2024 Olympics: What would the Summer Olympics look like in Dallas?

Dallas has filed a bid to host the 2024 Olympics, which kicks off this week in Paris. Here’s a look at what it would be like to host the games in North Texas.

DALLAS — The Summer Olympics kick off in Paris, France, on Friday, with athletes from around the world rowing down the Seine River in a spectacular opening ceremony featuring the Eiffel Tower.

Think about it, a similar scene was seen in Dallas.

Well, maybe not the Seine and Eiffel Tower part.

But Dallas did Dallas, which was in the running to host the 2024 Olympics, has also famously hosted the Super Bowl (freezing rain notwithstanding), the Final Four, the NBA All-Star Game, countless college football bowl games and a string of FIFA World Cup matches in 2026, making it a possible candidate to win sports’ biggest prize.

Unfortunately, the US bid went to Boston.

Boston ultimately withdrew its bid and gave it up to Los Angeles, which won the bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Still, it’s interesting to imagine the Dallas Olympics. North Texas has no shortage of sports venues, most of which would have been put to good use according to the official Dallas 2024 plan, drawn up more than a decade ago.

“Venue and infrastructure are big issues [in a sports bid process]”That’s why we thought Dallas was the perfect place to host the Olympics,” said Matthew Wood, an attorney who helped Dallas win the Olympics.

Dallas’ bid touted the region’s comprehensive transportation options, including two major airports, Dallas-Fort Worth and Love Field, light rail and a downtown trolley system, the Trinity Railroad Express between Fort Worth and Dallas, and a system of expressways.

It also became clear that there were more than enough hotel rooms in the area: at the time, there were more than 110,000 available, including 80,000 just east of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and 40,000 within five miles of downtown Dallas.

But the bid’s main focus was to create a “pedestrian Games” using existing venues and buildings, with the majority of the competitions and events held within a three-mile radius of downtown. Most of the competition would have been held at Fair Park, southeast of downtown, or at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center, a short distance away by DART. Fair Park would also have been home to an Olympic village where athletes would stay, Wood said.

Larger venues in North Texas were also considered — AT&T Stadium in Arlington for gymnastics and the American Airlines Center in Dallas for basketball — and popular sports like swimming, which would have been held at SMU, would have needed to add additional temporary seating, Wood said.

But many of the events would be held in the Fair Park downtown area, “creating a vibrant Olympic hub,” according to the bid presentation.

That’s not to say the Summer Olympics in Dallas were without problems.

The Dallas proposal would have had the tournament take place in June, and while it’s still hot in North Texas, it’s not as bad as it typically is in late July or early August.

The primary athletics venue was the Cotton Bowl, but it would have needed renovations to accommodate a track.

And, as we all know, Dallas doesn’t have an ocean, which is why events like sailing were supposed to take place in Corpus Christi. (By the way, sailing this year will take place in the south of France, and surfing, an added event for the 2020 Olympics, will take place in Tahiti.)

The main Olympic venues and events scheduled to be held in Dallas are as follows: