Philadelphia is exploring a bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games, Mayor Michael Nutter said on Monday.

Nutter was responding to a letter from the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) sent to 35 cities across the country seeking potential host cities for the international sporting event.

"The Philadelphia region has enthusiastically embraced the prospect of bidding on and hosting a future Olympic Games, and we look forward with great anticipation to the opportunity to work with the USOC on this project," Nutter said in a statement.

USOC will decide over the next two years whether to submit a bid to host the 2024 games in the United States. If it goes ahead, it will submit the candidate city for consideration by the International Olympic Committee, the organiser of the games, in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The last time the United States hosted the Olympics was in 1996 in Atlanta. – Reuters