I’m on record as being in favor of holding the Olympics, but if they’re going to cancel or postpone, they need to do it soon. Many athletes train to be at their peak for certain times of the year and an Olympics would definitely be one of those times.
There’s only about a month and a half until the games are scheduled to start, so I think we’re beyond “soon”.
Cities that “win” the bid to host.
As long as the Olympics stay within the developed world, I think they’re fine. No more Brazils please
Increasingly, though, the developed countries are rejecting the idea of hosting. A few years ago, Oslo withdrew its bid to host the 2022 Winter Games and given that Norwegians are big on winter sports, that tells you how problematic hosting has become.
I think in the semi-near future, probably 20 years out but maybe as soon as 10 years out, the only financially viable models will be:
- A whole country bidding for the Olympics, but with multiple cities within that country hosting different events
- Multiple countries forming a “consortium” and bidding as one unit, sharing costs between them
With the power of digital editing these days, there’s really not even a need to hold the parade of nations in one location anymore. Just have each country’s athletes stationed at separate 400 meter running tracks, have the organizers ask that country’s athletes to come out on cue when their scheduled time slot is on, and edit the footage into one large parade for global broadcast, with the grandiose stadium of choice and throngs of cheering spectators digitally superimposed in the background.
After the parade is over, put the athletes on flights to whatever cities are holding the competitions for their respective sports. Should be vastly cheaper for a bidder to only have to buy flight tickets, than for them to build out sports infrastructure which didn’t exist previously.
No more postponements. If it’s not held this year, it won’t happen, and Japan is left holding the bag unless they get it at some unknown future bid.
That’s my understanding, anyway. Don’t know who that’s up to. Not that the IOC is necessarily big on THE RULES.
I believe there was also a recent powerful backlash to a proposed Boston bid.
I’ve heard way worse ideas.
Yes. You see them and they’re so happy and you know that their families are so proud of them! It’s wonderful - and whatever that is does catch on. There’s an American athlete (I don’t watch or care about his sport, but he’s well enough known that I’d heard of him - at the level where the Olympics needed him more than he needed the Olympics) who I specifically remember walking in looking like a kid at Christmas. It’s a great moment (I still think it could be done multi-site. Each venue has a site (or more) for the sport and a different site for the ceremonies. At the appropriate time, Greecian athletes all “come in” to their various sites. Then all of whichever’s next comes in from multi-sites - it takes coordination and timing and the Olympics themselves would need to control the feed) or something.
It’s too late to do multisite anything (not just the big ceremonies, but everything else) successfully for 2021, though.
To be honest so am I. I mean, we are way past a point of no return here where cancellation would seriously screw up people’s lives far more than it would have a few months ago.
You know why Paris is hosting in 2024 and L.A. in 2028? No one else wanted them. They were the only bidders left.
If they again proposed holding the Olympics in Toronto -we just missed in 1996, phew - I would literally, openly campaign against it. I’d put a sign on my lawn and write politicians about it.
2020 was the last Olympics hosting competition that was heavily sought and bidded-after. I still remember the Tokyo delegation weeping with joy when the card of the host city winner was announced, and the despair of the Istanbul delegates.
2024 and 2028 were like - who wants this? You? You? Meh?
And I think the Los Angeles OOC bid only because it felt it could minimize costs. By 2025, they should award the 2032 Games and it will be interesting if anyone wants to host.
Google failure: as I’ve said, I saw that the IOC has said that the Olympics can’t be postponed without cancellation after a year, but I can’t find whether this is just a random edict of theirs or something in written rules that make sense in a less extreme situation or what.
I saw Bob Costas being interviewed about this and he said the contracts are all written in favor of the IOC, so the host city is mainly responsible for the costs and any losses due to cancellation. And NBC has to pay the broadcast fees if the games are held at all.
BTW, I remember reading that the reason that Tokyo bid for these games was because Japan wanted to show its recovery from the Fukushima earthquake.
What if the IOC gave a “Bid for the 20xx Olympics” party and no one came?
I say shut it down for 20 years while we trace the money trail until all the current IOC bigwigs and medium-sized fry are in jail, then consider whether to restart something similar again under a much more transparent and low-cost model.
I can imagine host cities, as they’re signing these contracts, dismissively thinking “what outlandish circumstance could possibly arise that would compel us to cancel?”.
Looks like Brisbane will get them for 2032, obviously the seasonal issue means it will likely be a September Olympics. But, this will continue the trend of holding them in developed countries.
I’m surprised they announced this early. I thought they usually make the selection about seven or eight years in advance. And that article says that Germany, Hungary, Indonesia and Qatar were also interested in hosting in 2032, so people haven’t totally given up on the idea of hosting.
Putting aside COVID-19 as an issue, why is it more difficult to hold the games in one city these days compared to the way it used to be? Other than soccer and the need for multiple stadiums, wouldn’t most major cities already have the needed infrastructure? Even if a new pool is needed, that doesn’t seem like the sort of thing that should go into disuse after the games are over and everyone goes home. Just turn it into a municipal pool for the public. Tracks, gym space for things like gymnastics and weight lifting, courts for things like badminton, tennis, and basketball. Aren’t those all plentiful in any major city?