Minneapolis won't bid for Olympics in 2024

Contrary to city-wide speculation, Minneapolis will not make a bid to be considered for host city of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

In a letter to the United States Olympic committee Thursday, Mayor R.T. Rybak declined an invitation to submit a bid for the summer games.

According to a Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal poll, 54% of readers said they were in favor of submitting a bid.

Rybak, however, said that he believes the city should focus its efforts preparing for other events.

"I've said in the past that I believe Minneapolis-St. Paul has what it takes to bid on Olympics," Rybak told MPR. "When we really dug into the details of it we realized 'yep, you know what, we can compete and maybe we can win.' But the time and effort it takes to do that is better spent on doing some of these other events where we have an excellent chance of succeeding."

In his letter, Rybak said that while the city is investing in the kind of hospitality, sports and entertainment infrastructure that Olympic host cities require, it makes more sense for Minneapolis to pursue “large-scale, national-caliber events like the Super Bowl, the Democratic National Convention and others than to proceed with an Olympic bid.”

He also outlines a new event planning committe, Meet Minneapolis Local Organizing Committee, that will be reaching out to offer the city as a site for Olympic training ane exhibition events.

“We are ready to support the next U.S. city that will proudly host the Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Rybak said.

According to MPR, Rybak’s letter is in response to a United State Olympic Committee invitation invited to submit a bid. Minneapolis was one of 35 cities who recieved the letter gauging their interest.

The last two American bid cities, New York (2012) and Chicago (2016), spent more than 10 million dollars and were elimated early in the voting by the International Olympic Committee.

According to the New York Times, the International Olympic Committee will choose the host city for the 2024 Olympics by 2017.

Reported by:  Minnesota Daily