Thoughts on how to select Olympic venues

[scott43]

That is a very good question. My contact within the IOC tells me they were concerned when places like Innsbruck and Oslo backed out leaving them with just the traditional winter sports Meccas of, ummmm, Beijing or Kazakhstan. They justify it by saying that "well, the Russian games were anonymously expensive, and scared some cities off." The message is out, but has not yet really sunk in deep enough. A lot will depend on the current games, as to both whether these non-tradition venues provide good games and are a plus to the hosts.

Ask F1...talk about irrelevancy...

 

[newfydog]

I suppose one question could be, does the Olympics need to be champagne and caviar?

Absolutely! Free at every venue for the chosen few.

 

[scott43]

Absolutely! Free at every venue for the chosen few.

Well, except for YOU of course!!

 

[newfydog]

"anomalously" expensive, not "anonymously". I could blame it on spell check, but probably I was out skiing, at least mentally, when others learned to spell.

 

[Bart Parnell]

I'm sure Lake Placid would love the billions. Of other people's money.

It's basically welfare for business owners. And that's all well and good except for the part about jail and guns if you don't pay into the honey pot.

 

[mdf]

...
Maybe it will go well for LA. Hope so.

What's to keep LA from telling the IOC to go pound sand when the time comes to set up the special traffic lanes and the other nonsense?
It's not like they can switch cities at the last minute. And even the IOC might recognize that throwing a fit because they were not pampered enough would look bad.

 

[jack97]

Seems most developed western economies don't want to host the summer games but the winter games is not much of a burden.

IMO, the money use to bribe selection committee members should go to areas that need it. I say make Greece the permanent site for summer, their economy is tanking and dragging the EU with it. Winter games in Finland so they won't have to spend so much money to patrol its border with Russia. They would never attack, well least every 4 years or so.

 

[HardDaysNight]

And serve them Korbel instead of Krug. That’ll learn ‘em!

 

[Kyle]

I agree 100% with 4ster. My family and I had a great time when the Olympics were in SLC in 2002. There was an energy and excitement that was truly unique. We had been warned about traffic nightmares etc. but everything was OK as long as you didn’t expect to pull right up next to the venue. It was a lot more fun than it was a hassle. I think it would be great to have them back and I would try to attend a lot of events if it returns. One of my big regrets is that we did not make it up to Vancouver for the games there since I am sure it was a lot of fun and Vancouver is one of my favorite places.

Would it be better with the IOC BS? For sure. FIFA is a big joke as well but it does not stop me from watching the World Cup etc. We have watched a lot of the current Winter Games as well. It does make me laugh that the current WInter Olympics and the next WInter Olympics are being held in places with very little natural snowfall.

It would totally make sense to use a rota of cities for the games with the facilities in place. Will it happen? Not over the IOC’s dead bodies since most of their power appears to derive from the selection process. Hopefully, I am wrong on this point but I just don’t see it happening.

 

[Bart Parnell]

What will happen in reality is that the IOC will mosey along until the cities dry up OR the television networks realize these are losses. Money rules, actual attendance at the event is nothing.

As logical as a permanent location would be, there would be less new money entering the games and after a few cycles they would be abandoned due to declining viewership.

Then each sport could proceed independently and host world championships and what not.

As for the Winter Olympics it's 50% ice capades already so why just watch the skating contests and exhibits?

I already know from watching that the World Cup ski races are better run, more challenging, and over the season they are more fair.

Remember the Olympics started up again before there were many modern sports organizations hosting international events. Now every Olympic sport has these organizations and a schedule of events... so the Olympics are redundant.

Like the UN, the Olympics isn't about promoting peace (or we'd see Russians competing) it's just a scam.

 

[Lorenzzo]

Maybe the Greeks had it right. They had 1 venue where the games were held each time. (War was also banned during the month prior and after the games)

Choose one location in the world and building it up with with facilities that would be of truly Olympic stature and quality to be used every 4 years with perhaps World Championship competition on the even years in between. It could be located in a winter sure location. It could be initially funded by contributions of the participating nations, perhaps "X" % of their annual military expenditure? Nations could send a delegation but would have to meet the funding rules that other nations followed. The site should be located in a neutral location, hello Switzerland Liechtenstein or the like.

If the IOC did not like this, great, we do have a UN to help facilitate such activities.

I am returning to my corner now to take my meds and wax my ski poles.

One venue? Pffft...where's the graft opportunity in that?

The way it should be done is by maximizing reward to IOC members, even if the alpine venue is so unappealing it's allowed to return to it's natural state after the games, even if wind makes the competitions dangerous, unfair and unplannable, even if it never really snows there, even if it's too warm for snow, too short for DH, even if... oh wait...that's how they're doing it now.

