Olympic Fail.

[bleubird]

Rio 2016.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/rio2016/rio-olympics-broke-rio-1.3654212
Corruption,pollution,crime,incompetence,Zika,and corporate greed.
The whole Olympic model is flawed.
I say put the Summer games in Athens for ever and move the winter games based on the best climate data.

 

[Tigers!]

You have my IOC committee vote.

 

[Colonel Sanders]

Yep. One spot for the Summer games; Athens. Or if it must be moved around, it should be held in a place with an already in-place infrastructure and economy that can handle it. The U.S., France, Germany, China, Japan, Australia, etc. can all handle such an event without difficulty or controversy. Same goes with the World Cup.

For the Winter games, nothing south of the latitude of Canada's southern border should qualify.

 

[Thomas II]

Rio 2016.
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/rio2016/rio-olympics-broke-rio-1.3654212
Corruption,pollution,crime,incompetence,Zika,and corporate greed.
The whole Olympic model is flawed.
I say put the Summer games in Athens for ever and move the winter games based on the best climate data.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Geez. Rio's tourism department isn't very good. If I were them, I'd change their slogan.

 

[Bomb#20]

I say put the Summer games in Athens for ever

You have my IOC committee vote.

Yep. One spot for the Summer games; Athens.

Have you people gone mad?

Athens air pollution found at 15 times above EU alert level

 

[ronburgundy]

You have my IOC committee vote.

Yep. One spot for the Summer games; Athens.

Have you people gone mad?

Athens air pollution found at 15 times above EU alert level

Did you notice that this air pollution was specific to winter and the increased use of fireplaces and wood stoves, due to skyrocketing costs of heating oil?
IOW, does not apply to Summer.

Of course, there is also Summer time pollution in Athens, but not to this level and the influx of tourism dollars would allow for the costly measures needed to reduce the pollution.
Regardless, the idea of one or few repeated locations makes sense. At minimum, the same location should be used for 3 consecutive Olympics to maximize gains and minimize costs.

 

[crispy]

How about we stop wasting money for these idiotic events?

 

[Colonel Sanders]

How about we stop wasting money for these idiotic events?

You don't have to watch or attend. Lots of people like the Olympic Games. Billions of people in fact. Your approval isn't necessary.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

How about we stop wasting money for these idiotic events?

You don't have to watch or attend. Lots of people like the Olympic Games. Billions of people in fact. Your approval isn't necessary.

If his tax dollars weren't paying for it, that would be a legitimate rebuttal. Just like people who don't like wars had no obligation to sit back and shut up when their money was used to bomb Iraq, people who think that the Olympics are a waste of their cash have a stake and a valid voice about it, no matter if they watch or not. He's being forced into participation even if he ignores it.

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

The Olympics have outlived their usefulness. There are world championships in just about every sport; the logistics of bringing more than 10,000 athletes together at the same time is overwhelming; and the economics make no sense.

But the Games do a great job of lining the pockets of IOC members.

 

[bleubird]

Did London make money in 2012?
One of the problems with the Olympics is the time frame.How can we know what the economics of a city will be in twenty years.

 

[repoman]

With Climate Change coming like a freight train the Winter Olympics may be doomed.

 

[bilby]

With Climate Change coming like a freight train the Winter Olympics may be doomed.

Not really. They just need creative venue planning. Mount Erebus isn't going to lack snow and ice any time soon.

 

[ronburgundy]

This is a pretty good article on some of the reasons why hosting the Olympics is almost guaranteed to be a net loss for most taxpayers.

It explains why even in an ideal world where the bids were created by rational people with the interests of most taxpayers in mind, the expected gain would be minimal and on average cities would just break even. But since no committee for any Olympic bid is rational and unbiased, this ensures that most taxpayers will lose. Committees are almost always dominated by the people who stand to profit the most, such as construction and architecture companies, bankers, and lawyers. They don't pay the costs but reap most of the benefits, so they put forth extravagant proposals that lie about true costs and that they know will mean a loss to the city but a personal gain for themselves.

The fact that the OEC forces cities to engage in a 10 year long bidding war that is not only costly itself (it cost Chicago $70,000,000 just to lose the 2016 bid), but ensures that all bidders keep increasing the promises and costs above what were probably already extravagant numbers in their initial bids.

As for long term tourism, there is no reason to think the TV exposure would do much for any major city already known and well thought of. Thus, the very cities that have the kind of infrastructure that can handle the Olympics are those least likely to see much long term tourism benefits.

 

[Bomb#20]

A memento from the Montreal Olympics...

(Drapeau was the mayor. His financial projections were, um, optimistic. The Olympics lost a billion dollars and it took the city 30 years to pay off the debt.
(Morgantaler was the doctor who overthrew Canada's anti-abortion laws, and its judges' authority to convict after jury acquittals.))

 

[bilby]

This excellent documentary by John Clarke, Gina Riley and Brian Dawes, about the Organising Committee for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney exposes the real truth about how these things are done:

[YOUTUBE]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fqsHaFp5l3E[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Thomas II]

The issue of doping at the Olympic Games is relevant because it speaks of the quality of the achievements attained...

 

[Colonel Sanders]

You don't have to watch or attend. Lots of people like the Olympic Games. Billions of people in fact. Your approval isn't necessary.

If his tax dollars weren't paying for it, that would be a legitimate rebuttal. Just like people who don't like wars had no obligation to sit back and shut up when their money was used to bomb Iraq, people who think that the Olympics are a waste of their cash have a stake and a valid voice about it, no matter if they watch or not. He's being forced into participation even if he ignores it.

My tax dollars go to shit I don't want and that I get no enjoyment from. Oh well. That's the way it is.

In the U.S. the Olympics cost each taxpayer such an insignificant amount, that the amount of entertainment available for the expenditure is a tremendous value. And it's entertainment for the entire world.

It's a different story when you have nations like Brazil who first lost their ass on the World Cup and a few short years later are losing it again. If crispy lives in Brazil, then sure, he/she has a legitimate gripe. So put it in nations that can absorb the likely losses that come with the Olympics and the World Cup. But if crispy lives in Japan, where the Summer games will be held in 2020, then his paycheck will be so slightly effected that it will never be noticed.

And in 2024, it looks like either Europe or the U.S. will host

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Summer_Olympics#Candidate_cities

Unfortunately, Baku, Azerbaijan was apparently not considered a serious contender.

 

[Derec]

Did London make money in 2012?
One of the problems with the Olympics is the time frame.How can we know what the economics of a city will be in twenty years.

I think they did. They were able to organize the games for a fraction of Beijing or Sochi (ridiculous cost for Winter Games btw) and the infrastructure and facilities built can be used by the citizens on an ongoing basis.

- - - Updated - - -

With Climate Change coming like a freight train the Winter Olympics may be doomed.

There are palm trees in Sochi. Nothing technology and presence of some nearby mountains can't fix.