ABSTRACT
Every four years the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) run an international bidding competition that ends in the awarding of the Olympics or the football World Cup to a host city or country roughly seven years before the event is held. In the case of the Olympics, the international competition is often preceded by a national competition among cities in many of the potential host countries. For instance, in February 2013 the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) sent out an invitation to 50 US cities asking if they would be interested in hosting the 2024 Summer Games. In July 2014 the USOC named four cities (Washington, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles) as its finalists (even though Boston had never made a formal decision to be a candidate). The USOC anointed Boston as the official US candidate in January 2015. 2
