Chicago Misses Bucket Number One

[Julie Marie]

COPENHAGEN -- Rio de Janeiro or Madrid -- one of them will host the 2016 Olympics.

Chicago is out -- in one of the most shocking defeats ever handed down by the International Olympic Committee. President Barack Obama's appeals for his adopted hometown fell on deaf ears Friday.

$48,000,000 down the drain!  Guess Daley, Oprah and Michelle didn't do a very good sell job.

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[tekla]

People who watch this stuff seemed to think the fix was in for Rio or Madrid from the get-go.

Perhaps the City of Chicago might have made out like LA did, and do very well.  However Montreal took some 30 years to pay back the money that they spend and never made back.  Knowing Chicago, they would have been like Montreal, not LA, and it would have been a huge financial fiasco. 

[Julie Marie]

There was all kinds of editorials and articles here that showed the chance of just breaking even was doubtful.  And Chicago is in poor shape financially as it is. 

What I think is unconscionable though is how the IOC held these competing cities at ransom, forcing them to pay out millions to court them, especially in tough economic times.  And their requirements regarding the Olympic site is the stuff or royalty.  Here, it was estimated the Olympic Village, just part of what would be needed to satisfy the IOC, would cost a billion or more.

Before the vote, Julie and I were wondering how badly that video of the 16 year old student being beaten to death hurt the Chicago image.  It happened not too far from the southern edge of the area slated for the Olympics. 

Julie

[tekla]

I'm sure the video didn't help much.  Not exactly the press you want.  But I still think it's going to go to Rio because South America has never hosted the event.  Mexico City is as far south as they have gone.  So 'to be fair' (and hey all those hookers in Rio I'm sure helped the IOC arrive at a fair decision) I bet they are going to give it to Rio, which has a murder rate so high it makes Chicago look safe.

THIS JUST IN - Olympics go to Rio.

[Jamie-o]

Chicago really wouldn't have been a very good choice anyway.  Unless I'm thinking of the wrong part of the city, they'd have to funnel all that traffic down Lake Shore Drive, which would have been a nightmare, logistically.  Chicago is a great city to get around in on foot, but getting in and out by car is a pain.  I used to live up in Roger's Park by the lake, and it took me 45 minutes to get to a freeway out of town. 

[tekla]

You been smoking the stuff again mon.  Right?  Rio has the highest murder rate of any place ever picked for this event.  But then again, anyone who has the bucks to go to the Olympics, deserves it in a way.

[Cindy]

If the US TV networks are as broke as the rest of the US economy, it will be interesting to see how Rio will find the funding. Usually the TV rights are a major component of the budget.

Cindy

[Julie Marie]

You been smoking the stuff again mon.  Right?  Rio has the highest murder rate of any place ever picked for this event.  But then again, anyone who has the bucks to go to the Olympics, deserves it in a way.

Is that the same as redistribution of wealth?