If Chicago is to win the hosting rights for the 2016 Olympic Games, it will have to be a civic effort, for a civic victory.
If Chicago is to win the hosting rights for the 2016 Olympic Games, it will have to be a civic effort, for a civic victory.
The International Olympic Committee will make its decision in October, and while there are plenty of intangibles that figure into the choice, the IOC has been pretty clear that one of the requirements is for the people of the city to actually want the games.
While there is some dissension and some politicking going on, the consensus seems to be that Chicagoans want the 2016 Olympics. But they want to know that it is not going to cost them, and that the Olympics won’t shove some needed city projects to the back burner, and they want to know that it is worth it.
Chicago 2016, the organization that is carrying the bid effort, has done its part in trying to answer those questions. Mostly private money will go into the effort, though the state has set aside $250 million and the city’s sweetheart deal with developers of the proposed Olympic Village site is murky enough to cost money. Mayor Richard Daley is an unabashed supporter of the effort and says that since city money will not flow into those Olympic rings, there will still be money for pothole repair, more police officers and other city services.
Is it worth it?
Daley wants to enhance Chicago’s status as a world-class city. He knows that winning an Olympic bid will stamp Chicago as a go-to place for tourists and cement Chicago’s status as one of the country’s Big Three cities (with New York and Los Angeles). And the world will come to Chicago for a fortnight, with international television around the clock. Chicago will be the sports capital of the world for those two weeks. That exposure is – perhaps not priceless – but incredibly valuable.
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