Posted on 07/30/2016 5:35:10 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
I am, however, an Olymposceptic. I always opposed holding them in London, and never wavered even during the 17 days four summers ago when even my staunchest allies faltered. I felt like the man in trunks on a nudist beach; the unbeliever at a mass Moonie wedding. Late one night I bared my soul to a kindly colleague who had spent seven years covering every detail of the build-up. “I drank the Kool-Aid,” he admitted. “It was the only way to cope.”... Zimbalist cites 19 different reports from 2002 onwards showing that Olympic and World Cup hosts derived minimal or negative benefits in employment, tourism and general growth. The empty hotel room has become as much a symbol of the Olympics as the five rings. Mostly, as in London, this reality is tucked away under layers of propaganda, although the locus classicus remains Montreal 1976. “The Olympics can no more have a deficit than a man can have a baby,” swanked Mayor Jean Drapeau. That baby was 30 years old before the city paid off the debt.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Could have been Chicongo this week! Dilma/Rahm, same/same. One pack of crooks is the same as another.
Peter Uberoth showed everyone how it’s done.
If they choose to use the Montreal method...
...sucks to be them.
The host city loses lots of money. A bunch of “connected” people make LOTS of money. It’s how things go.
I only care about the opening ceremonies, and a few obscure sports like archery, and curling.
This year I want to see if all of Rio will turn into an Olympic caldron at some point.
I will always be proud of Denver for being the first city to reject an Olympic games.
Never seen the 'opening'?
So there must be two that like it, You and the guy the reporter spoke with!
Uberroth got a break, because in 1984 security costs were only a few hundred million, a fraction of total costs.
Now, security runs over $2 billion each Games (getting closer to 3), and unlike spending on facilities - where at least you got something to keep & use after the games - you never get any of that back.
And guess who gets to pick up the tab for this expensive 2-week elitist party? The poor taxpayers in whatever city is stupid enough to get stuck with it. Oh, but they get to boast that their city is now “world-class”!
Olympics are a ripoff.
Anymore it seems like they televise more feel good features and less actual sporting events. The opening and closing ceremonies are basically leftist propoganda, we are the world type garbage.
Good point about security being a major cost for Olympics. Uberroth ran a tight ship in 1984 Olympics in LA. The locals drove less so that the athletes could have clean air more. A friend cooked for the rowers at the ‘84 Olympics and told me that the huge athletes ate 6000 calories for breakfast every morning. Wow. Since then the Olympics are an ATM machine for the few. Rio: what a lame place for global athletes.
Between Denver and Colorado Springs (including the Air Force Academy and Olympic Training Center), I believe you have more sports than anywhere else on the planet.
Sadly, many people get steamrolled by the games, but I didn’t know the numbers before this article.
I’ve long thought the games should be held at one permanent location. Such a waste of money, a new city each time...
“Uberroth got a break, because in 1984 security costs were only a few hundred million, a fraction of total costs.
Now, security runs over $2 billion each Games (getting closer to 3), and unlike spending on facilities - where at least you got something to keep & use after the games - you never get any of that back.”
It’s not news that “costs are higher”. Revenues are higher as well.
My point was comparing Uberoth’s private sector approach, which saved the Olympics, to other less successful ones.
And “getting a facility” is not necessarily an economic boon, they cost a lot of money to operate.
I have not kept up with the Olympics for many years.
It has deteriorated just like everything else. If I happen to know the mens sprints and hurdles are on, I will watch that. Nothing else.
It, seriously, now reminds me of the North Korean ‘Mass Games’ festivities.
And a multifaceted exercise in hypocrisy as athletes who train and live full time in Western luxury go ‘home’ to represent Goat****istan and pretend their ‘home’ nation isn’t a nest of terrorist vipers.
Everyone pretends the dictators and socialists are not dictators and socialists and that doctators and socialists really want peace and harmony.
And which nation always needs airtight security? Israel, thanks to the Muslim scum, some of them in athletic gear and in positions of authority who want Israel wiped off the map.
I stopped watching the Olympics completely around the time they had the NBA players start competing (early Nineties??)
The last Olympics I watched intensively was the 1976 Winter Olympics, then I began losing interest.
I did watch a lot of hockey 1n 1980 because I was playing a lot at that time and was really into it (I HATED the Soviet hockey team) and that was a good time.
I don’t know exactly what it was that made me lose interest, but I have as much interest in it now as I do in watching Oprah, which is exactly none.
I visited the 1936 Winter Olympics facilities in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in June this year. The Winter Olympics stadium was extremely modest by modern standards. There are high school football teams playing in nicer stadiums. Hockey and figure skating events were on a modest pond (the Riessersee).
The Olympics doesn’t need to be about prestige and money. But it is. I hate the TV coverage.
Like the NBA, MLB and the NFL, the Olympics are dead to me.
I liked it when they had the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia and that would be a good permanent place to have them.
The British and Europeans think the whole world is waiting with baited breath for the Olympics to start and that the competition has world-wide importance. My European friends don’t believe me when I say that in the US, most people don’t give a damn and many don’t know where or when the games take place.
Personally, I don’t care and won’t be watching them.
Of course everything’s higher, but if you look at percentages for each Olympics, you can see the security portion growing each time. Now, it’s almost 80-90% of a total Olympic Games budget, all non-recoverable.
The main reason is because organizers always want to hold their Games in the middle of a big city - a perfect target for terrorists.
There IS a way around that, but then the Games would have to be held either on a remote island, on bald prairie, or inside a large military base - and anything that comes near will be shot down.
But “Ft. Le Jeune 2024” isn’t very marketing-friendly ...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.