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'The Olympics are dead': Does anyone want to be a host city any more?
UK Guardian ^
| July 28, 2015
| Les Carpenter
Posted on 07/29/2015 6:52:54 AM PDT by C19fan
The reason Bostons residents didnt want to be Athens is the same reason the residents of Oslo or Krakow or Stockholm dont want to be Athens. Hosting an Olympics is a corporate sinkhole sucking billions of dollars and a citys future into a bottomless abyss of excess.
The internet is clogged with slide shows of empty, broken, useless stadiums built in the euphoria of a coming Olympics or World Cup then abandoned soon after, allowed to fill with weeds, rodents and other signs of human escape. Is there a better sign of Greeces collapse than a pile of useless sports facilities crumbling since the torch went out in the summer of 2004? What use did Athens have for a baseball stadium anyway? Its crumbling among the weeds just like the field hockey venue, the canoeing center and the training pool green with algae.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: corruption; olympics
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To: 2banana
That’s how it was during the 1979 Pan-American Games in Puerto Rico. We used existing facilities, including school gyms. The athletes were housed in an unused and refurbished public housing project.
41
posted on
07/29/2015 7:25:05 AM PDT
by
cll
(Serviam!)
To: Twotone
I wonder how much they could save by dropping 80% of the sports. Fewer things to be held simultaneously means fewer venues / facilities needed and less likelihood a special facility has to be built for only that one sport.
And fewer sports means fewer athletes to host and attendee tickets reserved for family and more for the public.
Another option is moving the Olympics back to facilities that hosted it recently, reusing relatively new facilities.
42
posted on
07/29/2015 7:25:26 AM PDT
by
tbw2
To: C19fan
Summer should be in one place because it costs too much.
Winter is far easier to put on and there are many places that are built to host it, and it actually helps their tourism in the long run.
To: dfwgator
I was six at the time but it still leaves a lump in my throat. Some say the "War on Terror" (as of now, we are not fighting it anymore and even aiding the terrorists but that's for another time) started a Munich, after that, that's when they put in metal detectors at airports. I think prior to that in 1972, terrorists took an Israeli plane hostage and blew it up with 26 people aboard, that could have been the start of it. Some even say it started with Sirhan Sirhan shot RFK in 1968. Whatever one believes, I do believe Munich was one huge step down this road we are on now. Jim McKay was one class act.
I'd like to see Lake Placid host the Winter games again, the facilities are still there for 1980 so there ya go. Maybe Tokyo was a wise choice for 2020, I'm sure the 1964 facilities are still there. BTW, the 1964 games were the first televised via satellite and in color.
44
posted on
07/29/2015 7:29:40 AM PDT
by
Nowhere Man
("I wish we were back in the world of Andy Williams." - My mother, 1938-2013, RIP)
To: Twotone
I believe that when the Olympics were restarted, after a thousand and some years, the original plan was to have them only in Greece. That plan was vetoed.
To: C19fan
Bet the Olympics bureaucrats aren’t broke.
46
posted on
07/29/2015 7:33:38 AM PDT
by
P.O.E.
(Pray for America)
To: Nowhere Man
DFW submitted a bid at one point, was going to use Cowboys Stadium as the host venue, use all the college and pro stadiums around the Metroplex for most of the venues. USOC didn’t like that idea.
47
posted on
07/29/2015 7:34:12 AM PDT
by
rstrahan
To: Mr. Jeeves
Yeah, skipping three gold medal finals to do a twenty minute profile of a guy from Youngstown, Ohio who finished seventh in the luge and is working at Pizza Hut to put his terminally ill sister through college is not a winning broadcast strategy. :)
There is a time and place for that, during down time and reviews of the day's events. BTW, I always thought we should divvy up the games and events with the three, well, four networks, give people a choice. If I want to watch synchronized swimming and curling and it is on CBS, I'd go there and so on. Either that, or open up new subchannels with the HDTV system we have now, the NBC affiliaties could open up say channels 9.4, 9.5 and 9.6 and so on in addtion to 9.1 (where I live, Steubenville, OH is the NBC station) and put the smaller events people want to see on the subchannels. Even if they are in the old 480 line standard-def, a least people still can see them.
48
posted on
07/29/2015 7:34:48 AM PDT
by
Nowhere Man
("I wish we were back in the world of Andy Williams." - My mother, 1938-2013, RIP)
To: LouAvul
Oh now you are bringing back memories of the Claudine Longet Ski Invitational!
