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The Atlantic Cities: Azerbaijani society and government support Bakuâ€™s bid to host the 2020 games

25 January 2012 10:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Habil Suleymanzadeh â€“ APA. â€œIn terms of local support, Baku seems to have the rest of the competition beatâ€, said US-based The Atlantic Cities commenting on the chances of applicant cities to host Summer Olympic Games 2020, APA reports.

â€œA recent poll found that 95 percent of people in Azerbaijan support Bakuâ€™s bid to host the 2020 games. It would be the first major international event to take place in Azerbaijan. Fifty percent of people polled in Baku and Ganja, the second largest city located 200 miles to the west, said they would buy tickets to attend the event should the city win its bidâ€, said the publication. â€œBut, according to the Mainichi Daily News, "the latest results were better than the 62 percent national support rate and 60 percent rate in Tokyo recorded at almost the same point ahead of the failed 2016 bid." Tokyo had been a finalist with Chicago and Madrid for the 2016, awarded to Rio de Janeiroâ€.

â€œApplicant cities will be handing in proposals for hosting early next month, and the IOC will be naming a shortlist in May. In terms of local support, Baku seems to have the rest of the competition beat.

There are some other complications though. Baku would need to build much of the necessary infrastructure basically from scratch. Their relatively restrictive visa restrictions would likely need a tweak before they could host a major international event. And according to the CIA Factbook, Azerbaijan has the lowest per capita GDP of the potential hosts, which might make it difficult for locals to actually afford ticketsâ€, said the publication. .