Hosting and bidding

The words are the procedure

"Award", "election", "appointment" and "acclamation" are not synonyms, and the difference between them is most of what this page has to say. At the IOC a host is elected by the Session in a secret ballot, after a dialogue that the Executive Board conducts and can end at any stage. At FIFA a host is appointed by the Congress, either by a vote among bids the Council has designated or, where there is only one bid, by acclamation — which is what happened on 11 December 2024. UEFA, World Athletics, the Olympic Council of Asia, Panam Sports and Commonwealth Sport award their events through an executive committee, a council or a general assembly. Brisbane 2032 was voted on, 72 to 5, though it was the only candidate. Saudi Arabia 2034 was not voted on at all.

What the host gets for its trouble is described in the second half of the page: a contract that puts every obligation at its own expense, an overrun record with no exceptions since 1960, and a decade of referendums that explains why the procedures changed. The bribery cases that also explain it — Salt Lake City, the ISL collapse, the 2018 and 2022 votes, Tokyo 2020 — are told on corruption in sports governance and are cross-referenced rather than repeated here.

The IOC: from the two-phase bid to the dialogue

1999: the two-phase bid and the visiting ban. After Salt Lake City, the 110th Session in December 1999 adopted the IOC 2000 Commission's fifty recommendations, including "the two-step process (applicant city/candidate city), which is designed to ensure that only interested cities that the IOC judges to be capable are approved to proceed to the candidature phase" and "the elimination of IOC members' visits to the candidate cities on the basis that members will have the benefit of knowledge gained from a strengthened Evaluation Commission Report". The machine as it ran for the 2016 race: seven applicant cities assessed on eleven technical criteria, four accepted as candidates in June 2008, candidature files due in February 2009, an Evaluation Commission visit and a report published a month before the vote, then the Session voting by secret ballot with the lowest city eliminated each round until an absolute majority.^[1] [2]

2014 and 2018: the invitation and the New Norm. Olympic Agenda 2020's forty recommendations, approved unanimously at the 127th Session in Monaco on 8–9 December 2014, turned the candidature into an invitation and began cutting bid costs; the New Norm's 118 measures, approved at the 132nd Session in PyeongChang in February 2018, were directed at the cost of staging.^[3] [4]

2017: two Games at once. On 9 June 2017 the Executive Board proposed awarding 2024 and 2028 together, stating that the candidature process "has become too expensive and too onerous, and produces too many losers". The 130th Session on 11 July 2017 "unanimously agreed in principle" and "hereby waives the seven-year deadline set out in Rule 33.2 of the Olympic Charter"; the Lima Session ratified Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 on 13 September 2017, the Los Angeles contract carrying an IOC contribution of USD 1.8 billion.^{[10] [11] [12] [13]}

2019: the Charter rewritten. The 134th Session on 26 June 2019 deleted the seven-year rule, replaced the ad hoc Evaluation Commission with two permanent Future Host Commissions, one for Summer and one for Winter, and provided that a host "does not necessarily refer to a single city, but can also refer to multiple cities/regions/countries" — "the evolution of the Olympic Agenda 2020 revolution", in Thomas Bach's phrase. The text in the Charter now: "The honour and responsibility of hosting the Olympic Games are entrusted by the IOC, in principle, to a city, which is elected as the host of the Olympic Games. Where deemed appropriate, the IOC may elect several cities, or other entities, such as regions, states or countries" (Rule 32.2); "The election of any host of the Olympic Games is the prerogative of the Session" and "The IOC Executive Board determines the procedure to be followed until the election by the Session takes place" (Rule 33.1–33.2); the national government "must submit to the IOC a legally binding instrument" guaranteeing compliance with the Charter (33.3); the election takes place in a country with no candidature (33.4); and "No member of a Future Host Commission shall be a national of a country of an interested host". Rule 34 requires that "priority must be given to the use of existing or temporary venues and infrastructures".^[5] [6]

The IOC now: Continuous, Strategic, Targeted, election

The stages as the IOC describes them in 2026. Continuous Dialogue is "non-committal" and "does not require any financial commitment, written submission or other legal or financial guarantees"; the IOC runs a feasibility study and the potential host is an "Interested Party". Strategic Dialogue, added in 2026, is a shortlist: the Executive Board opens it "with selected Interested Parties… which meet the IOC's technical criteria" and align with its strategy for the edition; they answer the Future Host Questionnaire, provide core financial guarantees and receive site visits. Targeted Dialogue is "the final stage before host election", with one or more "Preferred Hosts" submitting a full set of guarantees, and the IOC commissioning "an independent report by a third-party specialist organisation about the human rights situation in each Preferred Host region". A Preferred Host can be sent back to Continuous Dialogue if "the time is not right". Election: the Preferred Host presents to all members and then to the Session, "which will be followed by the IOC Members voting by secret ballot. If elected, the Host will immediately sign the Olympic Host Contract." There is "no longer a fixed election cycle".^{[7] [8] [9]}

