Requirements to host the Olympic Games
All potential Olympic hosts must demonstrate that they have put sustainability and legacy at the heart of their Games proposal, looking ahead to many years after the event.
Each project should align with the goals of the Olympic Movement, set out in Olympic Agenda 2020 and Olympic Agenda 2020+5, and with the host region’s existing long-term development plans.
Important elements taken into consideration by the IOC are:
- Geopolitical, socio-economic, human development and environmental factors
- Vision and venue masterplan
- Alignment with existing long-term development plans
- Envisaged sustainability and legacy impacts
- Political and public support
- Funding strategy
- Sports event experience, accommodation capacity, transport infrastructure, and safety and security.
In order to help the IOC Executive Board decide which Interested Parties should move from non-committal discussions about hosting the Games (known as Continuous Dialogue) to a Targeted Dialogue for a specific Games year, the IOC carries out a Feasibility Assessment. City, regional and national opinion polls are commissioned by the IOC.
As part of the Feasibility Assessment, independent sources in a wide-ranging number of areas are taken into consideration, including in human rights, through Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), and sustainability, through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
This is in response to Olympic Agenda 2020 Recommendation 2.6, that the IOC should: “… benefit from third-party, independent advice in such areas as social, economic and political conditions, with a special focus on sustainability and legacy”, and Olympic Agenda 2020+5 Recommendation 2: Foster Sustainable Olympic Games.
Detailed information about the contractual and operational requirements to host the Olympic Games can be found in the Host Contract and Operational Requirements, which are published on this website.
The contract is updated for each edition of the Olympic Games, to take into consideration learnings from the past and the evolution of the goals of the Olympic Movement.