Posted on 10/02/2014 7:50:28 AM PDT by Scoutmaster
OSLO, Norway -- Oslo said it has dropped its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics after the Norwegian government declined Wednesday to provide financial backing, a move which leaves just two cities in a race that has been decimated by withdrawals.
After Oslo's withdrawal, Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan are the only two cities left vying to host the 2022 Games.
Members of the ruling Conservative party members voted against giving financial guarantees to the bid amid concerns the games would be too costly. The junior partner in the minority coalition voted against the bid four months ago, and polls have shown more than 50 percent of the public were opposed to the bid.
The city of Oslo said it withdrew its application for government financial backing because it likely would not be approved by Parliament.
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(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Beijing? Only 14 years between hosting duties.
Its like paying for a massive wedding to marry a woman you can’t stand and will divorce a few months later.
Kazakhastan by all means! The accommodations will be right there with those in Sochi.
I think Beijing will get it.
Kazahkstan is just too unknown. IOC members would have to step out of their comfort zone to award it to that Central Asian country.
I think only dictatorships or countries with self-esteem problems, like Brazil, are going to host the Olympics in the future. The costs for hosting what is basically a two week party is too much.
Why would anybody want that toxic stew of media/government/corporatists in their city, anyway?
Winter Olympics are a bad proposition for the host city. A summer Olympics, if managed correctly, can turn out OK, but winter requires too many specialized facilities that will be hard to turn into profitable tourist attractions or other local infrastructure.
As such, only places with a very strong economy and a large and diverse enough population to make “niche” tourism profitable even have a chance of hosting a winter Olympics without taking massive losses. The US (historically, at least) has been able to do so, but few others.
Ditch the Olympic village crap and use existing venues.
That kind of cost cutting would open the door for a lot of cities to bring a shot of revenue in without the massive outlay of building a bunch of spectacular stadiums that will be used once.
Which side is Obama for? The other side gets it.
Beijing will win it because they are the only country left that can throw $Billions at the venue construction, organize tens of thousands of peasant workers to build it, and will keep the bribes to IOC leaders totally quiet.
At least Beijing could re-use some of the infrastructure from the Summer Games a few years ago.
The problem is that building expensive new facilities, upgrading roads, public transportation networks and public infrastructure are a considerable financial outlay.
Few countries can afford to build world class winter sports venues. That’s why I expect it to be awarded to China which is a developed country with a winter sports tradition.
For that reason alone, Kazakhstan doesn’t stand a chance.
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Borat could cover it.
I'm no fan of the Chicoms, but they put on a great show back in 2008, they have the money to do it right and they take security seriously. Kazakhstan is likely to either fighting a civil war or fighting off an invasion, there's too many risks.
Go back to skiing and skating.
Simpler was better. I’ve always been a fan of the sports that could be measured over anything that have to be judged.
If you can’t time it, weigh it, measure it, or count it...a tape, a scale, a clock, a counter...then it might be ‘athletic’ but it isn’t a ‘sport’.
Yea, but those were different cities.
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