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Toronto 2015 Pan American Games

It was made official today that Canada has been awarded the 2015 FIFA World Cup of Soccer (Women's)....it is billed as the biggest women's sporting event in the world.

As it sits at the moment, however, Toronto will not be one of the cities to host games because of the Pan Am Games in the same summer. Proposed host cities Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax or Moncton.
 
With all due respect to the performers/arts, there are far more hockey/football/baseball/name a sport fans in toronto than there are ballet an opera fans.
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As an example, the ACC draws more fans, more economic activity, more tax revenue for the city than any arts facility ever could
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Investing public funds into things like opera, ballet, symphonies, theatre, art galleries (the "Arts"), medical facilities and higher learning institutions have nothing to do with "economic activity", or popularity either.

It has everything to do with supporting and maintaining the height of human achievement. It is what keeps us from falling into the abyss. During the Renaissance, it was to get us out of the Dark Ages. In the 21st century, it is what keeps us all from becoming Walmart shopping, Jersey Shore watching morons...tweeting our way through existence.

And that's why YOU should support these things, even if you can't stand opera.
 
"It is what keeps us from falling into the abyss. During the Renaissance, it was to get us out of the Dark Ages."

Not sure who "us" means. The Dark Ages really only applied to Western Europe, and the Renaissance was fueled by Christian scholars escaping the (East) Roman Empire after it was overrun by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th and 15th centuries. That empire didn't lack for arts and culture during most of its thousand year run.

TOareaFan said:
It was made official today that Canada has been awarded the 2015 FIFA World Cup of Soccer (Women's)....it is billed as the biggest women's sporting event in the world.

As it sits at the moment, however, Toronto will not be one of the cities to host games because of the Pan Am Games in the same summer. Proposed host cities Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax or Moncton.
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What a massive mistake if Toronto is not included. The 2015 Pan-Am Games go from July 10-26, while this year's FIFA Women's World Cup runs from June 26 to July 17. Surely FIFA can push the date back a week or two for 2015 as it did for the 2002 Japan/Korea Men's World Cup.
 
GenerationW said:
"It is what keeps us from falling into the abyss. During the Renaissance, it was to get us out of the Dark Ages."

Not sure who "us" means. The Dark Ages really only applied to Western Europe, and the Renaissance was fueled by Christian scholars escaping the (East) Roman Empire after it was overrun by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th and 15th centuries. That empire didn't lack for arts and culture during most of its thousand year run.

What a massive mistake if Toronto is not included. The 2015 Pan-Am Games go from July 10-26, while this year's FIFA Women's World Cup runs from June 26 to July 17. Surely FIFA can push the date back a week or two for 2015 as it did for the 2002 Japan/Korea Men's World Cup.
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FIFA, nor the CSA, has ever been asked. When the CSA petitioned cities to see who would be part of the bid they sent out information packages on what was involved and invited city reps to attend one of two information sessions (one in Ottawa for eastern cities and one somehwere out west).....before the Ottawa meeting they received a letter from Tourism Toronto saying that Toronto would not be proceeding with any interest in being a host city.

So we have a fairly unique situation where a FIFA event is awarded to a country and that country's largest city (the one that happens to be home to the national soccer stadium) has said they are not bidding to host.
 
freshcutgrass said:
Investing public funds into things like opera, ballet, symphonies, theatre, art galleries (the "Arts"), medical facilities and higher learning institutions have nothing to do with "economic activity", or popularity either.

It has everything to do with supporting and maintaining the height of human achievement. It is what keeps us from falling into the abyss. During the Renaissance, it was to get us out of the Dark Ages. In the 21st century, it is what keeps us all from becoming Walmart shopping, Jersey Shore watching morons...tweeting our way through existence.

And that's why YOU should support these things, even if you can't stand opera.
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I have never said that I don't support it....I just questioned why there is so much more controversy when a sports facility seeks funding relative to an arts facility....you are the first person to bring medical and educational facilities into the discussion.

P.S. what is Jersey Shore?
 
freshcutgrass said:
Investing public funds into things like opera, ballet, symphonies, theatre, art galleries (the "Arts"), medical facilities and higher learning institutions have nothing to do with "economic activity", or popularity either.

It has everything to do with supporting and maintaining the height of human achievement. It is what keeps us from falling into the abyss. During the Renaissance, it was to get us out of the Dark Ages. In the 21st century, it is what keeps us all from becoming Walmart shopping, Jersey Shore watching morons...tweeting our way through existence.

And that's why YOU should support these things, even if you can't stand opera.
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Was reading another posting and I saw this:

Donny and Marie, appearing at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts from July 5-17, are best remembered for their 1970s television variety show, but have proved a durable attraction, currently performing at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. I saw it shortly after it opened in 2008 and raved over it as “Box-office dynamite. He’s still a little bit country, she’s still a little bit rock and roll and everybody winds up happy.’
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I now realize, totally, why there is no controversy over public money going into faciliies like the FSCPA.......how could these starving artists get their message out if not for that public funding ;)
 
I just questioned why there is so much more controversy when a sports facility seeks funding relative to an arts facility
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I'm not really aware of this "much more controversy" you speak of, but it is probably due to the fact that public funds for "pro" sports is just another way of subsidizing big corporate profits that are already seen as over-subsidized by tax breaks, etc.



I now realize, totally, why there is no controversy over public money going into faciliies like the FSCPA.......how could these starving artists get their message out if not for that public funding
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Letting the hall sit empty on non-performance days rather than renting it out for extra revenue doesn't seem very wise for an organization that is always short of revenue. It reduces its need for more public funding. The new centre sure did wonders for ticket sales, but time will tell I guess.
 
freshcutgrass said:
I'm not really aware of this "much more controversy" you speak of, but it is probably due to the fact that public funds for "pro" sports is just another way of subsidizing big corporate profits that are already seen as over-subsidized by tax breaks, etc.
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Except, sport, and particularly hockey in this country, go way beyond serving just corporate interests. You can make the argument that investing in sport is an investment in culture, and I'd argue sport is a much farther reaching element of our culture than the arts.
 
I don't see how there'd be any implications to the City of Toronto. The province of Ontario is delivering the village here ... not the city. And they are tendering it directly, rather than trying to have developers co-ordinate the whole thing.

I'm not sure how you make the jump from something happening in one city where X was done, would yield the same result in a different city where they did Y instead.
 
It's nowhere near the same amount of money being spent, either -- the Pan Ams have largely just accelerated existing plans for the West Don Lands area. Many of the structures will be temporary -- to be quickly removed following the event.
 
I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't been on the site much lately.


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Semi-permenant sports bubble inspired by namesake of Ontarian capital
 
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