US Olympic Committee in town to meet with city leaders

Monday, May 08, 2006

Gene Apodaca
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(5/08/06 - HOUSTON) -- The U.S. Olympic Committee on Monday made Houston its first stop in a five-city tour that officials hope will help them decide whether to make a bid for an American city to host the 2016 Summer Games.

USOC chairman Peter Ueberroth said the group is on a "fact-finding" trip that will also take them to Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco over the next two weeks.

"We don't know if we're going to bid for 2016," Ueberroth said. "But we did decided that we wanted to have dialogue with five cities -- exceptional cities -- cities that have a good heritage with Olympians."

"We wanted to figure out what's our best chance to win and so we certainly picked cities that we think the IOC (International Olympic Committee) is thinking well of."

The four-member USOC contingent met with Houston Mayor Bill White and other city officials, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, Olympic gold medalists Leroy Burrell and Steven Lopez and representatives from the University of Houston.

White said he was "honored" Houston was chosen for a visit and that the meeting was informative.

"We support the Olympic movement here in Houston, Texas, the athletes, the spirit of international understanding," he said. "We're a great international city."

Ueberroth agreed, saying, "Part of our selection process was to look at all international cities."

After seeing the problems with New York's failed 2012 bid, USOC officials think a streamlined bid process this time around will help the American candidate fare better. In 2012 four cities, including Houston, spent millions competing with one another before the list was pared to two choices and the American candidate was named.

"I think we have a better chance to win and I think it's smarter," he said. "It's too costly for cities. You had winners and losers and it didn't make any sense in my view."

Ueberroth said the group is looking for a partner "should we want to bid for 2016." In another change from past bidding processes, the USOC will not charge a fee to bid cities.

"We don't think that's proper," Ueberroth said.

However, if a city is chosen for the bid, USOC officials said it should be financed privately.

"We don't want taxpayer money used to finance a bid for the Olympic games," he said.

Officials will decide whether to bid by March 31 and the IOC will pick a city in 2009.

USOC chief executive Jim Scherr said Houston is attractive for many reasons.

"Houston is the first city we are visiting and Houston puts athletes first and there is a great history for Olympic sport here," he said. "Diving and gymnastics, track and field and other sports have a great history here in the city of Houston. And we're looking for a partner that appreciates and understands Olympic athletes, Olympic sport and would leave a legacy of Olympic games."

Houston is the nation's fourth largest city and could be considered attractive for the bid because it already has many facilities in place, including Reliant Stadium and the Astrodome as well as stadiums at the University of Houston, Rice University and Texas Southern University.

Burrell, who attended the University of Houston and won Olympic gold in the 400 relay in 1992, said he thought it was important to give the committee the prospective of an athlete.

"I think they chose to come here first for a reason," he said. "I think we may very well be the most prepared and I think it just gives us a bit of a sign that we may have done some things really well last time around and we deserve another look."

"I think we can come up with a very rewarding athlete experience and leave a pretty good legacy."

Scherr said he hopes the USOC is able to find a city that they believe will be a viable candidate to compete for the bid.

"We have an obligation both to our athletes and to the Olympic movement and to the worldwide movement to be part of process and to bid if we can," he said.

The committee will visit Philadelphia on Tuesday, Chicago on Wednesday and conclude the first part of the process with visits to Los Angeles and San Francisco on May 18.

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