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Thoughts on how to select Olympic venues

HardDaysNight

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Norway was going to bid to host another Olympics. The IOC asked for more than even they could stomach:

  • They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception. Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee.
  • Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.
  • A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members' rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge ...)
  • The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours “extra late” and the minibars must stock Coke products.
  • The IOC president shall be welcomed ceremoniously on the runway when he arrives.
  • The IOC members should have separate entrances and exits to and from the airport.
  • During the opening and closing ceremonies a fully stocked bar shall be available. During competition days, wine and beer will do at the stadium lounge.
  • IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel.
  • Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times.
  • The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC members might “risk” having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics.
The IOC issued a statement responding to Oslo's decision:

"This is a missed opportunity for the City of Oslo and for all the people of Norway who are known world-wide for being huge fans of winter sports. And it is mostly a missed opportunity for the outstanding Norwegian athletes who will not be able to reach new Olympic heights in their home country."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From first chauffeur in Sochi, to the last private lounge, it was clear that the games and the athletes really don't matter much. They are just a vehicle to dole out the perks and status for people who have far too much of that already.

Damn, I’ve missed my calling! And to think I’d have been satisfied merely being a boss man at USSA/USST with swanky cars and private chartered planes on tap.
 

crgildart

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Damn, I’ve missed my calling! And to think I’d have been satisfied merely being a boss man at USSA/USST with swanky cars and private chartered planes on tap.

Pretty sure FIFA is a sweeter gig..
 

Muleski

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What's interesting is that at the FIS WC's the organizing committees tend to bitch about how demanding the FIS brass is.....until they get reality checks like this, relative to the IOC. It makes it look like a pick-up game by comparison.
 

Tom K.

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I wonder when they hit the tipping point.

Exactly. Seems like we're getting close.

How far into the future do the games already have committed sites?
 

Muleski

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Exactly. Seems like we're getting close.

How far into the future do the games already have committed sites?

Future Olympic Host Cities
  • 2020 (Summer): Tokyo, Japan.
  • 2022 (Winter): Beijing, China.
  • 2024 (Summer): Paris, France.
  • 2026 (Winter): TBD.
  • 2028 (Summer): Los Angeles, United States.
Maybe it will go well for LA. Hope so.
 

Tom K.

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Future Olympic Host Cities
  • 2028 (Summer): Los Angeles, United States.
Maybe it will go well for LA. Hope so.

10th worst traffic in the world, worst in the U.S.

That won't help. I don't see LA dedicating any freeway lanes solely to the IOC.
 

Jim McDonald

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Dedicated traffic lanes? in LA? Who's going to enforce that?
I'm certainly NOT looking forward to 2020, and plan to get well out of town if at all possible.
The 1964 Tokyo Olympics were held in October, usually a pleasant month here.
The August body count may get nasty.
 

Franzz

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IOC is a Feudalism like régim, they respond to nobody cause it's a private corp getting $ from multinationals,
laundromats, there like's and public money.., Montréal 1976 is at $6 billions tab now with maintenance and
transformation.., Paris 2024 will get $1.7 billion private OIC money for broadcast and sponsorship,
L.A is going for $2 B's and more., tipping point is there since ever because most venue are build with public
money. And I dont talk about corruption,demographic, sociologic and human right's..

Canada's "Jean-Luc Brassard, The boss of Bumps" Lillehammer 94 was suppose to be delegation chief for Brazil 2016,
he quit 6 month before the game's barfing up at what he eard on IOC metting, like: "Where do we park the jet's".

This thing is out of control, now if you excuse me there's Women's Big Air Qualifiers on streaming)) !!​
 

Corgski

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Quite a few articles have been published over the past few years over the fact that the cost of building new infrastructure in America is many times the cost of building equivalent infrastructure in other Western countries. American cities should really not be part of this unless they can argue that for the most part their existing infrastructure is sufficient. Right now it seems that the Olympics hosting is going to be dominated by places which have a point to prove and are willing to overlook the costs to do so (LA?).

While there are questionable costs that may be able to be reduced, part of what makes the Olympics expensive is also part of the appeal. You could reduce the number of sports, but exposing people to sports they have never seen or heard of before is part of the value. You also have a huge number of athletes many of whom are absolute no hopers who could be eliminated earlier. Unfortunately increasing the standard would decimate the participation of many countries. Of course that is part of the fun too, from the Mexican "Prince" to Vanessa Mae (what do you mean you don't know who she is?!!!), competing in FIS races in South Africa (who knew?) in an attempt to qualify.
 

MarkP

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Yeah, it's kinda like that old joke..grand prize winner of the contest gets 2 tickets to go see the Cleveland Browns...second place gets 4 tickets..

Hey now!!!!!!!!

20180218_205719.jpg
 

Ohioskier

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2026 Winter - Calgary....everything is still there and being used. SLC should be in the same boat. Time to reduce, reuse, recycle.


Exactly. Also why require new infrastructure when the first works already has it. Hell lake Placid could host it now as well not money spent.

My big pet peeve is the environmental concerns that IOC mentions and being one world etc. when they force impoverished nations that have high levels of people that aren’t living at a normal first world quality of life to spend billions not feeding the poor but to build venues that will be condemned in a few years. Let them build housing with the billions and host games where stuff is already in place.

