Posted on 04/14/2007 2:27:02 PM PDT by RWR8189
WASHINGTON -- An effort that came as something of a surprise when it was initiated a year ago produced another surprise Saturday, when Olympic ingénue Chicago beat Games veteran Los Angeles to become the U.S. bid city for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
``We are very grateful the United States Olympic Committee has given us this opportunity,'' Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan said after the USOC board of directors voted for what could become the first Midwest Olympics since the St. Louis Summer Games of 1904.
Chicago now moves into the international phase of the competition, which begins officially Sept. 15, when candidates must submit their bids to the International Olympic Committee. The IOC will select the 2016 host in October 2009.
USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth said before making the announcement that it was "a very tough decision."
When he made the announcement, cheers erupted from the Chicago contingent in the audience, and Mayor Richard Daley stood and shook hands with several people in the front row.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
I got tickets for the water handball and cycling at the Daley Velodrome...
Wooo Hoo..
Went to the ‘76 Summer Games in Montreal...spent a whole day at the trap and skeet shooting venue. You could stand right behind them as they shot...
See what I mean Tomkow
They’re gonna party tonight.
Good for Chicago! What a wonderful city, until the people realise that $500,000,000.00 will have to be put up front to secure the games. Extortion, yes. But, what does one expect from Hizzonore? More taxes.
Fantastic..... Chicago is a great city.....
New Olympic sport...hippie baton beatings.
What a security nightmare that would be.
Has any American city in modern (say, post WW II) times that hosted a summer Olympic Games ever recovered its up-front costs? (This is not a rhetorical question - I have no idea, and would genuinely like to know the answer.)
Mitt Romney rescued the Salt Lake Winter games, they made money...didn’t Atlanta finish well too?
I think Romney’s Salt Lake City games was the first time an olympic event turned a profit.
excerpt..
USOC picks Chicago to bid for 2016 Games By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070414/ap_on_sp_ol/oly_usoc2016;_ylt=AhdtMA1LGi6OL6f5BItujqtvzwcF
By choosing Chicago instead of Los Angeles, the 11-member USOC board of directors went with a city that needs to do plenty of work if it’s going to be the 2016 host. Los Angeles already had most venues in place, having held the Summer Games in 1984 — when the Olympics were run by Ueberroth — and in 1932.
Chicago, meanwhile, offered a bid that hinges on new facilities, mostly situated around the downtown lakefront and nearby parks. The centerpiece would be an 80,000-seat, $366 million temporary Olympic stadium that would be built in historic Washington Park. Chicago’s plans also call for a $1.1 billion lakefront village that would be built near the convention center just south of downtown.
The lakefront plan repeatedly was mentioned as a key factor.
Didn’t know that. I was stationed overseas during the SLC Games; caught what I could on the BBC (was in the UK at the time), but they focused, understandably enough, on the UK teams and issues.
I was stationed in AL with a guy who got detailed to the Atlanta Games (a bunch of military officers were assigned to this duty apparently) for security issues, and from what I gathered Atlanta lost money on the deal.
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, smiles as he speaks with reporters after Chicago's presentation to the U.S. Olympic Committee in Washington Saturday, April 14, 2007. Representatives from Chicago and Los Angeles delivered the cities' final pitches for being a candidate to host the 2016 Summer Games, then waited Saturday to hear the results of a U.S. Olympic Committee vote. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley responds Monday, April. 2, 2007, to an earlier announcement by the city's police superintendent Phil Cline that Cline was retiring as his department deals with two highly publicized videotaped beatings involving off-duty police officers. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
I think Atlanta tanked, but I think LA was a smash success..
The O’hare project should be ramping up pretty soon.
Where are the construction companies going to get the bodies to do the work for both of these major projects ?
You...over there with your hand up ! Yes, the unions will start embracing illegals...good answer.
I believe the 1984 Olympics in LA generated a profit, hence the subsequent professional success of Ueberroth. I could be mistaken, though. I attended weightlifting that year (at Loyola Marymount), with tickets previously reserved for the East Germans.
"Chicago Mayor Richard Daley responds to a reporter's question about how many USOC officials he had to bribe to win the 2016 Olympic Games bid."
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