Monday, July 9, 2012

Olympics deja vu

From the Daily News:

With the Olympic Games that New York lost to London just weeks away, a quiet buzz is building around the potential for another Gotham bid.

The U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee resolved a revenue-sharing dispute in May that helped sink New York’s 2012 bid. On Tuesday, the USOC said it is mulling a submission for the 2024 Summer Games and the 2026 winter installment.

The Big Apple, with its bid experience and upgraded infrastructure, is being mentioned as a top contender for 2024, but Dallas and Chicago are providing tough competition, sources familiar with the process say.

The region now boasts new stadiums and arenas in Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn and New Jersey. Madison Square Garden is being renovated, and two subway extensions — most notably the East Side line — should be complete by 2024.

But several obstacles remain, due in part to the 2012 legacy.

It called for an Olympic Village to be built in Long Island City, Queens, and an Olympic Stadium on the West Side. Both sites are being now developed for other uses. As a result, the city has no venue large enough to serve as a main stadium for track and field or an aquatics center, said a source with experience building Olympic venues.

Ludwig argued the tougher sell for 2024 would be public money to guarantee the Games and to provide security. New York boasts the best security force in the world, but the recent terror-scheme busts in Britain highlight the difficulties of hosting an international event.

4 comments:

Gary the Agnostic said...

Hopefully, this insanity goes away when Bloomberg leaves office.

Anonymous said...

The Olympics?

No.

Thank you very much—to both summer and winter (Winter, really? What's that?).

Joe said...

Ever since cable TV came out the Olympic Games like the large rock concerts of the 70’s have been in a sharp decline of interest. You would have some Europeans’ living here filling some seats but for the most part Americans are not interested in Olympic Games.
Expecting Europe and the rest of the world to come to New York to fill stadium seats is a loosing crapshoot.
Why would New Yorkers buy Olympic game seats when they cant afford basic baseball tickets at junkyard stadium to watch the Mets lose ?
The people on the Olympic committee that selects the cities know the jig with all these banks and corporate cooks owning all the stadiums and arena’s in America and its why they passed on New York in the first place.

It be a bigger flop and loss of money then the 1964 World Fair the city still cant pay for leaving to decay in Corona park. The friggan Monorail footings, part of an underground home and some exhibit foundations are still there now popping through the ground like tombstones as parts of the park continue to sink !

Anonymous said...

Imagine the traffic nightmare!