4 U.S. cities to learn the fate of their 2024 Olympics bid

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- Four U.S. cities will learn the fate of their bid for the 2024 Olympics Thursday as they compete to host the summer games.

The four cities in contention include Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco and Washington D.C.

Scott Blackmun, CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee, called the competition a "four-way tie" on Dec. 16. A decision is expected to be made Thursday.

Los Angeles is the largest city geographically and the summer weather in Southern California is optimal for sporting events. The city has hosted the summer games twice.

Boston is both walkable and bikeable and hosts famous races. In Boston's proposal, it suggested using existing venues within a 10-minute walk from the city's public transportation, the T. It did suggest the Olympic village be formed by dormitories -- a possible killjoy as the IOC prefers new structures.

San Francisco has arguably the coolest summer weather of the four cities and also has many sports venues. The city has also never hosted the Olympics. The traffic, however, could make an influx of the Olympics a traffic nightmare.

Washington D.C. has several stadiums and the proper infrastructure for the games. The capital city has individual stadiums for the Nationals, the Washington football team and and will soon have one for D.C. United. The decrepit RFK stadium that disconcertingly vibrates when the crowd gets excited is set to be replaced with a new home for the soccer team by a shiny new stadium in 2017. An Olympic bid win could lead to the destruction of the old RFK stadium to be replaced by a new one.

There is also the Potomac River, which plays host to rowing competitions regularly. Bike races, marathons and triathlons are also hosted in the city. On the downside, the traffic in the city and the sometimes frustratingly inefficient public transportation system could make hosting the Olympics a problem.

The USOC will submit its selected city for an official bid by early 2016 and the IOC will make its selection for the games in the summer of 2017.