Chicao Olympic Bid 2016 Summer Games

[Moderator]

WAY TO GO WINDY CITY!!!

Chicago's 2016 Olympic Bid Details Are Released

The Chicago 2016 Olympic bid questionnaire response to the International Olympic Committee has been released to the public.

Chicago has chosen to stage the Games between July 22 and August 2 should they be awarded the Games.

The heart of the Games will be centered on the lakefront and organizers hope that it will accelerate sustainable redevelopment of the city's South and West sides, already part of long-term redevelopment goals. There will be four venue clusters all within a 15 km radius of the Olympic Village allowing 91% of the athletes to be a close distance to their competition venues.

22 of the 27 venues are exisiting or will be temporary for the Games in order to maximize sustainability and avoid undesirable legacies. Five new venues will be built and 11 temporary venues will be constructed in order to achieve a full venue plan in close proximity.

Chicago's bid will be financed entirely by the private sector. A budget of USD $49.3 million is earmarked for the campaign through to the final election with $32.4 million of it designated for the candidature phase. The Games themselves will be driven largely by private sector funds with capital infrastructure costs being covered by government coffers. A "multitiered package" of private and public guarantees and contigencies including a $500 million guarantee from the city will help cover any cost overruns - but this falls short of the 100% guarantee expected by the IOC. The bid projects net revenues of USD $1.26 billion from hosting the Games.

In recent polling, 79% of Chicago respondents were in favour of the bid while 93% across the Unites States supported it.

[gilligan]

It looks like an interesting proposal, but they'd better come up something more when it comes to covering cost overruns. With the amount of time that passes between being awarded the games and the beginning of venue preparation, costs can escalate well past any built in margins for overrun.

Heck, even a single new pool here in Saskatoon managed to go $8 million over budget, even though the original budget had millions set aside for overruns and "worst case" scenarios. The Vancouver Olympics had similar issues at first, though it seems to be stabilizing now.

Though construction costs in Western Canada are probably rising faster than most places, so perhaps this won't affect Chicago. It is hard to see that far in the future, which is why the IOC will likely want a full guarantee.

Besides that, I like the way they've put together their proposal. Lots of private money, sustainable redevelopment instead of unwanted legacies, and a fairly centralized set of venues. No wonder the public approval ratings are so high.

[Moderator]

I would love to see Chicago get the bid...if for no other reason than to watch the Serbia games in water polo.

I believe that I heard that there are more Serbian people in Chicago than there are in the ENTIRE COUNTRY of Serbia.

We wish Chicago the best in their bid. It would be fantastic for the entire region.