The Florida chief financial officer sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee on Monday saying," Today I am writing to encourage you to consider relocating the 2021 Olympics from Tokyo, Japan, to the United States of America, more specifically to Florida. Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis is convinced this is the turn that needs to be made to save the Olympic games.
He might not be far off. Florida has the venues, the hospitality, the population, and just about everything needed to produce an Olympic games and has been in the running for numerous cycles. Patronis touted the NBA games being hosted, the Super Bowl in Tampa and Wrestlemania as evidence that Florida can host big time events. He even threw a bone to Disney World as further proof, that Florida is the place to be.
This has become such a big push, that officials from Japan have reached out to president Biden for assurance that the U.S. won't pull their players from the games amid COVID concerns. They want a promise that the U.S. won't do a bait and switch. American could essentially pull the US Olympic team form the Tokyo games citing COVID, which would cause other countries to have no confidence the games will actually be played, thus forcing Tokyo to cancel. If the International Olympic Committee could then decide to move the games to Florida with a assurance that the Team USA would participate since the games are in their backyard.
There is nothing to say this scenario would actually play out, but Japan is worried.
Florida's CFO Patronis said, "Whatever precautions are required, let's figure it out and get it done."