2016 Olympics

[HuskyCaucasian]

I figured it was about to to reopen a 2016 Olympics thread as we draw close to the offical voting day. One month from today we will know who the host city will be: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo

 

Olympic Committee Report Finds No Clear Front Runner For 2016 Games

Exactly a month before the final vote, all four cities bidding for the 2016 Olympics received a mix of praise and criticism Monday in an IOC report assessing their technical merits.

 

The International Olympic Committee's evaluation report gave generally high marks to Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, but also listed concerns on various grounds.

 

Rio – seeking to take the Olympics to South America for the first time – may have gained the most, receiving the fewest direct criticisms in the report summary. Chicago, long considered a front-runner, took some hits, especially on the lack of financial guarantees.

 

The 98-page report also cited low public support in Tokyo and a lack of understanding of different roles in Madrid.

 

Rio bid leaders said they believed they received the best review.

 

"The IOC report is a real boost to the Rio bid," bid president Carlos Nuzman told The Associated Press. "They have provided a very strong confirmation of our games plan and vision. It is fair to say Rio has a very positive report, and possibly the most favorable. We didn't have any red points."

 

The report is based on technical criteria, such as venues, budgets, transportation plans and public support, and doesn't rank or grade the cities.

 

The report is unlikely to make or break the race when the 100-plus IOC members cast their secret ballots in Copenhagen on Oct. 2.

 

I think it's a race between Rio and Chicago. My gut says Rio takes it in the end... and I am more than OK with that.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

I figured it was about to to reopen a 2016 Olympics thread as we draw close to the offical voting day. One month from today we will know who the host city will be: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo

 

Olympic Committee Report Finds No Clear Front Runner For 2016 Games

 

 

I think it's a race between Rio and Chicago. My gut says Rio takes it in the end... and I am more than OK with that.

 

I think I agree with you. I would absolutely shocked if it went to Tokyo or Spain. But Tokyo in particular I feel has zero chance. They say they pick cities, not countries or regions, but the recent/forthcoming events in Europe/Asia will factor in to the voters' heads guaranteed.

 

I think it could either way. The IOC wants to give it to Rio so badly. I think they are just afraid of the safety/crime factor and infrastructure there right now. Chicago is probably their number 2, but it will have been 20+ years since the US has hosted a Summer Olympics, plus the Barack Obama factor, I could easily see it coming stateside as well. It's 50/50, but like you, if I had to place a bet, I'd go with Rio.

 

[DukeNukeEm]

Still dont know how I feel about the Olympics in Chicago.

[LittleHurt05]

I figured it was about to to reopen a 2016 Olympics thread as we draw close to the offical voting day. One month from today we will know who the host city will be: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo

 

Olympic Committee Report Finds No Clear Front Runner For 2016 Games

 

 

I think it's a race between Rio and Chicago. My gut says Rio takes it in the end... and I am more than OK with that.

 

Please Please Please Please Please give it to Rio, as far away from Chicago as possible

[NorthSideSox72]

I think I agree with you. I would absolutely shocked if it went to Tokyo or Spain. But Tokyo in particular I feel has zero chance. They say they pick cities, not countries or regions, but the recent/forthcoming events in Europe/Asia will factor in to the voters' heads guaranteed.

 

I think it could either way. The IOC wants to give it to Rio so badly. I think they are just afraid of the safety/crime factor and infrastructure there right now. Chicago is probably their number 2, but it will have been 20+ years since the US has hosted a Summer Olympics, plus the Barack Obama factor, I could easily see it coming stateside as well. It's 50/50, but like you, if I had to place a bet, I'd go with Rio.

Agreed on most of the above. I've said since the beginning it was Rio and Chicago. But taking in all the Chicago factors you mention, plus the fact that Chicago has a criticism most easily changed (financial guarantees, which are being put together as we speak by the city council and the state legislature), says to me that they may eke it out. I give Chicago a 50% chance, Rio 45% (crime factor is just huge there right now, and the US market pays so much bigger and has gone 20 years), and the other 5% to the other two who have no real shot.

