Potential bid cities to meet with USOC next week

Wednesday, November 1st 2006, 10:41 pm

By: News On 6

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- Officials from Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco will attend a U.S. Olympic Committee seminar next week to learn more about their possible bids to host the 2016 Olympics.

The event in Irvine, Calif., next Wednesday and Thursday will mark the first time representatives from all the cities and the USOC will be together.

The USOC will provide more information to the cities on its long-term vision and strategy for a possible bid. A decision on whether to submit a bid is expected by the end of this year, and the choice of city would be made next April.

USOC chair Peter Ueberroth and chief executive officer Jim Scherr will address the cities in both group settings and individually.

This process is part of the USOC's effort to put its stamp on any U.S. bid. In New York's failed attempt to land the 2012 Games, the lack of coordination between the federation and the city has been viewed as a shortcoming by the International Olympic Committee.

"This seminar is the latest step in our pragmatic, but engaged approach to the domestic bid process," USOC vice president of international affairs Bob Ctvrtlik said.

The IOC will choose the host city in 2009 from a field that includes Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, along with possible bids from India and the United States.