No dice for Chicago '16

I have been in RIO and CHICAGO, and I think the first one is a lot more beautiful landscape, the beach, the cerro Pan de Azucar, the Maracana soccer stadium, and many other things makes me want to go there in 2016!!! the bad thing is that I don't think phelps is going to be there

The selection cmte read the mean spirited comments about the Big Shoulders winner and figured that was contrary to the Olympic spirit. Way to go Lefty! I am completely unfamiliar with this. What is Big Shoulders? Was there some sort of issue that I need to know about? Houston always says they are going to make a concerted effort to get the games. IT is obligatory if you want to win a mayoral election. A marathon in Houston in July. Winning time: 4 hours.

I think Atlanta got very lucky in 1996, because other bidders did not go after the games thinking that Athens was a lock. I bet that Coca Cola had some influence there. As for Chicago, the last thing any city in the US needs now is to spend 14 billion dollars on sports facilities.

I I think the USOC needs to start playing hardball and get together with the TV networks to make this happen - I read about anti-American issues within the IOC. Let's see how many billions that is really worth -- here is my proposal for 2020. NBC will pay $2 billion for the games in Rome (they are bidding - I guess), 1 billion for Africa, 1.5 billion for India ($1 for every Indian) and 5 billion for the games in Chicago .... I really hope NBC doesn't renew or gets outbid. I'd like the Olympics to get picked up by ABC/ESPN networks. I really dislike NBC's formatting, chopping, plausibly live edited delays, and sob stories. ABC knew how to cover the Olympics back in the day.

Here is what I found for 2020 - none really have a chance: When all else is even, consider that the IOC people will have to spend about a month in these places - a month in Detroit ??????? Several cities are either considering a bid or expected to bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. The United States Olympic Committee sponsors only one official bid to the International Olympic Committee. Birmingham, Alabama In June 2008, Birmingham mayor Larry Langford proposed that the city prepare a bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics. Boston, Massachusetts Boston is conducting feasibility studies for the greater New England region. Detroit, Michigan Detroit has made the Summer Olympic Games' final bidding election more often than any other ultimately unsuccessful bid city, participating in IOC elections for the 1944 (3rd place, behind bid winner London), 1952 (5th place), 1956 (4th place), 1960 (3rd place), 1964 (2nd place), 1968 (2nd place) and 1972 (4th place) Games. (Los Angeles has more total bids with 9, but hosted twice) If accepted as the U.S. candidate by USOC, this would be the city's eighth bid. Lower crime figures as of 2007 bring hope to a possible revitalization of the city by the early 2010s, which would be improve Detroit's prospects for the USOC competition. Soft-drink manufacturer Faygo has stepped up its efforts as major sponsor. Successful events such as Super Bowl XL have showcased Detroit as a city accustomed to hosting supersized crowds. Governor Granholm is working with Detroit's mayor on a possible bid for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. Also proposed is a joint bid with Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota Legislation has been introduced in the Minnesota Legislature to create a task force to explore a 2020 Olympic bid for Minneapolis. The city's past Olympic bid history included unsuccessful bids in 1932, 1948, 1952 (when the city finished second to Helsinki to host the Summer Games), and 1956. The city also finished second to Atlanta as the U.S. bid city for the 1996 Summer Olympics. TCF Bank Stadium is expandable to 80,000 seats and will serve as Minneapolis's Olympic Stadium. Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa's Olympic committee is considering putting a bid up for the city, comparing Tulsa to a Pre-Olympics Atlanta. Chicago, Illinois Chicago will likely make a bid for the 2020 summer Olympics after a disappointing first round vote out in its bid for the 2016 games. :confused: Wow, those are all really bad cities to be bidding on the games. I'd love to see Seattle or SF bid. Although out of that list, Boston would be my top choice, since I was born there (but I grew up in NY thank you). Now my dad grew up in Rio :) My parents are planning on taking all of us (2 kids, 2 sons in laws and my son) to Brazil - Rio and other cities, once my son is old enough to handle the trip. Hm.. he'll be old enough in 2016!!

Chicago - I sure hate driving through Chicago. Big traffic delays.

There were 10,000 people in Chicago waiting for the result of the vote ... and 1 million in Rio :applaud:

I will be paying for the Rio Olympics, I mean that literally. Somehow big Brazilian government ends up subsidizing all this stuff. New, let's start learning a few basics. We speak Portuguese in Brazil, so it is not "cerro" but "monte", Pão de Açucar (sugar loaf). From the tourist point of view, Rio is probably the most beautiful city in the world. I hope they clean up the lake in town for the rowing and other stuff, and the bay for the sailing. The swimming facilities built for the Pan-American games were state of the art, until Beijing came up. billy fanstone (safely 1000 miles away from Rio) You have my sympathies. Perhaps buying a few shares in Rosetta Stone could help offset the guaranteed out-of-pocket payments for the Olympics? Chicago didn't really know how it was going to pay for the Olympics. The city schools are a mess, and the most effective education chief in years was drafted by the president to go to Washington. That was a blow. The economically fragile - poor and already displaced - were to be displaced once more by digging up dedicated parkland to build stadia. And there seemed to be an assumption that Mayor for Life would be mayor in 2016; businesses have shown reluctance to buy city bonds when a certain family's tenure in that seat was temporarily disrupted. Chicago historically puts on a good show, witness the various world fairs, but needs to get its act together on crime, education, funding the chronically underfunded state pension system, care of the mentally ill, replacing aging and structurally deficient infrastructure, and a few other things. Prior to the Olympic Committee's visit, we got told to show some Olympic spirit. It would have been thrilling to watch tall cranes on the horizon for 7 years and the harbors taken out of use and reconfigured and who knows what-all else, but few thinking people are truly disappointed, altho' some businesses (chiefly construction-related) had been hoping mightily for an uptick. Make no small plans.... I suppose the exercise was good, particularly as it kept on the front page deficiencies that can't be well hidden behind flower plantings on median strips. And Chicago will try again, sans doute. :)

I will be paying for the Rio Olympics, I mean that literally. Somehow big Brazilian government ends up subsidizing all this stuff. New, let's start learning a few basics. We speak Portuguese in Brazil, so it is not "cerro" but "monte", Pão de Açucar (sugar loaf). From the tourist point of view, Rio is probably the most beautiful city in the world. I hope they clean up the lake in town for the rowing and other stuff, and the bay for the sailing. The swimming facilities built for the Pan-American games were state of the art, until Beijing came up. billy fanstone (safely 1000 miles away from Rio)

...All I know is that I need a new excus to visit Chicago Bang-bang!