The results so far. Milano Cortina 2026, elected 24 June 2019, was the transitional case. Brisbane, invited into Targeted Dialogue on 24 February 2021, "was elected… receiving 72 yes and 5 no votes from 77 valid votes" at the 138th Session in Tokyo on 21 July 2021, "the first host elected under the new approach". For the Winter Games the 141st Session approved a double election on 15 October 2023 on "the preliminary findings of a report looking at the impact of climate change"; the Board opened Targeted Dialogues on 29 November 2023 with the French Alps and Salt Lake City-Utah — the IOC's own March 2025 factsheet misprints the year as 2024 — and at the 142nd Session in Paris on 24 July 2024 "the French Alps were elected host of the XXVI Olympic Winter Games in 2030, receiving 84 'yes' and 4 'no' votes out of 88 valid votes", and Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 by 83 to 6 of 89. The 2034 contract carries a condition rarely noticed: the IOC may withdraw the Games if "the Host Country is ruled ineligible to host or co-host… pursuant to or under the World Anti-Doping Code or if, in any other way, the supreme authority of the World Anti-Doping Agency in the fight against doping is not fully respected". Switzerland 2038 has been in an exclusive "Privileged Dialogue" since November 2023, the IOC undertaking not to talk to other 2038 hosts before the end of 2027.^{[14] [15] [16] [17] [18]}

The 2025 pause and the 2026 reform. On 26 June 2025 the new president, Kirsty Coventry, announced a working group after "overwhelming support from the IOC Members for a pause": "Members want to be engaged more in the process, and secondly, there was a very big discussion around when the next host should be awarded" — Los Angeles and Brisbane having been chosen eleven years out, the French Alps six. On 24 June 2026 the 146th Session endorsed the outcome: the Strategic Dialogue stage; a shortlist in March 2027; Targeted Dialogue in late 2028; and a target of mid-2029 to elect the 2036 host. Doha, Ahmedabad, North Jeolla and South Africa have said publicly that they are in Continuous Dialogue, though the IOC does not publish that list. One party is out: on 22 October 2025, after Indonesia refused visas to Israeli gymnasts for the world championships in Jakarta, the Board decided "to end any form of dialogue with the NOC of Indonesia about hosting future editions of the Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, Olympic events or conferences" until the government guarantees access "for all participants, regardless of nationality".^{[19] [20] [21] [22] [23]}

FIFA: from the Executive Committee to the Congress

Before 2016 FIFA's Executive Committee chose World Cup hosts; the 2018 and 2022 decisions were its work (see corruption in sports governance). The Statutes now reserve to the Congress the venue "for the final competition of the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Women's World Cup" and, since the reform package reported to have been approved by the Extraordinary Congress of February 2016, prescribe the route: the general secretariat "shall establish a fair and transparent bidding procedure", then "submit to the Council a public report evaluating the compliance of all bids"; the Council "shall review the report and designate, based on its best judgement and in an open ballot, up to three bids to be submitted to the Congress"; and "The Congress shall select the host venue from the bids designated by the Council", by absolute majority in the first ballot, every vote made public. Two limits: a Congress "may not award the hosting rights to more than one FIFA World Cup at the same meeting, except if the Council takes a specific decision", and "The right to host the event shall not be awarded to members of the same confederation for two consecutive editions" — article 61 in the May 2024 Statutes, article 68 when the 2030 regulations were written. That is the whole statutory rotation rule; the wider exclusions are Council decisions.^[24]

The first Congress vote, and the evaluation report. On 13 June 2018 in Moscow "The United Bid received 134 of 200 votes cast, or 67 per cent. Morocco tallied 65 votes (33 per cent), and one single member association voted not to choose either." The report behind it scored nine criteria from 0 to 5, "with a minimum overall weighted score of '2'… needed for a bid to avoid elimination" and a 2 required in stadiums, team facilities, accommodation and transport: the United bid 402.8 of 500, Morocco 274.9.^{[25] [26] [27]}

