Chicago Tops L.A. in Olympic Power Ranking

By Todd McClamroch in News on Mar 28, 2007 3:43PM

Chicagoist has stated several times that we think whether you like it or not, Chicago has a strong chance of winning the 2016 Olympics. The United States Olympic Committee is expected to select either Chicago or Los Angeles as its representative for the 2016 bid on April 14. The website, aroundtherings.com, feels Chicago has the edge over Los Angeles.

Around the Rings performed a review that resulted in a "power index" for each city. Chicago scored a 71, three points better than Los Angeles. Chicago's public transportation and venue plans, in addition to the legacy the games would leave, were some of the reasons Chicago scored better.

Both cities continue to try and make last-minute impressions. The Chicago 2016 bid committee are running ads this week that say "Welcome to Chicago" in 12 languages. This message may be a bit premature. If Chicago gets the nod on April 14, it will then need to step up its efforts to compete for the games on the world stage against cities like Madrid, Rio de. Janeiro, Prague and Tokyo.