September 11 - Newly-elected International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has made a change in the bidding process for the Games a major priority, he revealed here today.
The German, who was yesterday elected to replace Jacques Rogge as the most powerful man in world sport, wants to encourage more bids from more cities from more countries by relaxing what they ask from each of the candidates in the early stages of the process.
"In our bidding process we are asking too much too early," he told insidethegames.
"We approach potential candidate cities like you would in business with a tender for a franchise.
"We are putting out our conditions, 'You have to do this, you have to do that, here are our conditions, here are the guarantees'.
"This leads to a situation that all the bid books are written by the same people around the world.
"You get the same answers in all the bids and when you have the Q&A in the Session or in the briefing I could give you the answers beforehand."
For the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics there were only three candidate cities - Istanbul, Madrid and Tokyo, with the Games being awarded to the Japanese capital.
It was the lowest number of candidates since bidding for the 1988 Games when only Seoul and Nagoya were campaigning at a time when the Olympic Movement was arguably at its lowest ebb because of boycotts and financial problems. 
"I would like to try to change the mentality," said Bach.
"I would like to have cities thinking about bidding more as an invitation.
"I want to invite potential candidates to study how the Olympic Games would fit into their long-term city and regional and country development.
"How the Olympic Games could contribute to sustainable development in their environment and not applying just the standards of one part of the world to everybody.
"To allow them to have their own creativity, to have their own way of thinking.
"I think this would lead to the population in the city, in the region, in the country being part of the candidature at the very early stage because they would have a say in how much the Games could serve as a catalyst for 'our development'.
"By this you would allow in more cities and more countries in the world to bid.
"You would get more creativity in the bid and you would get participation of support of the population.
"You have to be sure of operational excellence and this will not be easy to define.
"They at least have to guarantee the offer they make and you have to have minimum standards.
"We are requesting, not to say imposing, too much too early."