One step closer as Chicago beats LA for the U.S. bid.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2837473

Aren't the Olympics a consistent money-loser for cities, especially when they don't already have the needed infrastructure?

I've been trying to get a handle on the "real story" on that for a while. In the live press conference on Saturday, one of the USOC officials said something like "a city would have to be run by blithering idiots not to make money on the Olympics." Strong words, particularly after what we know about massive costs in Athens, projected tripling of costs in London, and even just this past year Montreal finally paid of its 1976 Olympic debt.

I think that people measure 3 things - 1) operating budget, 2) construction budget, and 3) economic impact. Clearly, on #3, the economic impact - short and long term - from an Olympic Games is a win for the city. Some question this when compared to the previous net losses in #1 and costs in #2, but still it seems like a huge benefit. Construction budgets are funny. In Chicago, for example, there is a $1.1 billion budget for constructing the athlete village. But the village is scheduled to go into parcels of land along our lakefront that need development anyway, and they will be converted to residential following the Olympics. The other two big constructions costs - the temporary stadium in Washington Park and the aquatics facility in Douglas Park (oh I WISH we'd had the aquatics facility for the Gay Games!) are significant, but only the Washington Park Olympic Stadium seems to have a cost that doesn't result in an equivalent benefit back afteward.

The Chicago 2016 committee has promised a surplus in the operating budget. The city has "guaranteed" the operating and construction budgets with $500 million. The State will do with with another $150 million and an as-yet-unnamed insurance company or bank has guaranteed $500 million for operations overruns.

Operating, presumably, includes the actual costs for running the events, plus security, medical, volunteers, staffing, marketing, etc. Revenue in that area includes sponsorships, media rights, ticketing, etc. I think that USOC official is commenting about #1 and/or #3 when he makes the statement.

Kevin Boyer
Chicago, IL

Why Chicago may not be the 2016 site for the Olympics. Big surprise,...Not!

I can't disagree with much said in that MSNBC article. In addition, I think 2016 is too soon to expect another US-hosted Games. I think it's more likely that the next Games the US hosts will be a Winter Games (Lake Tahoe, Denver, etc.), maybe in 2018 or 2022.

According to a story in today's Toronto Star - the Canadian Olympic Committee is encouraging Toronto to consider another bid for the Olympics for either the 2020 or 2024 games. (We lost to Atlanta for the 1996 games and Beijing for the 2008 games in two previous bids).

Two things that I think work against Toronto are the fact Canada is hosting the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler - but also more relevant to this board - the feeling that there is a strong possibility that Chicago will win the 2016 games - making it unlikely the IOC will come back to North America for 2020 or 2024.

From today's story in the Star....

Several cities are gunning for 2016, notably Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Tokyo. The Summer Games haven't been in North America – the IOC's richest television market – since Atlanta in 1996 and most observers are pegging Chicago as a solid threat for 2016. If Chicago were to win, Toronto would be right out of it for some time, said veteran IOC member Dick Pound of Montreal.

"Some day Toronto will host the Summer Games," he said yesterday. "The problem has always been timing. The first time the timing was right but we got it wrong. The last time we were up against the Chinese. If Chicago wins the 2016 vote (in the fall of 2009), Toronto would be off the board for some time. But if they lost, then 2020 might be conceivable. It would certainly be time for the Games in North America."

Pound said it's too early to deem Chicago the frontrunner, although he said the city's bid – led by Mayor Richard Daley – looks attractive.
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The full article .. http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/234164

Oprah hosted 150 Olympic athletes at Millenium Park as an event to help promote Chicago as an Olympic city.

Hopefully Chicago will get the games - and if they do - one of the best 2016 Olympic preview events may take place right here in Toronto one year earlier in 2015. Toronto whose Olympic bids saw us lose to China for the 2008 Olympics and to Coca-Cola (oops - I mean Atlanta) for the 1996 Olympics are one of the four cities bidding for the 42 country - 2015 Pan American games.

Toronto's bid will be up against bids from Lima, Peru, Bogota, Columbia and Caracas, Venezuela. Surely we can beat those cities especially when you consider that the three other regions will have hosted the 3 Pan Am games prior to 2015. The Caribbean in 2003 with Santo Domingo, South America in 2007 with Rio de Janeiro and Central America with Guadalajara in 2011. You would think that should make it North America's turn for 2015.

An event here Southern Ontario with by far Canada's largest population base and for years the economic engine of the country is LONG overdue. The last event of this type held in Southern Ontario was in 1930 when Hamilton hosted the first ever British Empire games - later renamed to the Commonwealth Games. Since then Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver have all been awarded Olympic games and a number of other Canadian cities such as Edmonton, Victoria and Winnipeg have hosted either the Commonwealth or Pan Am games.

It would be a good way for some of us in this area to get to know some of the potential stars for 2016, since normally we completely ignore many of these sports until the actual Olympics.
http://www.thestar.com/article/497081