MADRID (AP) — The Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) says it will cut the cost of its bid to host the 2020 Olympics by up to 40 percent.
That’s compared to its previous spending on a failed attempt to get the 2016 Games.
Though the COE did not release figures, the committee plans to cut 30 to 40 percent from the previous $50.4 million budget, leaving it somewhere between $30.2 million and $35.3 million.
COE head Alejandro Blanco did not say how the budget would be split between the public and private sectors. With Spain’s economy in trouble, Blanco says: “We need the Games … it would mean a lot.”
On Tuesday, the mayor’s office founded the Madrid 2020 Society, which will manage the summer games bid.