2030 and 2034: designed by the Council, appointed by acclamation. On 4 October 2023 the Council approved a "consolidated proposal" to run both processes at once: a centenary ceremony in Uruguay and three "Centenary Celebration Matches" in Montevideo, Argentina and Paraguay "forming an integral component of the final competition"; "a joint candidacy comprising Morocco, Portugal and Spain" to "participate in a single-candidate bidding process"; and for 2034, associations "affiliated to the AFC and OFC" alone eligible, given that 2026 is in Concacaf territory and 2030 covers CAF, CONMEBOL and UEFA. The regulations added that for 2030 "the FIFA Council will not be required to designate bids for submission to the FIFA Congress". The only declarations received by 31 October 2023 were the ones the design anticipated, Saudi Arabia's for 2034 among them. The 2034 evaluation gave Saudi Arabia 419.8 of 500, "an average score of 4.2 out of 5", with a "Medium" risk rating for human rights and event timing and "Low" for everything else. On 11 December 2024 "All 211 FIFA Member Associations convened virtually at an Extraordinary FIFA Congress where Morocco, Portugal and Spain were appointed as the hosts of the FIFA World Cup 2030… while Saudi Arabia was selected to stage the FIFA World Cup 2034. The appointment by acclamation… concludes a thorough bidding process".^{[28] [29] [30] [31]}

The women's tournament. Brazil was appointed host of the 2027 Women's World Cup at the Bangkok Congress on 17 May 2024, "for the first time ever… through an open vote at FIFA Congress", by 119 votes to 78 over the joint bid of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. The 2031 and 2035 appointments — a United States-led Concacaf expression of interest and a joint British one — were expected in the second quarter of 2026 and were pushed on 1 April 2026 to an Extraordinary Congress before the end of the year because the US federal guarantees on visas, tax and security were unsigned, according to press reporting.^{[32] [33] [34]}

The other awarders

UEFA decides in its Executive Committee: on 10 October 2023 in Nyon it "appointed the UK and Ireland as hosts of… 2028 and Italy and Turkey as hosts… in 2032", 2028 being the fifth multi-nation Euro after 2000, 2008, 2012 and the eleven-nation tournament of 2021. World Athletics decides in Council: at its 240th meeting in Toruń in March 2026 it "selected Odisha in India and Astana in Kazakhstan" for the 2028 and 2030 indoor championships and Hefei for race walking, Sebastian Coe describing "our strategy of taking our events to emerging markets"; the 2029 and 2031 outdoor championships were due to be awarded jointly in September 2026.^{[35] [36] [37]}

Commonwealth Sport nearly lost its Games. Victoria, confirmed as 2026 host in April 2022, withdrew in July 2023, its premier saying the cost "initially slated to be $2.6 billion, was looking more like $6 billion"; it paid A$380 million in compensation, Glasgow was announced as replacement in September 2024 with about A$200 million of Victorian money and a ten-sport programme in existing venues, and Ahmedabad was awarded the centenary Games of 2030 by a vote of the General Assembly in Glasgow on 26 November 2025.^[38] [39]

The Olympic Council of Asia awarded two Games in one ballot: at its General Assembly in Muscat on 16 December 2020, on a proposal made the night before that the city with most votes would take 2030 and the runner-up 2034, the secret ballot went 27 for Doha, 10 for Riyadh, with 8 abstentions. Panam Sports stripped Barranquilla of the 2027 Pan American Games on 3 January 2024 for "innumerable breaches of the current contract" after a missed payment, and its assembly chose Lima over Asunción by 28 votes of 52 on 14 March 2024 — not August, as sometimes stated. The ICC allocates by cycle: in November 2021 it announced eight men's white-ball events for 2024–2031 across fourteen countries, every one co-hosted, from the United States and West Indies in 2024 to India and Bangladesh in 2031.^{[40] [41] [42] [43]}

What the host signs

The Olympic Host Contract is two documents: the "Principles", signed on election day — the 2034 contract was "executed in Paris on the 24th day of July 2024" between the IOC, the State of Utah and the USOPC — and the "Operational Requirements", which "describe the main deliverables and other obligations". Two clauses set the economics. "All Pre-election Commitments shall continue in effect after the election and be binding upon the Host, the Host NOC and the OCOG", and "Unless expressly stipulated otherwise in the OHC, all obligations of the Host, the Host NOC and/or the OCOG pursuant to the OHC shall be discharged at their expense." The Charter adds, in Rule 36.2, that "The IOC shall have no financial responsibility in respect of the organisation, financing and staging of the Olympic Games other than the contribution determined in the Olympic Host Contract". The word "cost overrun" does not appear; the exposure follows from those two provisions plus the indemnity, under which the host must "indemnify, defend and hold harmless all IOC Indemnitees from all payments and other obligations in respect of any damages, claims, actions, losses (including loss of revenue)" arising from its acts, and waives claims against the IOC even on termination.^[17] [6]

