International Olympic Committee to award '24, '28 Games; Paris, Los Angeles likely sites

The International Olympic Committee unanimously approved a plan to award the 2024 and 2028 Olympic Games at once, making the announcement Tuesday at its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The move apparently will bring the Olympics back to Paris and Los Angeles in the coming years.

The plan proposed by IOC president Thomas Bach was passed, meaning both Games will be awarded simultaneously at the committee's Sept. 13 meeting in Lima, Peru.

If the IOC works out a deal with Paris and Los Angeles, the plan will secure the Games' locations for the next decade.

"I have full confidence that we will get there," Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti said at a celebratory news conference for both candidates and Bach.

Garcetti and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo appeared after the vote, holding hands. They were joined by Bach, who raised an arm of each in a gesture of victory.

The IOC has awarded Games one at a time in the past to maximize the marketing potential for cities to bid. The financial repercussions for cities to host the Olympics reportedly made the IOC realize it is better to seize the opportunity to partner with multiple cities that could handle the burden of staging the Games.

"They can't afford to lose the United States," Garcetti said regarding the Olympics. "Both (United States and French officials) will find it more and more difficult to convince cities -- whether it's Paris, Los Angeles or other American cities -- to really go into this process if one of us gets turned down."

According to various media reports, Paris is favored to secure the 2024 bid. Both cities made presentations on Tuesday to host the 2024 Games.

Paris and Los Angeles are set to join London (1908, 1948, 2012) as the only three-time hosts of the Summer Games. The French capital was the Olympic site in 1900 and 1924, while the Games came to Southern California in 1932 and 1984.