It’s appalling to watch a nation waste when people need. If they plan to support new infrastructure then great if not move to a first world with existing infrastructure and venues.
 

SSSdave

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As I mentioned in the current "attendance 208 Pyeon..." thread, both the winter and especially the winter games are too bloated. World wide tv viewers usually cannot get a good viewing of whatever sports and events they prefer because numbers of events are being held at the same time and because TV networks have a bias to events with highest ratings. Further for alpine skiing events, it is a hollow emotional experience for competing athletes if a local host nation has little interest in alpine sports as is the current case with near empty venues and the tv viewing experience watching such is embarrassing. And as others have noted the massive infrastructure involved in this era to host games is insane.

If the FIS international ski organization pulled out of the Winter Olympics with its alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, freestyle skiing and snowboarding events, it would KILL the olympics and all the ice events would need to re-invent their own games. As an outsider without personal interest in any of the competitive snow sports beyond that of a spectator, I would welcome such. But more needs to be done besides simply splitting sports and events. The snow sport events need to be repackaged for audience viewing in order to broaden their appeal beyond just the small numbers that live in snowy regions. And to do such would require making use of hi technology especially video camera aspects in ways to make events more exciting for tv viewers.

I like the idea of having snow sports hosted only in snowy regions with decent natural snows, where people love snow sports, at resorts with sizeable mountain towns right at the base of ski slopes. Towns or cities that already have most of the infrastructure both for events and for lodging visitors in place. Places where it is fun to be celebrating what snow sports are about and in the evenings both audience visitors and athletes can enjoy a rowdy happy night on the town.
 
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Muleski

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Lake Placid would have enormous challenges in hosting the Olympic Games in these times.
A lot of that infrastructure has aged. Even the alpine skiing would take great expense and effort. Work to trails on USFS land. Space to handle media. On hill structures. For that matter, perhaps lifts. Nothing like building the entire speed venue in Korea, but substantial,

The numbers of participants keeps increasing. More nations, more events, more athletes. I think the housing, within an hour or so, would be a very big challenge. Huge. I'm 99% sure that whatever was built has been repurposed. And besides, these are largely pro athletes in many sports. Guess they would rent houses. Windfall for the locals. Transportation? Huge.

Is the bigger jump big enough? It's 40 years old? Bobsled, luge and skeleton tracks are serviceable, not great. At least they are still used.

Work to be done for most all of the on snow stuff. Think the XC would be the most ready to go. Can't speak to the rest. Minor, relatively speaking, expense. Couple of million dollars? Five? Ten?

Have you been in the skating center. Seen the outdoor speed oval? The place had character. It's old now. More competitions. More games, more races....New and more venues needed? And there is zero room downtown.

I've been there a lot over the past 50 years, for ski races. Have also seen a lot of other events while there. Familiar with the OTC. Know the town and area pretty well.

I can't see it......It would be almost a complete restart.
 
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newfydog

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So, for all you guys that know something about this, is there any chance that the IOC will evenutally price themselves right out of the market, or will there always be takers?

That is a very good question. My contact within the IOC tells me they were concerned when places like Innsbruck and Oslo backed out leaving them with just the traditional winter sports Meccas of, ummmm, Beijing or Kazakhstan. They justify it by saying that "well, the Russian games were anonymously expensive, and scared some cities off." The message is out, but has not yet really sunk in deep enough. A lot will depend on the current games, as to both whether these non-tradition venues provide good games and are a plus to the hosts.
 

4ster

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I am far from convinced hosting the games is a winning proposition for the host city.

I am kinda hoping SLC does not get the games

Really??

As a “local”, I would think it would be so cool to have them in my back yard.
As a community member I am sure there would be opportunities to work/attend many events over the course of those 2 weeks.

I am sure there are many negatives to having them (as people will probably note).....but I would think it would be a cool 2 weeks......

2002 was an incredible, amazingly memorable time of my life.
The Olympics is not a sporting event, it is a life event!

It did a lot for Utah & was a boost to many improvements that were needed, including roads. Many of the venues are still in use. Look at the Olympic Park. I would gladly see an Olympic return.
 

scott43

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Lake Placid would have enormous challenges in hosting the Olympic Games in these times.
*snip*
I can't see it......It would be almost a complete restart.
I suppose one question could be, does the Olympics need to be champagne and caviar? Or can it be less than that? Based on Korea, I certainly don't think they need much spectator space.. Obviously that's partly cultural. Unfortunately the answer is yes, it does need to be champagne and caviar because, well, the IOC is big pimpin yo... :huh:
 

BC.

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2002 was an incredible, amazingly memorable time of my life.
The Olympics is not a sporting event, it is a life event!

It did a lot for Utah & was a boost to many improvements that were needed, including roads. Many of the venues are still in use. Look at the Olympic Park. I would gladly see an Olympic return.


Exactly......That's what I thought......that is why it totally surprised me to see somebody/others that did not want to see it come back to SLC?????

I would think it would be a total positive for an already established Olympic/training community...........
 

scott43

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Exactly......That's what I thought......that is why it totally surprised me to see somebody/others that did not want to see it come back to SLC?????

I would think it would be a total positive for an already established Olympic/training community...........
Well..I would say..that's great for a few people..but there are a whole lot who just don't give a crap and would rather have that money in their pocket..
 
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