What the government guarantees. Taxes: the organising committee "shall not be subjected to or impacted by any direct or indirect taxes" on IOC contributions; the IOC and its entities pay none on Games revenue; non-resident athletes "shall not be subjected to nor impacted by any taxes levied in relation to any financial or other rewards received by them as a result of their performances"; visiting federation, media and marketing personnel are exempt and their presence creates no permanent establishment, all effective four years before the Games and one year after. Entry: the accreditation card with a passport must admit its holder for a month either side of the Games, visas "in an expedited and simplified manner" and "without any fees", equipment "without any duties, customs, taxes or similar charges". Security: "The responsibility for all aspects of security in relation to the Games (including the financial, planning and operational aspects thereof) lies with Host Country Authorities." Rights: "The Games… are the exclusive property of the IOC, which owns all rights, including Intellectual Property Rights, in relation thereto", and everything the organising committee creates "shall be the sole property of the IOC". Clean venues: the host must enforce Rule 50 in the venues and pass the advertising controls described on the sponsorship page — London's 2006 Act, with its advertising and trading regulations and its association right, is the template. Any surplus is split 20 per cent to the national committee, 60 to the host for legacy, 20 to the IOC.^[17] [44]

What was added. The contract "finalized in January 2017" for the 2024 Games was the first to include "explicit reference to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights" and anti-corruption standards. The 2034 text obliges the host to "protect and respect human rights and ensure any violation of human rights is remedied… in a manner consistent with all internationally-recognised human rights standards and principles, including the United Nations Guiding Principles", to prohibit discrimination including on "sexual orientation… disability or other status", to "refrain from any act involving fraud or corruption", and to accept "a joint integrity unit with the OCOG". The IOC may terminate for war, civil disorder, boycott, a Games not held in the year, material breach after sixty days' notice — and for the anti-doping condition quoted above.^[45] [17]

FIFA's model is a Hosting Agreement plus host-city, stadium, training-site, airport, broadcast-centre and hotel agreements, all signed "in unaltered form", plus a Government Declaration from the head of government, a legal statement from the justice minister and seven Government Guarantees: visas and immigration; work permits and labour law; tax exemption and foreign exchange; safety and security; protection and exploitation of commercial rights; telecommunications; and waiver and indemnification. The 2030/2034 regulations commit FIFA to the UN Guiding Principles and make an association ineligible if barred under the World Anti-Doping Code. The guarantees are a real gate: the 2031 women's award slipped in April 2026 because the United States had not signed them.^{[46] [28] [34]}

What it costs, and who pays

Two budgets. The IOC's own explanation distinguishes the organising committee's budget, "mainly privately financed with a large contribution from the IOC" — "The IOC gives no money to governments, but exclusively to the Organising Committees" — from the non-OCOG budget of venues, infrastructure, security and transport, "usually undertaken by the public authorities". The IOC's contributions: Beijing 2022 USD 880 million, Paris 2024 USD 1.7 billion, Milano Cortina 2026 USD 925 million, Los Angeles 2028 USD 1.8 billion; Tokyo 2020 received USD 1.892 billion including postponement costs. The 2034 contract shows how the figure is built: an overall estimated value of USD 1,063,000,000, comprising a media-rights share estimated at USD 520 million, a share of the TOP programme at USD 231 million, host-broadcast services at the IOC's cost of USD 216 million and transfer-of-knowledge assistance of USD 96 million.^{[47] [48] [17]}

The overrun record has no exceptions. The Oxford Olympics Study 2024: "All Games (100%) have cost overruns; 18 of 23 Games (78 percent) have cost overruns above 50 percent in real terms; and 13 of 23 Games (57 percent) have cost overruns above 100 percent in real terms." The mean real overrun from 1960 to 2024 is 159 per cent, the median 118; Summer Games average 195 per cent, Winter 132. Montreal 1976 overran by 720 per cent and Rio 2016 by 352; Beijing 2008 by 2. Paris 2024 is estimated at USD 8.7 billion in 2022 prices, a 115 per cent overrun; Tokyo 2020 at USD 13.7 billion, 128 per cent. These are sports-related costs only, "not including road, rail, airport, hotel, and other infrastructure"; the bid budget, the authors find, "is on average a 38% down payment", and they call the host's overrun guarantee the "Blank Check Syndrome". The 2016 study's 156 per cent and the 172 per cent of a 2021 paper by the same authors are superseded.^[49]

