( FT ) Chicago is the early frontrunner to host the 2016 summer Olympics after the International Olympic Committee on Friday unveiled a shortlist of seven cities that have entered the race.
Madrid, which came fourth in the final 2012 ballot, and Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Games, are also in the field. The other shortlisted cities are Rio de Janeiro, Prague, Doha and Baku.
Prague and Madrid will be at a disadvantage because another European capital, London, is hosting the 2012 Games, Olympics observers say. With Beijing hosting next year's Games, IOC members may feel less pressurised to award the 2016 Games to another Asian country like Tokyo.
Rio, which failed to make the official candidate list for the 2012 race, hosted the PanAmerican Games this summer and no South American city has ever staged the Games. But it is already hosting football's 2014 World Cup.
Baku and Doha are bidding for the first time and may lack the size and clout to host an Olympics, although Doha hosted last year's Asian Games.
Chicago, which bid for the 1952 and 1956 Games, has come through a gruelling competition to win the US Olympic Committee's nomination, beating Los Angeles in a run-off in April after San Francisco pulled out last November. The last US city to stage the Games was Atlanta in 1996.
Turkey, which has a law stating that Istanbul will bid for every summer Olympics until it is successful and has already built an Olympic stadium, this week told Jacques Rogge, IOC president, it is forgoing the 2016 race and will bid instead for 2020.
Japan's government this week said it would provide state funds to cover half the cost of building facilities for the Games.
Monterrey failed on Friday to secure support from the Mexican Olympic Committee for a bid.
Shortlisted cities are required to answer an IOC questionnaire by mid-January, which may prompt some to drop out. The IOC will announce the official candidate cities in June and the winning city is announced at an IOC meeting in Copenhagen in October 2009.
At this stage in the 2012 race, nine cities were named on the shortlist and five went through to become official candidate cities.
Beijing is spending $65bn on a new airport terminal, subway lines and roads.
London's Olympic organisers, who have faced criticism for its cost management of the 2012 Games, are budgeting to spend ?9.3bn redeveloping a deprived part of the capital.