 

[nitetrain8601]

Please Please Please Please Please give it to Rio, as far away from Chicago as possible

 

Give me the economic boost. Ask Atlanta what the Olympics did for them. Only thing I hate is the excessive salaries the committee is getting paid. That's garbage to me.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Give me the economic boost. Ask Atlanta what the Olympics did for them. Only thing I hate is the excessive salaries the committee is getting paid. That's garbage to me.

THe problem i have is that NOTHING Daley ever does comes in at or under budget. So, a $4+ billion Olympic games will easily be $6-9 billion the way he and his cronies run things.

 

So, in the end, the city of Chicago and of course Cook County will be left with a massive tax burden.

[HuskyCaucasian]

Dueling Olympics oversight ordinances unveiled as IOC decision looms next month

Ald. Manuel Flores (1st) held a news conference to pitch a measure that would empower the city's inspector general to monitor the Olympic committee if Chicago hosts the Games. Separately, Mayor Richard Daley's administration introduced a plan to let two aldermen sit on the organizing committee if Chicago wins its 2016 bid.

 

The proposal by Flores and other aldermen also requires Olympic committee employees who earn at least $50,000 a year to file financial disclosure statements that will be public information. Chicago 2016 does not currently release statements that their employees submit.

 

The proposal from Flores and three other aldermen includes many of the same provisions also in an ordinance that Mayor Richard Daley’s administration introduced today. Flores (1st) said the mayor’s ordinance “does not go far enough.”

.....

Bid leaders have been battling criticism that they have lacked openness all summer. After Daley and Ryan did an about face in June, agreeing to accept full financial responsibility for the Games, several aldermen said they were reconsidering their support for the Olympics. But after a series of meetings with Ryan’s team, many aldermen have said they are likely to support the bid.

Although the Olympics will be backed by public financial guarantees, the Olympic organizing committee would be a private entity. Ryan has rebuffed suggestions that the committee should submit itself to public disclosure laws, citing the privacy concerns of the IOC.

 

For Flores, the new Olympics oversight proposal marked a retreat from his previous support of a plan to cap the city’s liability for Olympic losses at $500 million.

 

Daley recently said he would sign the International Olympic Committee’s host city contract, which would require the city to assume liability for any losses. All bid cities must sign the contract, IOC officials have said.

 

If the City Council were to approve his original ordinance to cap losses, even Flores said such a move “effectively kills the bid.” And clearly neither he nor other aldermen want to do so.

 

Neither the Flores ordinance nor the mayor’s proposal can be passed at today’s meeting of the council’s Finance Committee. It appears more likely that they will be voted on preliminarily at the next Finance Committee meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, with a final vote of the full council on Sept. 9.

[nitetrain8601]

THe problem i have is that NOTHING Daley ever does comes in at or under budget. So, a $4+ billion Olympic games will easily be $6-9 billion the way he and his cronies run things.

 

So, in the end, the city of Chicago and of course Cook County will be left with a massive tax burden.

 

True. Very true. Won't deny that.

[NorthSideSox72]

THe problem i have is that NOTHING Daley ever does comes in at or under budget. So, a $4+ billion Olympic games will easily be $6-9 billion the way he and his cronies run things.

 

So, in the end, the city of Chicago and of course Cook County will be left with a massive tax burden.

Note likely. First, history says that most metro areas that host an Olympics more or less break even when all is said and done - but the extra infrastructure, marketing and all else as aftereffects are a nice profit. Second, this isn't Daley's Olympics. He is running it. He'll have plenty of say, but he isn't managing, he isn't funding it, and a lot of the work to be done will be people NOT reporting to the City of Chicago or Cook County.

 

I for one think that the sort term pain-in-the-ass factor is small compared to the long term gains we get out of it.

