体坛英语新闻：IOC launches bid process for 2024 Games with new invitation phase

PARIS, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Thursday that the bid process for 2024 Olympic Games gets underway with new Invitation Phase.

It's the first bid process following the adoption of Olympic Agenda 2020 earlier last month in Monaco during the 127th session.

According to the IOC "strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement", interested National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and potential bid cities are invited to discuss their initial ideas with IOC before officially committing to a bid.

"The deadline for NOCs to officially launch a bid for the 2024 Olympic Games is 15 September 2015 - the start of the Applicant City Phase that will continue through to the start of the Candidate City Phase in April/May 2016," read the statement.

"The election of the host city will take place in the summer of 2017," it added.

As a demonstration to its commitment to safeguarding the uniqueness of the Olympic Games and strengthening sport in society, the IOC implements the reforms in the bidding process, with changes as following:

- Shaping the bid process as an invitation

- Strengthening the evaluation of bid cities to more clearly highlight key opportunities and risks

- Reducing the cost of bidding and organising the Games

"Through these changes, the IOC is emphasising that bidding for the Games is not a tender for a franchise, and that there is no one-size-fits-all solution," said the statement.

"The bid process is about making proposals and offering solutions that will deliver excellent Games, with no compromise on the field of play for the athletes while also meeting the needs of the city and region to ensure the Games leave a positive, long-term, sustainable legacy," it added.

In additional, the IOC will contribute approximately 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to the organization of the 2024 Olympic Games.

The NOCs having expressed their interest in hosting the 2024 Olympic Games are Germany, Italy and the United States.