Mayor Bill De Blasio Rules Out Making Bid To Host 2024 Olympic Games
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Mayor Bill de Blasio has ruled out making a bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games.
De Blasio's senior adviser Peter Ragone told WCBS 880's Rich Lamb they rejected the possible Olympic bid after a cost benefit discussion.
De Blasio previously had expressed little interest in hosting the Olympics. But earlier this month, he said he would work with Gov. Andrew Cuomo if a bid was planned.
Cuomo's office had confirmed it was looking at a proposal from Daniel Doctoroff, who championed the city's failed bid for the 2012 Games, which were held in London.
Ragone said one question they asked while considering a possible bid was "Are you going to put yourself on the map? Like you look at Barcelona, which is not a well known global city until they did the Olympics and they did great stuff and has become a global city. New York City is a global city, New York is the greatest city in the world. And so for that perspective it didn't make sense."
Alicia Glen, deputy mayor for housing and economic development, said top officials feared an Olympic bid would distract from the mayor's economic-development agenda.
"We believe all the priorities we want to accomplish can be achieved without the Olympics," Ragone added.
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