Preparations for the games were intense. Many of Atlanta's sports venues had to be expanded, and other entirely new venues needed. In 1987, an Atlanta attorney and former football player at the University of Georgia, Billy Payne, conceived the idea of hosting the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Atlanta mayor Andrew Young was among the first to join Payne in the quest to develop a bid and sell the proposal, first to local business leaders, then to the U.S. Olympic Committee, and finally to the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The local organizing committee headed by Payne and Young produced a two-volume bid document outlining the city's plans for the sporting events, financial support, and accommodations for Olympic visitors. Major selling points of the bid were the warmth of southern hospitality and the city's unique heritage as both the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr. and a major center of the civil rights struggle.
