Group launches campaign to stop San Francisco Olympic hopes

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A local group has just launched a campaign to stop San Francisco's Olympic hopes. The city is one of four lobbying to represent the United States in its bid to host the 2024 summer games.

"We'll likely be going to the ballot," former San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly told ABC7 News.

Daly says the newly formed coalition "SF No 2024 Olympics" will ask voters to demand that no public money be spent on the Olympics, if San Francisco were to host them.

A letter was sent to the U.S. Olympic Committee and signed by a few neighborhood groups and organizations opposing San Francisco's bid for the 2024 Olympics.

"What we're saying to the Olympics is if you want to come to San Francisco, we want to make sure that the taxpayers aren't left on the hook," Daly said.

Several studies have been done on how the Olympic Games in host cities have exceeded their budgets. One in particular shows that every game since 1960 has overrun its initial budget by an average of 179 percent.

Four U.S. cities are bidding for the 2024 Olympics: Boston, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and San Francisco.

On Dec. 16, 2014 in Redwood City, all of these cities appeared before the U.S. Olympic Committee.

"I think that today was very clear that the USOC is looking for a partner that will work together with the local, with the big committee, to bring the Olympic Games home to the United States and we think we would be a great choice," Anne Warner Cribbs, with the San Francisco Olympic Bid Committee, said.

The members leading the bid for San Francisco have said the existence of new venues in the Bay Area would reduce the price tag for hosting the games. On Friday, that group declined to comment on Daly's editorial and demands.

San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos said San Francisco has been done this road before with the America's Cup.

"When it came to the America's Cup, we expected there was going to be a lot more money raised by the private sector to put on the event and they actually didn't raise as much money as they said they were," Avalos said.

San Francisco ended up losing more than $11 million. Some are concerned in San Francisco that if the Olympics takes place, it will have an even bigger financial hit if we host the Olympics.