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It's been an up-and-down week for Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. First, the good news: Chicago came one step closer to hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics today when, as expected, it was announced as one of the four finalists to host the games, officially becoming a Candidate City and entering the international phase of the bidding process, along with Rio, Madrid, and Tokyo. [Ed note: I was pulling for you, Praha! Sadface.] Final, more detailed bids are due from the short-listed cities by February 12, 2009, with the final vote happening on October 2, 2009. In addition, Chicago can now add the Olympic rings to its logo, though we still prefer the original torch logo. A celebration is planned for Friday at 11:30 a.m. in Dayley Plaza.
Now, the bad news.
One issue that may be hurting Chicago's chances has nothing to do with the city itself, but rather the international view of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Dutch IOC member Hein Verbruggen, who also happens to be vice president of the association of summer Olympic sports federations, expressed lots of anger regarding the USOC's revenue share, calling it an "immoral amount of money compared to what other people get." Verbuggen went even further:
He said the committee was expected to receive about $300 million from the 2005-8 period, and $450 million for 2009-12.The money comes from a previous deal in which the USOC receives 13 percent of American television rights fees and 20 percent of global marketing revenue. It seems, though, that cooler heads will prevail: IOC President Jacques Rogge has stepped in and, in the wake of Verbruggen's outburst, promised to open negotiations with USOC to create a short-term resolution that would be implemented immediately before exploring a long-term resolution to take affect in 2020. But the USOC has entered into negotiations to resolve this matter before with no deal being reached and has been accused of intentionally dragging out proceedings. What effect this has on Chicago's bid remains to be seen, though a resolution from the USOC would be seen as "a sign of goodwill." May we also suggest free deep dish for the IOC?"I simply do not understand how you can justify that the rest of the world has to pay for the training of American athletes," Verbruggen said. "Are we out of our minds?"
The revenue issue, which has been festering for years, has escalated into open conflict in the past few months and comes at a time when Chicago is bidding to take the Olympics back to the U.S. for the first time since Atlanta in 1996.
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I want Chicago to win but I kind of want Rio to win. More hot chicks. Fat in the right places, that sort of thing.
I've said it before and I'll say it again -- let some other city in some other country foot the enormous bill to host an increasingly irrelevant Olympic Games.
The Olympics are becoming less relevant by the 4 year interval. Nonetheless lets break this down.
Madrid - Too close to London. It would be like having the Olympics here in 2016 and St. Louis in 2020.
Tokyo - Again, 2 of 3 games in Asia unlikely. Plus the time difference sucks for the IOC's main money source, U.S. TV contracts.
Rio - Top Candidate, but way too much crime and corruption (even compared to here!). Plus the World Cup is already there in 2014.
Chicago - Big corporate sponsors, plenty of infrastructure plus more to be improved/built, and the major boost from President/Chicagoan Barack Obama will be enough to win. A feel good vibe will be in place worldwide regarding the U.S. at that time.
I have too much free time.
Nice matty.
Sears: I worry your analysis is right, and that is why this city will be saddled with these games, allowing the Machine to, once again, reward its supporters while ignoring the rest of us. Make no mistake: The Games would be an injection of energy (that is, easy cash and influence) for the Machine, more than offsetting any damage done by Fitzgerald or, less likely, any voter rebellion.
Matilda,
I understand your contempt for the way things are run, but I think both the tourism and hospitality industries would disagree with your assessment that this only benefits the elite. There are real, working people that will benefit from hosting the Olympics.
UTV: Good points.
But I think it would be better for those working people to have leadership that focuses on the less glitzy daily problems, such as transit (which the Olympic folks noted was poor, apparently) instead of spending all this time chasing the rings.
As well, those working folks will not like it should, as history suggests, the costs of the Games exceed estimates, and working people--along with the apparently non working middle class-- are left making up the gap, either directly or, more likely, indirectly through the diversion of tax funds and the resulting increase in tax rates.
As well, I wonder if those working folks might have, you know, wanted a say in whether this city should spend significant amounts of time and money to chase those rings. We will never know because what Daley thinks is right ends up being right for all Chicagoans, working folks or not.
That said, I am glad you acknowlegde that "real, working people" might benefit, not just the fake ones.
Finally, I think we could really boost tourism by taking a few other steps: 1) The city leadership, instead of fighting local music, could promote it as certain other cities (Austin, Nashville) do; and 2) We could stop destroying our architectural heritage in the name of Machine-friendly progress.
We don't need the Olympics and its inevitable corruption and Machine-boosting effects. We need to do better with what we already have.
But hey, that's not sexy enough for some people.
A president Obama world tour would make alot of the anti american feelings go away. But I agree that the chicago crime machine (cook co dem party) would be revitalized by these contracts and jobs so I hope its Rio.
stay classy chicago..... and matty...
Sure, "the rest of the world has to pay for the training of American athletes."
How ridiculous and upside-down.
Tell you what, bozo. Take your little Olympic games to some American-bashing country. You see, we don't need to make nice with crybabies.
"at a time when Chicago is bidding to take the Olympics back to the U.S. for the first time since Atlanta in 1996"
Um...Salt Lake City hosted in 2002. (Yes that was the winter games but it still the Olympics).