Could Philly Host the 2024 Olympics?

Last week, the U.S. Olympic Committee sent out invites to the nation’s top cities to gauge interest in who might want to host for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Get this: Philly was on the recipient list, ya’ll, according to a report from Action News.

Before you start planning your Olympics watch party, it’s important to note that becoming a host is a much longer process than just checking yes on the RSVP list. The USOC put a pretty price tag on hosting the games, requiring a budget of over $3 million, not including the construction of arenas and other infrastructure. In addition to that, the hosting city must provide 45,000 hotel rooms, an Olympic Village that can sleep 16,500 and a workforce that is made up of 200,000 employees.

Our in-state neighbors in Pittsburgh were also sent an invitation, and while their mayor Luke Ravenstahl was honored, he said these bidding requirements would involve overcoming “extraordinary obstacles and challenges.”

With Pittsburgh out, Philadelphia would still need to compete with cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas and Tulsa who have expressed interest in hosting. New York, Chicago and San Francisco are also speculated to possibly place bids given their previous interest in hosting games.

While Philly hasn’t had much luck with these things in the past—in 2006, our city’s bid to host the 2016 games but was denied by USOC—here’s hoping at least some U.S. city gets to host. We haven’t  had a summer games on U.S. soil since 1996. It’s time.