Four audited endings. Tokyo's organising committee balanced its own budget at JPY 640.4 billion and put total Games expenditure including national and metropolitan spending at "JPY 1,423.8 billion (USD 13.0 billion)" in June 2022; Japan's Board of Audit put it at about JPY 1.7 trillion in December 2022 after adding JPY 280.3 billion of state costs left out, and noted related expressway and similar expenses that would lift the total to about JPY 3.7 trillion. Rio's federal audit court found in March 2017 that "o total de gastos para os Jogos foi de R$ 43,75 bilhões", 49.19 per cent of it public, and complained of a lack of transparency. The French Cour des comptes put the public cost of Paris 2024 at EUR 6.6 billion in September 2025, EUR 3.02 billion of organisation including EUR 1.44 billion for security and EUR 3.63 billion of infrastructure, while declining to call it overspending. The models differ: Paris ran on a state guarantee; Los Angeles 2028 is "the privately run Olympic organizing committee", and under the agreement approved by the city council in August 2026 the city covers the first USD 270 million of any loss, the state the next USD 270 million, and the city's general fund the rest, with LA28 holding its own USD 330 million contingency. Brisbane's venues are to be built "within the existing $7.1 billion funding envelope", A$3.435 billion of it federal, after Queensland's 100-day review of March 2025.^{[50] [51] [56] [52] [53] [54] [55]}

Why cities walked away, and what changed

The decade of no. For the 2022 Winter Games, Krakow's voters were 70 per cent opposed, Munich's 52, St Moritz and Davos 53, and Oslo — whose voters had said yes — withdrew when its government would not. For 2024, Hamburg voted about 52 per cent no in 2015, Boston was called off in July 2015 before a scheduled referendum, Rome withdrew in autumn 2016 when the city administration turned, and Budapest dropped out in February 2017 after a petition forced a vote; "Only two of five applicants survived to the final ballot, and the IOC awarded both". For 2026, Valais rejected a CHF 100 million credit by 54 per cent on 10 June 2018 — the canton's fifth refusal since 1968 — Innsbruck and St Moritz voted no, Graz cancelled, and Calgary's non-binding plebiscite of 13 November 2018 went 56.4 per cent against, forfeiting C$700 million of provincial money, leaving "just Stockholm and a joint Italian bid from Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo". The only Games rejected after award remains Denver 1976. The IOC's own factsheet acknowledges the cause: "High expenditure by bidding cities which led to high expectations — but only one winner; Reputational risks for the Olympic Movement; 'Losing' cities were discouraged from bidding again." The counter-example came in October 2025, when Munich voted 66.4 per cent in favour of a bid for 2036, 2040 or 2044 on a record turnout.^{[57] [58] [59] [8] [60]}

Sharing. Rule 32.2 now allows regions, states and countries; 2030 is "the French Alps" and 2034 is a state. Football has gone further: Euro 2020 in eleven cities, the 2026 World Cup in three countries, the 2030 World Cup in six on three continents, every ICC white-ball event of 2024–2031 co-hosted. Climate. The Future Host Commissions are "tasked with studying long-term opportunities and challenges related to hosting the Games, such as climate change"; the Winter double election of 2024 rested on a climate report; a rotating pool of reliable Winter hosts has been discussed publicly, according to press reports, but no formal rotation decision existed as of September 2026. Venues. The 2034 contract requires hosts to "maximise the use of existing and planned infrastructure" and consider temporary venues "in all situations where new permanent venues are not supported by viable business plans"; the IOC puts the existing-or-temporary share at 95 per cent for Paris 2024, 93 for Milano Cortina 2026, 100 for Los Angeles 2028 and 84 for Brisbane 2032, bars permanent construction in protected areas and World Heritage sites, and from 2030 requires Games to minimise emissions and strive to remove more carbon than they emit. Oxford's authors reply that "reuse did not have the desired effect for Tokyo 2020 and also looks ineffective for Paris 2024".^{[6] [36] [31] [7] [15] [17] [8] [49]}

The Youth Olympic Games show the model under strain. Dakar 2026, postponed from 2022, is the first Olympic event in Africa; Dolomiti Valtellina 2028 was elected in January 2025; for 2030 the Board invited Asunción, Bangkok and Santiago into a Targeted Dialogue in December 2025, each offering entirely existing or temporary venues and government funding of 95, 80 and 70 per cent of the budget — and on 7 May 2026 Coventry paused the process after inconclusive surveys, saying "There's not a true north star of why we're doing the Youth Olympic Games". The June 2026 Session also capped the sports a host may add at four for Summer and two for Winter Games; Los Angeles had added five.^{[61] [62] [22]}