2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

[French Rage]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

My personal belief is they should now look into one location to have it at every four years.

Pretty much this. If they can pick a location that already has everything, all the better. Even if they decide to pick a place to build from scratch, at least in that case they can decide to build with the intent of using it often, and the fact that the games would be back every 4 years means it wouldn't fall into disrepair. For that matter, intermediate games other than the Olympics might even make use of it, as it would be a one-stop shop for all the stadia/resources you would need. (For example, maybe pick Athens for the summer, for its history and to help the Greek economy. The fact that people will keep coming back will make them keep it in good shape rather than falling into a ghost town.) The idea of moving it around the world all of the time maybe made sense 70 years ago when there was less TV/radio and it was harder to travel off of your own continent, but nowadays it's just old-fashioned and a waste of cities' resources.

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

The LA games did not have to deal with the astronomical (but probably needed) security costs post 9/11.

Did you forget about Munich which happened in 1972?

When I was involved in Lake Placid in 1980, I got to see some of the training the Green Berets were doing and talk to some of them. Trust me, the security costs were already extremely high before 9/11 thanks to Munich. BTW, the orders for the Green Berets were essentially, shoot first, ask questions later... Seriously!

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Part of the draw of the Olympics is that I can go to Track one day and swimming the next. You can do that in Europe because travel is so much easier there. You aren't going to have swimming in NYC and expect people to hop a plane to Dallas or Phoenix for track. However because it is more compact and the rail system is so advanced that you can easily make most trips around European countries that is a plausible to have multiple cities serve as hosts but you couldn't do that anywhere else.

True. But they do sometimes spread them out a bit. When Atlanta hosted the Olympics, they moved some of the soccer matches to Washington DC (I went to a couple of games there) and one other faraway city I can't remember.

I think a good compromise is to have multiple relatively nearby cities host the Olympics. The summer games are way too bloated and expensive to have one city host them, and even the winter games are getting to that point. No way could a place like Lake Placid or possibly even Lillehammer (perhaps the best Winter Games ever) could host again.

[mookie1995]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Pretty much this. If they can pick a location that already has everything, all the better. Even if they decide to pick a place to build from scratch, at least in that case they can decide to build with the intent of using it often, and the fact that the games would be back every 4 years means it wouldn't fall into disrepair. For that matter, intermediate games other than the Olympics might even make use of it, as it would be a one-stop shop for all the stadia/resources you would need. (For example, maybe pick Athens for the summer, for its history and to help the Greek economy. The fact that people will keep coming back will make them keep it in good shape rather than falling into a ghost town.) The idea of moving it around the world all of the time maybe made sense 70 years ago when there was less TV/radio and it was harder to travel off of your own continent, but nowadays it's just old-fashioned and a waste of cities' resources.

good luck getting the IOC to give up all their perks visiting sites and taking bids (even if they can't swallow bribs )

[Kepler]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

good luck getting the IOC to give up all their perks visiting sites and taking bids (even if they can't swallow bribs )

The first thing to do is to separate the IOC and all the individual national OCs from the Olympics. And the way to do that is simple: re-institute the amateur requirement. Less money --> less corruption. It would also get rid of the godawful networks.

[mookie1995]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

The first thing to do is to separate the IOC and all the individual national OCs from the Olympics. And the way to do that is simple: re-institute the amateur requirement. Less money --> less corruption. It would also get rid of the godawful networks.

good luck getting the IOC to give up all their perks visiting sites and taking bids and telling nbc to stop forking over cash (even if they can't swallow bribs )

[Kepler]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

good luck getting the IOC to give up all their perks visiting sites and taking bids and telling nbc to stop forking over cash (even if they can't swallow bribs )

The athletes go where the athletes go. Without them the IOC is nothing but a huge bill for hookers and blow.

[mookie1995]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

The athletes go where the athletes go. Without them the IOC is nothing but a huge bill for hookers and blow.

c'mon!!!!! tv money likes a sure thing. there is a reason the afl merged and the usfl folded

[Kepler]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Just two things of which you must beware / Don't drink the water and don't breath the air

[PrezdeJohnson09]

True. But they do sometimes spread them out a bit. When Atlanta hosted the Olympics, they moved some of the soccer matches to Washington DC (I went to a couple of games there) and one other faraway city I can't remember.

I think a good compromise is to have multiple relatively nearby cities host the Olympics. The summer games are way too bloated and expensive to have one city host them, and even the winter games are getting to that point. No way could a place like Lake Placid or possibly even Lillehammer (perhaps the best Winter Games ever) could host again.

Could Lake Placid do a joint bid with Montreal or New York City?

[Kepler]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Could Lake Placid do a joint bid with Montreal or New York City?

It could work to split the winter games between outdoor events at a bucolic mountain setting and indoor events at a nearby city. IINM both Calgary and Vancouver did it like that. Maybe SLC too.

Because I'm a sports knuckledragger I believe winter games should be held at small winter resorts and if the town can't support the hullabaloo then get rid of the hullabaloo. This is impractical but I'm old and my joints hurt so I reserve the right to yell at clouds.

[Russell Jaslow]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

It could work to split the winter games between outdoor events at a bucolic mountain setting and indoor events at a nearby city. IINM both Calgary and Vancouver did it like that. Maybe SLC too.

Sochi was like that, and I'm pretty sure that's the way Beijing is doing it.

[French Rage]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

good luck getting the IOC to give up all their perks visiting sites and taking bids (even if they can't swallow bribs )

Well yeah, I'm not saying my idea has any chance of getting done any time soon.

[The Sicatoka]

Re: 2016 Summer Olympics - Ready or not, here we come!!

Are the Olympics rowing up $#!+ creek?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ing-venue.html

[joecct]

Are the Olympics rowing up $#!+ creek?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ing-venue.html

Without a paddle!!!