Chief Financial Officer of Florida Jimmy Patronis has sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee encouraging it to consider relocating the Olympic Games — which are currently set to take place this summer in Tokyo, Japan — to his state.
"With media reports of leaders in Japan 'privately' concluding that they are too concerned about the pandemic for the 2021 Olympics to take place, there is still time to deploy a site selection team to Florida to meet with statewide and local officials on holding the Olympics in the Sunshine State," Patronis wrote in the letter sent Monday addressed to IOC President Thomas Bach. "I would welcome the opportunity to pitch Florida and help you make the right contacts to get this done."
Japan and the IOC have denied that the Tokyo Olympics will be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic after Britain's Times newspaper reported that the Japanese government had privately concluded this summer's Games would not take place.
After being postponed for a year due to COVID-19, the Olympics are set to open on July 23, but public doubt remains as much of Japan is under a state of emergency due to a new wave of coronavirus cases.
"As a tourism state, Florida welcomed 131 million tourists in 2019. Our state has ample hotel capacity and well-maintained transportation networks to accommodate the kind of infrastructure required for a major undertaking of this sort," Patronis continues in the letter.
The Sunshine State also has multiple sites with large sports facilities, meaning there would not need to be a large construction effort in preparation for the Olympics, the Daily Caller points out, making Florida an appropriate location for the Games. However, according to Reuters, the extensive planning needed to host the Olympics makes it "virtually impossible" to relocate in only six months.
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