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Toronto 2024 Olympic Bid (Dead)

AndreaPalladio said:
I would think NBC would be ecstatic about the Olympics in Toronto - in the Eastern Time Zone, only an hour from New York, lots of skilled tv people here already, no language barrier. They hold a lot of weight with the IOC. The biggest negative I see would be the stadium - other than they Olympics, what would it be for? Although if it could be reconfigured for baseball, the Jays could move there, and out of the Skydome which is already really long in the tooth as stadiums go.
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This is true... Boston is also bidding, but there's little public support so much to our selfish pleasure, they may bow out.
 
I do believe so.. Reading more into this bid, it's ours to lose (yet again). Paris is the preferred candidate.

I wish they had a simpler bidding process where the IOC just picks the city they like and save the cities from spending $60MM on bidding. Everyone knows there's a preferred candidate, it's like job interviews.
 
One of the great things about Toronto is that we've never done something as stupid as host an Olympics. We have our levels of stupid, but we haven't done Olympian stupid yet.

What a waste of the Portlands if we were to build an Olympic Stadium there. That would be criminal. Downsview? Meh. It at least wouldn't destroy other uses to build a stadium there. I know -- how about Woodbine Live? Then the punters could buy tickets and bet on the 100m dash in the same venue!
 
Do you follow gamesbids.com ?

Good background on the bidding process and cities... Toronto is certainly above and beyond Boston (and probably the reason why Boston will back out), but Paris is considered the lead by far.

Apparently Europe can have Olympics every few years.
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
One of the great things about Toronto is that we've never done something as stupid as host an Olympics. We have our levels of stupid, but we haven't done Olympian stupid yet.

What a waste of the Portlands if we were to build an Olympic Stadium there. That would be criminal. Downsview? Meh. It at least wouldn't destroy other uses to build a stadium there. I know -- how about Woodbine Live? Then the punters could buy tickets and bet on the 100m dash in the same venue!
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Personally I'd much rather have an Olympic stadium (with all the associated stuff like a big square, monuments, etc) than more condos and more patches of grass that pass off as parks these days.
 
Filip said:
Do you follow gamesbids.com ?

Good background on the bidding process and cities... Toronto is certainly above and beyond Boston (and probably the reason why Boston will back out), but Paris is considered the lead by far.

Apparently Europe can have Olympics every few years.
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Toronto hasn't actually done much other than mumble that they might bid, so the people on that forum aren't really paying attention to it. I think once the formal proposals are out it will be a closer race, especially if the Pan Am games are a success.
 
I would actually organize the space a little differently than the 2008 bid and move the stadium and aquatic centre from east of the Don Roadways to the west to avoid messing with the new Don River design (and Villers Is. could be the media village and immediate south, the Athletes village). Pinewoods would probably have to go, but at least this would provide a closer link to the likely site of the RER station.

AoD
 
Filip said:
Personally I'd much rather have an Olympic stadium (with all the associated stuff like a big square, monuments, etc) than more condos and more patches of grass that pass off as parks these days.
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Good for you. I'd rather have my $10bn back, more housing in the inner city (because that's what condos are, shelters for people), and the huge Lake Ontario Park that's coming together along the border of your Olympic site. 'Cause, yeah, I'll certainly use those 'monuments' again, won't I? As with the Pan Ams, once you 'win' the bid, you might as well enjoy it once it's inevitable. But why in God's name would you want to do this on purpose?

I'm too tired to once again trot out in detail my memories of the Barcelona multi-multi-million dollar diving tank that's now a closed-due-to-no-money-for-renovations municipal pool or start the countdown for when we get our own Biodome in Milton. But rest assured that, if Toronto 'wins' a bid for the Games, we'll waste a metric tonne of money on vanity projects for billionaire's sports teams that don't need or deserve the help (C'mon AoD, 80,000 for TFC? Or 50k? Pshaw.)
 
Are you one of those people who doesn't throw parties because it costs too much money or won't eat out because it's expensive?

That's sort of what the Olympics are to large, global cities - a party that you will pay dearly for, but a party that sort of has to happen so that you're taken seriously... Toronto needs its coming out party anyway.

Barcelona's legacy is palpable even to this day! I know the city intimately, and the Olympics were the catalyst above catalysts.
 
Filip said:
Are you one of those people who doesn't throw parties because it costs too much money or won't eat out because it's expensive?

That's sort of what the Olympics are to large, global cities - a party that you will pay dearly for, but a party that sort of has to happen so that you're taken seriously... Toronto needs its coming out party anyway.

Barcelona's legacy is palpable even to this day! I know the city intimately, and the Olympics were the catalyst above catalysts.
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Hahaha... no, I'm the kind of person that throws parties all the time despite the fact our friends don't return the favour too often. I draw the line, though, at buying one of those big green egg smokers for $3k and making brisket once, then letting it sit in the corner of my yard rusting until I haul it to the dump.

Barcelona's a great place, despite the huge unemployment problem at the moment in Spain. Last time you were there, did you go for a swim in the Olympic pool or (ew!) the sailing port? It had one of the better Olympics of the modern era. It still wasted a ton of money. Do you have any friends currently starving in the middle of Athen's legacy? Or trying to find a job in Sochi?
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Hahaha... no, I'm the kind of person that throws parties all the time despite the fact our friends don't return the favour too often. I draw the line, though, at buying one of those big green egg smokers for $3k and making brisket once, then letting it sit in the corner of my yard rusting until I haul it to the dump.

Barcelona's a great place, despite the huge unemployment problem at the moment in Spain. Last time you were there, did you go for a swim in the Olympic pool or (ew!) the sailing port? It had one of the better Olympics of the modern era. It still wasted a ton of money. Do you have any friends currently starving in the middle of Athen's legacy? Or trying to find a job in Sochi?
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I totally get where you're coming from, but from looking at the PAG's, they've been fairly smart in building some of these venues near colleges and universities so they still get some use - even the velodrome has other uses.

I'd like to see a post PAG's analysis before getting totally onboard for Olympics - and also what the bid proposes (transit!, transit!, transit!) I also read somewhere that the IOC is becoming a bit more lax in what they require for venues after Beijing and Sochi.

It bodes well, but yes, the Olympics are very prone to becoming a legacy for all the wrong reasons (Sochi, Montreal, etc.)
 
Riverdale Rink Rat said:
Hahaha... no, I'm the kind of person that throws parties all the time despite the fact our friends don't return the favour too often. I draw the line, though, at buying one of those big green egg smokers for $3k and making brisket once, then letting it sit in the corner of my yard rusting until I haul it to the dump.

Barcelona's a great place, despite the huge unemployment problem at the moment in Spain. Last time you were there, did you go for a swim in the Olympic pool or (ew!) the sailing port? It had one of the better Olympics of the modern era. It still wasted a ton of money. Do you have any friends currently starving in the middle of Athen's legacy? Or trying to find a job in Sochi?
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Every city has problems, and I wouldn't call Spain's systemic unemployment as caused by the 1992 Olympics.

When I lived in Spain they were still in fiesta mode (2009-2010) the shit hit the proverbial fan shortly after.

Barcelona transformed itself from a dowdy and unkempt jewel to one of the most dynamic and vibrant cities in the world thanks to the catalyst the olympics offered. Wholesale revitalization of Barcelonetta (a wonderful neighbourhood that was slated for demolition prior to the games) and countless new parks, squares and waterfront amenities.

I always thought the Barcelona model (and the legacy the IOC still talks about) is really only replicable in Toronto... They have similar 'challenges' put lightly...
 
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