OT Olympic host city
Considering the numerous stories about astronomical infrastructure costs for the awarded cities, I was wondering if they've ever considered awarding the Olympics for two consecutive games? it wouldn't generate quite the buzz the second time around, but man, painful to think of all the venues built for a handful of competitions and then...crickets.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:16 PM ^
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August 9th, 2016 at 10:40 PM ^
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August 9th, 2016 at 11:27 PM ^
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August 9th, 2016 at 10:17 PM ^
It seems you're under the impression that the IOC in any way cares about the host city outside of it's own interests... this is a mistake.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 11:23 PM ^
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August 10th, 2016 at 1:23 AM ^
Qatar says move along, nothing to see here.
August 10th, 2016 at 2:10 AM ^
isn't really to blame here, given all the cities that line up to host these things, willing to pay whatever the cost even though they're well aware of the long term negative consequences. For all the IOC flaws, it's not really their responsibility to protect cities/countries from harming themselves.
August 10th, 2016 at 3:49 AM ^
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August 10th, 2016 at 10:05 AM ^
Oh yes it is. The IOC's absurd demands on host bids have driven the negative consequences upward. It used to be that cities would say "here is our infrastructure and here is what improvements we will make." Now the IOC demands that hosts say "here are the completely brand-new single-use palaces we will build for every event of the Games." Maybe the Olympic stadium can be something the city already has; everything else must be purpose-built instead of pre-existing. This is not to mention the nonsensical demands made for IOC inspection junkets, like dozens of Mercedes limos made available to whisk the bureaucrats around, and entire hotels blocked off for their use.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:18 PM ^
It would be more helpful to have funds and the plans to transform these olympic structures into usable buildings in the future. Right now, they are left as they are because the parameters of an olympic building make them useless for other uses.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:41 PM ^
It'd be most helpful to host the games in cities that didn't have to completely upgrade or add new infrastructure. The international competitions that lost a lot of money and left many abandoned buildings were held in cities or countries that simply weren't ready for what a modern major international competition demands. I'm thinking Athens, South Africa, UAE, Brazil (WC), Brazil (Olympics), and so on.
More established cities and countries have had far less problems hosting these events.
August 10th, 2016 at 8:10 AM ^
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August 10th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^
currently in Rio should be instructive. Cities are not being awarded on comprehensive merits alone, there is alot going on behind the scenes. Rio is a terrible choice.
August 9th, 2016 at 11:52 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 12:39 AM ^
in 84 by relying heavily on existing facilities. It meant the Games were spread out over the city, but the bottom line liked it that way.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:50 AM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 2:16 AM ^
forcing these cities to meet the IOC demands? If they're going to do it, they're going to do it. That's their fault. IOC can ask for whatever they want, but they'll only get it if someone is willing to pay it.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:18 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 10:20 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^
I don't know if I'm remembering this correctly, but doesn't the IOC keep all the proceeds from ticket sales? And that's why these cities never make a profit or break even? Also - do the cities see any revenue from the sponsorship deals or TV rights? I may be confusing it with FIFA, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't work out for these cities and countries because they get little to no profits from the games themselves.
I think the Qatar WC selection must be totally crooked because what the hell is a small country like that going to do with all those soccer stadiums?
August 9th, 2016 at 10:19 PM ^
If San Diego gets a new stadium, it would be awesome if they held the Olympics there. It is definitely one of the most beautiful places on Earth and has enough hotels to hold tourists.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:21 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 11:00 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 11:50 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 10:26 PM ^
I think chicago would be more of an ideal city to hold the games.
August 9th, 2016 at 11:28 PM ^
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August 10th, 2016 at 2:25 AM ^
Much better public transportation and infrastructure. More existing sporting venues that could be used. San Diego is a relatively small city compared to Chicago. Its natural beauty is mostly irrelevnt to the practicality of hosting the games. So the only real advantage for SD would be that there would be far less chance of rain/weather disruptions, but that's probably not enough to matter considering gymnastics and swimming, two of the most popular sports, take place indoors.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:43 AM ^
Anybody who has lived, or lives in Chicago will tell you this is an absolutely moronic idea. And if you ask around to people who have even the faintest idea of how the city's already-taxed transportation infrastructure and rising rental-based economy works, they'd tell you it's a disaster. And throw in the massive issues with both the city and state governments, the ugly fact that the city is essentially (and intentionally) segregated south and west of the Loop...
No thanks. There were a lot of celebrities who threw their weight behind the 2016 bid, and a lot more rational city-dwellers who knew that it would have been a massive and terrible mistake. Chicago is a world-class city that often teeters on the brink of reality--the Olympics is a wrench in that machine that isn't worth it to the rest of us who don't spend our time on the Magnificent Mile or Navy Pier.
August 10th, 2016 at 2:30 AM ^
are very taxing for any city, especially for a resident who only has to deal with the disruption and doesn't really benefit in any way. The argument was SD vs Chicago and Chicago would almost certainly be less worse off than SD for hosting the games.
August 10th, 2016 at 1:22 AM ^
There are some interesting videos on YouTube of Chicagoans having spirited discussions with their elected officials about the Olympics.
The brother of an ex-gf of mine lead a protest and the alderman had to take cover when it was over.
Barry and Oprah campaigned for it -- not too many people who actually lived there did.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:19 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 10:22 PM ^
wouldn't have to build hardly anything to host them
August 9th, 2016 at 11:54 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 10:25 PM ^
That's the crux of Los Angeles' 2024 bid for the Olympics. The venues are there, and they only need to build one. Will be interesting to see if they get it. It'll be them, Paris, Rome, or Budapest. Won't be announced until mid-2017 though.
August 9th, 2016 at 11:30 PM ^
August 10th, 2016 at 1:35 AM ^
And why they are building soccer stadiums in the middle of the goddamn desert.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:21 PM ^
Since the bidding and building process is mostly about rich people giving other rich people kickbacks and sweet contracts, that'll never, ever happen. As long as there's someone willing to bribe and hook up friends and associates, nothing will change.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:21 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 10:28 PM ^
you could even cut out cincinnati and cleveland and replace them with grand rapids because ohio..
August 9th, 2016 at 10:44 PM ^
As someone who is actually at the Rio games, I couldn't imagine how awful that would be for fans and media to cover. Like, its bad enough having things at Copacabana beach and the main Olympic park area and they are only like 20 miles apart. That would be so much worse from a travel and coverage standpoint.
August 10th, 2016 at 2:21 AM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 10:30 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 11:23 PM ^
you can always freeze the Olympic pool for hockey games, but where the hell do they find the bobsled run, that beach volleyball court's not going to cut it.
August 10th, 2016 at 12:43 AM ^
and then pour some artificial snow & ice on it.
August 9th, 2016 at 11:54 PM ^
Helps that most of the other finalists withdrew because hosting the Olympics is prestigious but stupid and democracies have started to reject hosting them. I believe the games Beijing won was just between them and Almaty, Kazakhstan. And Kazakhstan has one of the world's worst human rights records.
August 9th, 2016 at 10:36 PM ^
August 9th, 2016 at 10:39 PM ^
Detroit and Windsor legitimately considered submitting a joint bid but the logistics of repeatedly getting people across the borders at that volume ended up being too much of a mess.