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N.Y. expected to make 2012 bid cut
NEW YORK (AP) -- About the only things certain about Friday's vote to pare down the list of U.S. cities vying for the 2012 Summer Olympics are that New York will remain in the running and there will be some disappointed bidders. Beyond that, the U.S. Olympic Committee hasn't even figured out how many of the original eight bid cities will be eliminated in Friday's vote in Salt Lake City. "They're all fine cities, and in the end we need to pick one," said Charles H. Moore, the former Olympic gold medalist who heads the task force evaluating the bid cities. "And the one we pick has to be the one with the best chance to win an international competition." Eight cities are bidding to be the one U.S. site that will be selected a year from now to compete against up to a dozen cities around the world for the right to hold the 2012 Summer Games. The field will be narrowed, probably to four or five cities, at a USOC executive committee meeting after the bid selection committee that toured all the candidate cities gives its recommendation. A strong bid by New York and sympathy in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks all but guarantees the city will make the first cut, where it will be joined by other cities the USOC deems worthwhile. Those cities will be chosen from bids by Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Houston, Dallas, Tampa and Cincinnati. The USOC will pick an American city in November 2002, and the International Olympic Committee will name the Olympic host in 2005. "Eventually there will be seven disappointed cities," Moore said Wednesday. New York's $3.3 billion bid got a boost after some suggested that awarding the Games to the city would demonstrate the nation's resolve against terrorism. The mayor of Rome said his city would withdraw from efforts to land the Games if other cities all lined up and supported New York in the wake of the attacks, but the International Olympic Commission put a damper on that idea. On Wednesday, New Jersey's acting governor, Donald T. DiFrancesco, said his state would join New York in its bid, and asked other bid cities to withdraw. DiFrancesco said New York and New Jersey could use the "emotional and economic boost" the Games would provide. Moore said he doesn't think the attacks will play a big part in the vote by his selection committee on Thursday. "I can't say we won't have a discussion about Sept. 11," he said. "But we have a very objective database to use in this selection." The selection committee is ranking cities in 13 different categories, ranging from sports facilities to security. Moore said the cities that make it through the first round will have to rank highest in overall categories. "We're being very careful not to score cities against each other," he said. "It's like golf. You play against par, not the other players." There was been some speculation that Houston and Tampa will make it through the first round because they are the only two bid cities that have posted financial guarantees required by the USOC. If the cities that make the first cut don't post guarantees of between $100 million and $250 million by Nov. 30, they would be dropped from consideration. "There could be a second cut," Moore said. While the international bidding process hasn't officially started, it's already shaping up as a crowded race. The field could include up to a dozen cities. Potential bidders include Rome; Paris; London; Moscow; Madrid, Spain; Budapest, Hungary; Istanbul, Turkey; a German city; Toronto, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An African candidate could also emerge.
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