Original plans conceived the Games as a 20–25 discipline event, attracting ~5,000 athletes from all 206 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) at a cost of $135 million,[2][3] and would occur biennially.
[7] Shortly after, SportAccord's scheme collapsed, leaving ANOC as the sole organisation moving forward with any such event and opened the application process in the July.
[8] In October 2015, San Diego, United States was approved as hosts of the inaugural edition at ANOC's General Assembly meeting in Washington, D.C.
[9][10] In August 2016, it was postponed by two years to 2019; officially, it was delayed to allow "stakeholders to deliver the best possible event" and give NOCs the "optimum time to prepare their athletes".
[13] Within weeks, the event was relocated to Doha, Qatar after a deal was signed with the Qatari Government to secure funding.