IOC recommends awarding 2024, 2028 Games simultaneously

LAUSANNE, June 10, 2017 (AFP) - IOC top brass recommended Friday that hosting rights for the 2024 and 2028 Olympics be awarded together, virtually assuring that rival bidders Paris and Los Angeles will both host the Games.

The move will not be final until a vote of the International Olympic Committee's roughly 100 members next month, but that body is seen as unlikely to defy Friday's executive committee recommendation.

"The IOC Executive Board has today unanimously approved the recommendation... to award the Olympic Games for 2024 and 2028 at the same time," IOC chief Thomas Bach told reporters.

Bach said that the aggressive push by two world class cities like Paris and LA for 2024 amounted to a "golden opportunity" for the IOC, which has seen in interest in hosting the vastly expensive Summer Games dwindling.