Three cities submitted bids to host the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

and Parapan games that were recognized by the

Pan American Sports Organization The Panam Sports (Formerly Pan American Sports Organization; es, link=no, Organización Deportiva Panamericana; pt, link=no, Organizacão Depórtiva Panamericana; french: Organisation Sportive PanAméricaine) is an international organization whi ...

(PASO), all three of which made the PASO Executive Committee's shortlist. The games were awarded to Toronto, Ontario, Canada on November 6, 2009. The other shortlisted cities were Lima, Peru and Bogota,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. Toronto won an absolute majority of votes after just one round of voting, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds of voting. PASO delegates and the media identified a number of factors in its favor, including the size of the country, safety, experience in staging multi sporting events, government guarantees, security, and cleanliness. Moreover, the other two nations are not as developed, and with the troubles faced with the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

, Toronto was seen as the favourite. Mario Vazquez Rana, the president of the

was also known to be favouring Toronto. Moreover, the head of Lima's bid Ricardo Mungi even admitted Toronto was the best choice as they had the facilities and budget to stage the games.

Host city selection

While there is no formal rotation policy, the previous games would have been held in Central America/Caribbean (2003), South America (2007), and North America (2011). It was suggested that bids from Canada or the United States may have an edge. The United States did not bid so as not to interfere with its ultimately unsuccessful 2016 Olympic bid. Nevertheless, South American candidates lobbied as heavily as Canada did. On November 6, 2009 in Guadalajara, Mexico, the candidate cities made their final presentations to the

(PASO). After the first round of ballots, the host was announced by PASO as Toronto.

Candidate cities

Showed preliminary interest

Mar del Plata Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" is a s ...

, Argentina The city of Mar del Plata indicated preliminary interest in bidding for the games to mark the 20th anniversary of the

1995 Pan American Games File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

held in the city. However, at the bidding deadline the city decided against bidding for the games. * San Jose,

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San Jose initially indicated an interest in bidding the games, in the end San Jose decided against bidding. If San Jose was successful, it would have become the first city to stage the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

in Central America. * Birmingham, United States As of April 2009, Birmingham mayor Larry Langford was discussing a bid, but the deadline to apply had already passed. * Detroit, Miami or Chicago, United States The United States showed preliminary interest in bidding with one of three cities (Chicago, Miami or Detroit). However, the country decided to not bid for the games, because it decided to bid for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

with Chicago.

References

{{Pan American Games bids 2015 Pan American Games 2015 Parapan American Games Bids for the Pan American Games