Florida is making a last-minute bid to bring the Olympics to the state if Japan pulls out over COVID-19 fears

• Florida has made a late bid to host the Summer Olympics this year if Tokyo backs out.
• The state's chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, sent a letter Monday offering to step in.
• Japan recently denied a report it had privately decided to cancel the games.

Florida has made a late bid to host the Olympics this summer if Tokyo backs out.

Speculation about the status of the summer games - still known as Tokyo 2020 after being postponed last year - has swirled since a report last week indicated Japan had privately decided to cancel the games amid record COVID-19 infection rates in the country.

Japan denied having reached that decision.

Still, Florida's chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis, sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee on Monday offering the state's services as a replacement.

"Today, I am writing to encourage you to consider relocating the 2021 Olympics from Tokyo, Japan to the United States of America, and more specifically to Florida," Patronis wrote.

Patronis said Florida's ability to keep sporting events for the UFC, the NBA, and the NFL going during the pandemic made it an ideal spot for relocation.

Most notably it was the location of the NBA bubble, which saw hundreds of players and staff members locked down at Disney World in Orlando for more than two months to complete its season last year.

Florida also hosted three behind-closed-doors UFC events in May, and it is set to stage the Super Bowl in two weeks, hosted at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

"When most of the major states were shutting down their economies, we were fortunate enough to have a Governor that recognized the important balance of fighting the virus with keeping the economy open," Patronis wrote.

"Our state has ample hotel capacity and well-maintained transportation networks to accommodate the kind of infrastructure required for a major undertaking of this sort," he added.

Patronis ended his letter by requesting that the IOC's president, Thomas Bach, call his office to hash out the details.

"Whatever precautions are required let's figure it out and get it done," he concluded.

The IOC has not yet publicly responded to Patronis' offer, and it is not clear whether the state's chief financial officer has the backing of more senior officials in the state, such as Gov. Ron DeSantis, to bring the games to Florida.

Florida has recorded 1.67 million coronavirus cases and more than 25,500 deaths - the fourth-most of any US state.

The games, postponed by a year because of the pandemic, are scheduled to commence July 23.

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