It had been one of 35 cities approached last month by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to see if they would be interested in bidding for the Olympics and Paralympics.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing admitted that he would like the city to bid but that its current financial crisis rules out the possibility.

Detroit have submitted seven bids, starting in 1944 - which was cancelled due to World War Two - and then again for every Games from 1952 through to 1972 before giving up. 

The closest they came was for the 1968 Olympics when they lost by 16 votes to Mexico City.

Detroit, the 18th most populous city in the United States and which is known for its automotive industry and music, in recent years has hosted a number of major sporting events, including a NFL Super Bowl, NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoffs, NBA and NCAA basketball finals and baseball's World Series.


"With our rich history of hosting major events and Detroit's prime location on an international border, we recognise that this makes Detroit an appealing candidate to potentially host the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics," Bing's office said in a statement.

Last week Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced a financial crisis in Detroit, which has a $327 million (£219 million/€251 million) budget deficit and faces more than $14 billion (£9 billion/€11 billion) in long-term debt, and his intention to appoint an emergency manager to control the city's finances.

"The bid calls for a $10 million (£7 million/€8 million) upfront bid process payment and adding more than a $3 billion (£2 billion/€2.5 billion) operating budget commitment - not including cost associated with venue construction and other infrastructure cost," said Bing, explaining why they would not be pursuing a bid.

So far only Los Angeles, which hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984, is the only city which has said it would like to bid and has received official backing.

But Scott Blackmun, the chief executive of the USOC, claimed that they expected more cities to put themselves forward soon.

"We've gotten a handful of really positive responses and a handful of 'Gee, thanks for asking, but this really isn't the right fit for us,'" he said.

"We don't want to get into any specific responses, but it's really going well.

"We also want to respect the cities who want to gauge in this process quietly if that's what they elect to do.

"We're delighted that L.A. has expressed interest.

"Obviously LA can handle the Games.

"They've done a great job in the past."

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