The battle for the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympics entered its final stages on Tuesday with the Istanbul bid saying in Buenos Aires that of the three candidates they would need to spend the least on ‘dedicated Olympic projects’.
Their claim will surprise many as one of their rivals Madrid’s strongest selling points was that the economic crisis in Spain would not affect their bid because their budget was a modest one 2.37 billion euros ($3.12 billion) as most of the venues and the infrastructure are already in place.
The Istanbul bid, which is also up against the third candidate Tokyo, may have hoped to take a bit of the wind out of the sails of Madrid, but the Spaniards had their own moment of triumph on Tuesday when they secured the support of four-time world footballer of the year Lionel Messi.
Istanbul, though, will hope the revelation that their budget would be the lowest in terms of expenditure will strike a chord with International Olympic Committee members.
Several of the candidates seeking to replace retiring IOC chief Jacques Rogge on September 10 have made it clear they don’t want to see the Games getting bigger and more expensive and unaffordable for some cities.