The US Olympic Committee says it will move forward with an official bid to bring the Olympic Games back to the US for the first time since 1996.
In the running to be the official bid city for 2024 are Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Of these, LA is only city with an Olympic history, hosting the Games in 1932 and 1984.
When asked which city was the front-runner, USOC’s chairman Larry Probst would only say: "It’s a four-way tie."
"We’re going to take our time, we’re going to go through a very deliberate and thoughtful process, and we’re going to pick the city that we think has the best chance of winning," Probst said.
"All across the board, the IOC membership — and the IOC leadership as well — has been encouraging us to move forward with a bid."
The 2024 host city will be chosen in September 2017, and a US candidate city will be up against potential bidders from Germany, France, Italy and South Africa.
"There are some real good cities lining up, it’s going to be a tough race," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics.
The USOC gave each bidding city strict budgetary targets of no more than $5 billion for operating costs, although this is almost certainly likely to rise.