[NorthSideSox72]

True. Very true. Won't deny that.

Except its not true, because that isn't how the Olympics work.

 

[southsider2k5]

Note likely. First, history says that most metro areas that host an Olympics more or less break even when all is said and done - but the extra infrastructure, marketing and all else as aftereffects are a nice profit. Second, this isn't Daley's Olympics. He is running it. He'll have plenty of say, but he isn't managing, he isn't funding it, and a lot of the work to be done will be people NOT reporting to the City of Chicago or Cook County.

 

I for one think that the sort term pain-in-the-ass factor is small compared to the long term gains we get out of it.

 

Thank you.

[watchtower41]

Rio is by far and away a much more dangerous and crime filled city to hold an Olympics, my bet is we are still the front runner and we will get the 2016 games.

 

 

[whitesoxfan101]

I think Chicago will get it. As much as they want to give it to Rio, I just don't think they will have the stones to pull the trigger on that one. And I can certainly see why people would have a lot of concerns about the Olypmics in Chicago, but overall I believe it would be a positive to have them.

[knightni]

Chicago better get the El, Dan Ryan and O'Hare ready for an international influx.

[Balta1701]

Chicago better get the El, Dan Ryan and O'Hare ready for an international influx.

That's kind of the point, isn't it?

[Steve9347]

That's kind of the point, isn't it?

That's what I was thinking. This influx of cash to the city is going to make things a lot better. I don't see why anyone would be against the modernization of our city for a two week party. Hook it up!

[nitetrain8601]

I'm not against it, I fkn want it. People need to realize how much of a hold Daley does have on the city. He is heavily involved in this process as well and he probably did underestimate the cost. It doesn't stop me from wanting the Olympics

[southsider2k5]

That's what I was thinking. This influx of cash to the city is going to make things a lot better. I don't see why anyone would be against the modernization of our city for a two week party. Hook it up!

 

That's exactly it. The sad thing is that much of it won't get done without the Olympics.

[LittleHurt05]

THe problem i have is that NOTHING Daley ever does comes in at or under budget. So, a $4+ billion Olympic games will easily be $6-9 billion the way he and his cronies run things.

 

So, in the end, the city of Chicago and of course Cook County will be left with a massive tax burden.

 

That's my biggest issue. The city and county are run so well as it is, I see no way that the taxpayers dont end up footing the bill for a lot of it

[knightni]

Look at it this way...

 

Chicago gets massive debt fixing/updating things that are way overdue, then makes back 3/4ths of it hosting the Olympics and has a substantial but smaller debt left over.

 

 

or

 

 

Chicago gets a substantial smaller debt due to day to day repair, doesn't fix a lot of things as much as they need to be fixed and never hosts a major event again.

 

 

Either way, they'll be some debt incurred; but, in the Olympics scenario, stuff will actually be built/replaced as opposed to just "maintained."

[nitetrain8601]

Look at it this way...

 

Chicago gets massive debt fixing/updating things that are way overdue, then makes back 3/4ths of it hosting the Olympics and has a substantial but smaller debt left over.

 

 

or

 

 

Chicago gets a substantial smaller debt due to day to day repair, doesn't fix a lot of things as much as they need to be fixed and never hosts a major event again.

 

 

Either way, they'll be some debt incurred; but, in the Olympics scenario, stuff will actually be built/replaced as opposed to just "maintained."

 

Well said. This is the only way things will get done in this city that needs to be done. Regardless, we're going to continue getting tax hikes, but this will allow, correction, force us to actually do something with that tax money.

[jasonxctf]

i hope Chicago wins. would be an unbelievable experience to go see an olympic event. I dont care if I end up watching "Underwater Basketweaving".

[knightni]

I dont care if I end up watching "Underwater Basketweaving".

 

The pros don't use air tanks.

[daa84]

i dont know but if i had the money id buy up real estate in the south loop before this announcement and make straight cash homey if this thing goes through