An Olympic host election is the result of a close collaborative partnership between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the potential host, together with its National Olympic Committee (NOC), to explore every aspect of the proposed Games vision and plan. Cities and regions interested in hosting the Olympic Games should reach out first to their NOC, to request its official support. The NOC then makes contact with the IOC, which provides support and advice from the early stages.
If the NOC decides to take the project further, it can send an official letter to the IOC in order to enter Continuous Dialogue as an Interested Party. Each NOC can only support one official project involving its country. This project could involve one or more cities or regions.
The host selection process is overseen by two Future Host Commissions, one for Summer, and one for Winter Games.
These Commissions oversee a thorough analysis of each project, and help the IOC Executive Board (EB) to decide which Interested Parties to invite for deeper evaluation in a Strategic Dialogue for a specific edition/year of the Games.
During Strategic Dialogue, the Interested Party will answer the Future Host Questionnaire and provide core financial guarantees to support their project, and the Future Host Commission will visit the proposed host region.
Finally, the EB will open a Targeted Dialogue, with one or more projects. From this point the Interested Parties are known as Preferred Hosts for the Games edition. At the end of the Targeted Dialogue, following a detailed report and recommendation by the Future Host Commission, the EB will decide which Preferred Hosts it will propose for election by all IOC Members at an IOC Session.
Throughout the process, there are regular touchpoints between the IOC Membership, the Future Host Commission and the Interested Parties or Preferred Hosts.
For transparency, the Commission reports and all key documents are published.