# What's the greatest city to not host an Olympics? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [August 4, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463 "2012-08-04T23:25:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/41 "2012-08-05T16:06:18Z")
Kyoto, Johannesburg, Prague, Dublin, and Istanbul all come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/42 "2012-08-05T16:18:56Z")
Istanbul is one of the finalists for 2020, along with Tokyo and Madrid. It could happen. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/43 "2012-08-05T16:49:18Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > You can’t have the Olympics in New York. If you did you would have half the Olympicsin New Jersey, and nobody wants that. Half of New York already lives in New Jersey so it shouldn’t be a problem. Hold the swimming events in the East River and divide the rest between Madison Square Garden and the Meadowlands. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/44 "2012-08-05T19:15:52Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Chicago. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/45 "2012-08-05T19:30:16Z")
Las Vegas, of course. The first Fall Olympic Games. San Diego seems like it would be a perfect place to have the Summer Games. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/46 "2012-08-05T20:36:05Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > LA was the 5th largest city in the 1930 U.S. Census, and **the first West Coast city to make the top ten** (1920) and the top five (1930). Not true. San Francisco hit the top ten in 1870, and remained there until the beginning of the 20th century, when the earthquake and the contemporary dramatic influx of Americans into southern California shifted the state’s population balance from North to South. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/47 "2012-08-05T22:02:30Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Kyoto, Johannesburg, Prague, Dublin, and Istanbul all come to mind. I’d be interested in hearing the argument for Dublin over a hundred or more other cities. How is Dublin important? I’m starting to think Istanbul’s a good choice though. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/48 "2012-08-05T22:43:44Z")
Istanbul, Singapore, Buenos Aires, and St. Petersburg come to mind. To that list I might add Cape Town, Delhi, and Chicago. Mexico City should get another one, too. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/49 "2012-08-05T22:47:17Z")
Dublin is in the top 30 GaWC Global Cities. [Global city - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city) ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/50 "2012-08-05T23:42:09Z")
Madrid, obviously. Before the whole country went broke. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/51 "2012-08-06T00:08:54Z")
Baghdad. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/52 "2012-08-06T00:15:35Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Baghdad. Ya sick puppy. That said, how many kills for a Gold? ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/53 "2012-08-06T04:04:31Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > Regarding New York and San Francisco, weren’t the Lake Placid and Squaw Valley Olympics basically theirs? Sure they weren’t actually in those cities, but they were the big urban area that was really supporting the games. Or are we only talking summer games? Lake Placid is about a 5 hour drive from NYC, so I don’t think it counts as an example of an Olympics held in that city. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/54 "2012-08-06T04:08:16Z")
There are many great cities that have never been Olympic host cities. This is because the “greatness” of a city is low on the priority list of what the IOC considers when it decides on the host. Not only that, but many great cities have never bid for the games. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/55 "2012-08-06T04:44:24Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’d be interested in hearing the argument for Dublin over a hundred or more other cities. How is Dublin important? > > I’m starting to think Istanbul’s a good choice though. I’d like to hear an argument for Dublin being less important than Helsinki or Montreal or Barcelona or Amsterdam or Atlanta etc.. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/56 "2012-08-06T13:37:34Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I’d like to hear an argument for Dublin being less important than Helsinki or Montreal or Barcelona or Amsterdam or Atlanta etc.. Helsinki, Montreal, Barcelona, Amsterdam, and Atlanta have all held the Olympics before and so are disqualified by the rules of the OP. We are not comparing Dublin to those cities. We’re comparing Dublin to New York City, Istanbul, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Cairo, Madrid, and Delhi. Indeed, in the OP I note Atlanta was a ridiculous choice. I’m asking for the GREATEST cities, not just “any place better than Atlanta,” which would be a hell of a long list. ---
**Author:** ![jkirkman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@jkirkman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jkirkman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/57 "2012-08-06T15:05:36Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > OK, so I’m wrong… > LA was the 5th largest city in the 1930 U.S. Census, and the first West Coast city to make the top ten (1920) and the top five (1930). > > Atlanta still hasn’t even made the top ten. > > [Largest cities in the US by population, by decade](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_cities_in_the_United_States_by_population_by_decade) It is never going to, either, if you use the city limits, as that cite does. There is nothing wrong with the cite, or in using the city limits. If you use the metropolitan statistical area, it is currently 9th in the US. > **[Metro Atlanta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_metropolitan_area)** > > Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell, GA MSA > Other Statistical Areas in the Atlanta CSA Both ways of measuring population are valid and useful. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/58 "2012-08-06T15:22:43Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > This is because the “greatness” of a city is low on the priority list of what the IOC considers when it decides on the host. Qualities the IOC officials consider: (1) the size of the potential host city’s bribe to said officials, and (2) see no. 1. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/59 "2012-08-06T23:18:24Z")
Istanbul would be awesome. But I think the answer has to be New York. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463/60 "2012-08-06T23:58:29Z")
I wonder if they’ll run out of cities that want to host the Olympics? It’s such a costly undertaking. Plus, in todays world there’s terrorism to worry about. Great Britain literally called in the Army and Navy to secure the London Olympics. At some point, they need to pick a permanent site. Maybe even host the Pan Pacific and World Championships Games there too? That way the site gets regular use. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-greatest-city-to-not-host-an-olympics/630463.md?page=4)