 

[scott43]

Like the UN, the Olympics isn't about promoting peace (or we'd see Russians competing) it's just a scam.

I would say, the IOC could actually do something about their irrelevancy..the UN, on the other hand, has no chance of correcting its ineptitude..but yes, both are somewhat ridiculous..

 

[Karen_skier2.0]

It seems every time the US gets an opportunity the US folks in that city don't want anything do to with it. Folks in Minneapolis didn't want the SuperBowl either.. Maybe instead of having people bid on them cities with the most basic required terrain and venues should be REQUIRED to be available to host. If you decline being in a lottery to become the host on any given year your athletes won't be allowed to participate. Just a thought. Otherwise we're stuck with the current mode where only a small handful of nations are actually interested in hosting. Everyone else just wants to be guests and participants..

Sounds like planning a reunion. Everyone wants one, but no one wants to participate in organizing the event.

 

[Karen_skier2.0]

Sorry to be a downer, but I have had about 5 lifetimes of live sporting events. With rare exception, I’d rather watch on TV

Exceptions? Pretty short list:
Wimbledon (I have been a few times as a spectator, and broadcast it twice)
US Open Tennis (once was enough)
Daytona 500 (very cool, but once was enough)
The Masters (I will get to watch it on TV this year for the first time in 18 years, yep, I have worked the past 18)
Ryder Cup (every golf fan should go at least once) .....(I have worked everyone since 1999) .....(Better on TV)
Kitzbühel (This one is on my bucket list, but tough to fit into my work schedule)

I am sure there are a few more, but that gives you an idea of my take on attending sporting events.

After being at Deer Valley for Freestyle World Cups and the Olympics, I wouldn't trade it for the world! There was such energy in the crowd. Everyone cheered for everyone--you just cheered even louder for the Americans.

 

[Primoz]

I'm sure Lake Placid would love the billions. Of other people's money.
It's basically welfare for business owners.

I'm not really sure it's true. I have heard some stories from London that McDonalds, as one of IOC top sponsors, actually managed to get through some sort of order for local pubs around stadiums and along "official Olympic routes" to stop selling fish'n'chips (not really something what McDonalds would invent, but it interferes with their french fries) and few other things. So for local business owners (unless it's about local Mcdonalds), I'm not really sure Olympics are such a big thing.

What's to keep LA from telling the IOC to go pound sand when the time comes to set up the special traffic lanes and the other nonsense?

Probably contract, which would mean penalties in billions of $

 

[crgildart]

2026 Winter - Calgary....everything is still there and being used. SLC should be in the same boat. Time to reduce, reuse, recycle.

THIS! Every G20 nation who wants to send decent sized teams to the events should be required to also maintain facilities suitable to host and be available to host, i.e. in a lottery with the obligation to host when their nation is randomly chosen. The local competitors should train at those host city facilities to help keep the infrastructure well maintained. Nothing sadder than to see an entire Olympic Complex rot away.

 

[mdf]

The optimistic projection would be that as the IOC prices itself out of existance, the lack of suckers, erh, willing hosts, will create pressure towards reuse of existing facilities.

 

[crgildart]

The optimistic projection would be that as the IOC prices itself out of existance, the lack of suckers, erh, willing hosts, will create pressure towards reuse of existing facilities.

A new majorly well funded player steps up to form a new Global Competition Community Organization to offer an alternative. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos come to mind..

That said, I still believe that hosting should be more of an obligation where everyone with a major congregation going annually should be required to maintain facilities capable of hosting and those cities would be chosen randomly each time.. More like a jury duty obligation and responsibility than some privilege that folks bribe the IOC to attain...

 

[newfydog]

Here's an interesting perspective:


Ban the Olympics
They encourage profligate spending and help dictators burnish their prestige. Who needs them?

https://www.theatlantic.com/interna...ail&utm_term=0_6f2e93382a-2a897b1704-83348421

 

[crgildart]

Here's an interesting perspective:


Ban the Olympics
They encourage profligate spending and help dictators burnish their prestige. Who needs them?

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/ban-the-olympics/553250/?utm_source=Fareed's+Global+Briefing&utm_campaign=2a897b1704-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_19&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6f2e93382a-2a897b1704-83348421

A lot of that chaos and turmoil (and homelessness) would be resolved by requiring participating nations to keep and maintain adequate hosting facilities ALL THE TIME in order to be eligible to compete (assuming there is a certain GDP threshold where poorer nations are exempt from that requirement). Persuade them to keep those facilities in use for training and other events perpetuating the jobs and economic flows associated with the complexes. That way nobody's houses are getting torn down and nobody's livelihoods are subject to the chaos that running in to build then abandoning state of the art facilities somewhere every 4 years currently causes.