Daley Considering Bid for 2016 Olympics

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jul 27, 2005 7:08PM

When a Sports Illustrated column by Maggie Haskins proposed that Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Chicagoist wholeheartedly agreed with her suggestion.

Now it seems that Da Mere does, too. While Mayor Daley has scoffed at the idea of hosting the Olympics in the past, now he want the city to make a serious bid for 2016 Olympics. Why the change? The cynical answer would be to deflect attention from the many scandals plagueing City Hall.

After all, it was just last year that Daley said, "The Olympics is a construction industry. They wanted $2 million from me just to make a proposal! They want to build everything new."

However, as local business have agreed to cover the initial costs for bidding, Daley's stance has softened a good bit. "The mayor definitely supports the idea," a top mayoral aide said. "The tipping point in his change of heart was business leaders who are willing to front the costs; big donors want to position Chicago as a contender... [There are] folks who are willing to front the costs who were not willing before."

So if others are picking up the tab and bringing the Olympics to Chicago would inject a great deal of money into the local economy and create a lot of jobs, then why not support it?