49
posted on
07/29/2015 7:35:24 AM PDT
by
xp38
To: rstrahan
Dallas would have been perfect. BTW, I often wondered how Pittsburgh could host the games (I’m from there and still in the general area here in Eastern Ohio) but it could be a nightmare with the limited access highway system and so on as Mom pointed out at one time. It would not be bad for water sports with the Three Rivers.
50
posted on
07/29/2015 7:37:34 AM PDT
by
Nowhere Man
("I wish we were back in the world of Andy Williams." - My mother, 1938-2013, RIP)
To: tbw2
It should be rolled back to the events that existed during the 72 Games, that was plenty enough as it was.
51
posted on
07/29/2015 7:37:58 AM PDT
by
dfwgator
To: Nowhere Man
ABC managed to engage its viewers. Its hard to explain why, but I was far more interested in how the US participants were doing and followed them much more closely.
Maybe it was having to wait until the telecast aired at 7, maybe it was the Cold War atmosphere, maybe it was because our athletes really were amateur underdogs.
52
posted on
07/29/2015 7:38:02 AM PDT
by
skeeter
To: xp38
Oh now you are bringing back memories of the Claudine Longet Ski Invitational! Only the warped mind of the late Michael O'Donoghue could come up with that one.
53
posted on
07/29/2015 7:38:49 AM PDT
by
dfwgator
To: Michael.SF.
But then recall the 1984 Olympics. LA did not go broke, they used (reused) existing facilities and the event was spectacular.
The problem is, the Olympic committee REQUIRES a certain percentage of facilities to be new or renovated with a certain amount of money, etc... The host city MUST spend X-number of dollars on infrastructure upgrades, x-number of dollars on medical facilities, etc...! The whole thing is a Democrat/Socialist boondoggle! It is a HUGE ponzi scheme, wrapped in a patriotic package, about whose country is the best.
They SAY it is designed to help invigorate or reinvigorate an area, city, etc... But, the fact is, almost every Olympic venue turns into a ghost town, because other than when the Olympics were in town, there is NO NEED for a 125K seat stadium! I mean, it would be impossible for over 80% of NFL teams to fill stadiums that large and they have die-hard fan bases!
54
posted on
07/29/2015 7:38:51 AM PDT
by
ExTxMarine
(Public sector unions: A & B agreeing on a contract to screw C!)
To: skeeter
. Its hard to explain why, but I was far more interested in how the US participants were doing and followed them much more closely. But not to the exclusion of athletes from other countries.
55
posted on
07/29/2015 7:39:49 AM PDT
by
dfwgator
To: skeeter
ABC managed to engage its viewers. Its hard to explain why, but I was far more interested in how the US participants were doing and followed them much more closely.
Maybe it was having to wait until the telecast aired at 7, maybe it was the Cold War atmosphere, maybe it was because our athletes really were amateur underdogs.
I think you hit it on the head. I think when they let pros in the Olympics, that was a huge nail in the coffin. The Cold War certainly added to it, it was great to see our team win but if we did not, we cheered for at least an ally such as Canada, UK, Japan or West Germany (and so on) to win. I still like to watch them but I do get the feeling they jumped the shark in any ways.
56
posted on
07/29/2015 7:43:17 AM PDT
by
Nowhere Man
("I wish we were back in the world of Andy Williams." - My mother, 1938-2013, RIP)
To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
See post #8. All this talk will go nowhere with the grand poohbahs in Luasanne. They run the Olympics and decide what is what. Permanent sites with continuous upgrades makes sense but like most bureaucracies they have no vision and are stuck with their old ways of doing things.
57
posted on
07/29/2015 7:44:26 AM PDT
by
xp38
To: dfwgator
Of course not. I remember Jim McKays fixation on Russian gymnasts.
But ABC did not go to the lengths NBC does to avoid appearing overtly patriotic in their coverage.
58
posted on
07/29/2015 7:45:12 AM PDT
by
skeeter
To: C19fan
It didn’t do Atlanta much good.
59
posted on
07/29/2015 7:47:06 AM PDT
by
Georgia Girl 2
(The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
To: Georgia Girl 2
It didn’t do Richard Jewell much good.
60
posted on
07/29/2015 7:50:21 AM PDT
by
dfwgator
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