 billion, a figure that does not include venue construction and infrastructure costs.
The city would also require 45,000 hotel rooms, an Olympic village for 16,500 athletes and officials, an international airport and a workforce of up to 200,000, the letter said.
Here's the list of cities the received a letter this week:
1 Phoenix, Arizona
2 Los Angeles, California
3 Sacramento, California
4 San Diego, California
5 San Francisco, California
6 San Jose, California
7 Denver, Colorado
8 Washington, D.C.
9 Jacksonville, Florida
10 Miami, Florida
11 Orlando, Florida
12 Atlanta, Georgia
13 Chicago, Illinois
14 Indianapolis, Indiana
15 Baltimore, Maryland
16 Boston, Massachusetts
17 Detroit, Michigan
18 Minneapolis, Minnesota
19 St. Louis, Missouri
0 Las Vegas, Nevada
21 New York, New York
22 Rochester, New York
23 Charlotte, North Carolina
24 Columbus, Ohio
25 Tulsa, Oklahoma
26 Portland, Oregon
27 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
28 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
29 Memphis, Tennessee
30 Nashville & Davidson County, Tennessee
31 Austin, Texas
32 Dallas, Texas
33 Houston, Texas 3
34 San Antonio, Texas
35 Seattle, Washington
