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Toronto 2020 Olympic Bid

FutureMayor

FutureMayor

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Not sure if someone started a conversation elsewhere, however the Toronto Star is reporting today that the Canadian Olympic Committee is looking to the City of Toronto to make a bid for 2020 Olympics.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/234164

I think it's a great idea. However, as the article states, Chicago's 2016 Bid is the biggest obstacle.

Also, for those who want to rant off that bidding for the Olympics is a waste of time, I want to point out that the Waterfront Corporation was a direct result of bidding for the 2008 Games. It was established to prepare the waterfront to host the Games. Without making the bid, the $1 billion that is slowly flowing from Queen's Park and Ottawa towards waterfront projects would be nowhere to be seen today.

Another good example is the New National Soccer Stadium, without the FIFA Under-20 Bid there wouldn't be a soccer stadium and no Toronto FC team to speak of today.

Louroz
 
Just so long as this potential bid does not end up screwing the water front development. I'd like to see what the fully complete waterfront looks like - in my lifetime.
 
Lordy, Lord...here we go again, another attempt to woe these IOC hacks into thinking Toronto's worthy so that finally we can fix our waterfront. Meanwhile, any plans (if any) to fix the waterfront that were independent of any Olympic Bid can now be put on hold even further without criticism, since the politicians must now wait and see how the IOC decides.

We've been down this road twice. Is this a case of third time's a charm? I think not.
 
I actually would like to see Chicago win the 2016 games, for a few reasons...

1. I think Chicago really deserves to win the games. Perhaps I'm still caught up with the romantic image of Chicago since my recent trip there, but it has really put a great effort into cleaning up the Loop and the waterfront. This is the right message to send to visitors that the city is capable of hosting the games.

2. Is Toronto ready to bid for the games, and if we win, will we be able to pull the games off successfully? Our recent Expo bid failed to get off the ground. Public confidence in the city and its leaders is at a low with the city's budget crisis. I don't think the atmosphere in the city is ripe enough to start a bid.

3. Chicago's city layout is very similar to Toronto, being a lakefront city. Its Olympic plan focuses mainly on the waterfront, which was what Toronto proposed in its previous bid, and will probably repeat in a future bid. Perhaps Toronto could take some lessons for a future bid from the experience of a Chicago games. If the games in Chicago turn out to be a huge success, it would certainly help Toronto's bid chances in the future, given the similarities between the two cities.
 
The only reason an Olympic Games possibility excites me is the potential for infrastructure and development. I wouldn't want to see Waterfront Development ruined because of it though; I like the current path it's on.
 
Admiral Beez said:
Lordy, Lord...here we go again, another attempt to woe these IOC hacks into thinking Toronto's worthy so that finally we can fix our waterfront. Meanwhile, any plans (if any) to fix the waterfront that were independent of any Olympic Bid can now be put on hold even further without criticism, since the politicians must now wait and see how the IOC decides.

We've been down this road twice. Is this a case of third time's a charm? I think not.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Its the perfect cop out. I don't think we need to give them anymore leeway.

I'm always surprised no one ever mentions the sporting side of hosting an Olympics. You think it would be a given lol. After hosting two olympic games Canada has the distinction of being the only host nation to fail to win a gold medal (and we boast two of these records!). It's incredibly embarrassing. Although on a positive note, the Own the Podium plan is ambitious and is seeing results as our winter sports program has been improving steadily since 88' and especially after the Salt Lake Games. I am not interested however, in seeing another embarassing Canadian showing on home soil. Our summer programs need the money more than an olympic bid does. And isnt it a little much for a country of some 33 million people to have hosted 4 Olympic games in such a relatively short period of time?
 
I think an Olympic bid would have been a great idea, but the time really was 2016. With Chicago bidding, it is almost a shoo-in for the Games as they have been out of North America for quite some time. They WON'T be going to Spain, certainly, as it would make three Summer Games in Europe before a return to North America. Rio or Tokyo are outside chances, but are probably far too big to host the Games (congestion and lack of land could be significant problems). Chicago has pretty solid infrastructure, so as long as they can put together a credible plan, I can't see them losing.

Which of course kyboshes a Toronto bid for a good 12-20 more years and that time horizon is too far out to even be worthwhile considering.

If Toronto were serious about hosting, we should be bidding for 2016, as it's the do or die year. Too bad the COC were leaning on Toronto to stay a bid because the vote would take place in 2009... less than 8 months prior to Vancouver. I'm actually surprised that they are barking up Toronto's tree now. I'm of a mind that we shouldn't put much political consideration into a bid until the results of 2016 become clearer in 2009. Given that it has a 70% chance of ending up in Chicago, it is really a moot point.
 
afransen said:
I think an Olympic bid would have been a great idea, but the time really was 2016. With Chicago bidding, it is almost a shoo-in for the Games as they have been out of North America for quite some time. They WON'T be going to Spain, certainly, as it would make three Summer Games in Europe before a return to North America. Rio or Tokyo are outside chances, but are probably far too big to host the Games (congestion and lack of land could be significant problems). Chicago has pretty solid infrastructure, so as long as they can put together a credible plan, I can't see them losing.

Which of course kyboshes a Toronto bid for a good 12-20 more years and that time horizon is too far out to even be worthwhile considering.

If Toronto were serious about hosting, we should be bidding for 2016, as it's the do or die year. Too bad the COC were leaning on Toronto to stay a bid because the vote would take place in 2009... less than 8 months prior to Vancouver. I'm actually surprised that they are barking up Toronto's tree now. I'm of a mind that we shouldn't put much political consideration into a bid until the results of 2016 become clearer in 2009. Given that it has a 70% chance of ending up in Chicago, it is really a moot point.
Click to expand...

Chicago is not a shoe-in as you make it sound to be.

Their Stadium plan is complete garbage and the European IOC members will laugh at it.

Let's not forget there is still a lot of anti-American sentiment left within the IOC. They still get the big bucks from US TV Contracts though and sponsorships but tend to have screwed the USA over lately.

I think Tokyo will win 2016. Their bid is also revolving around the re-development of their waterfront and unlike Chicago they are building a new Permanent Olympic Stadium, not some Temporary 90,000 seat stadium that would be reduced to a 5,000 capacity afterwards. What legacy is that? The IOC loves those flashy big new stadiums built for their games.
 
Toronto's time will not be until 2028 or 2032. I'm not sure we should even be talking about it now. When you can say that the last summer Olympics held in North America was not in Canada, the last Olympics held in North America was not in Canada, and the two summer Olympics prior to the one we are bidding for will have been outside North America then we should bid. If USA gets 2016 then maybe 2028... if USA gets 2020 then maybe 2032. The only way we can get the summer Olympics before the USA is for the USA to not bid or to have the Republicans in power forever creating a disfavourable impression of the American people to the world. I don't see either happening.

I think 2032 there will still be ample land in the portlands for the Olympics. Even if we get the Don River naturalization under way next year it will take probably five years to have redirected rivers, created bridges, etc. There is the whole West Donlands and East Bayfront to develop before getting to the Portlands. It is incredibly inprobable that at full speed any development would occur in the portlands to the extent that the Olympics doesn't have a lot of land available. A bid for 2032 would occur in 2025 or 18 years. It will probably have taken ten years to fill the Cityplace lands when it is all done. The East Bayfront + the West Donlands represent another two Cityplaces of development at least. The only way to use up more than a third of the Portlands in that time frame would be to do something stupid and zone the whole thing for single detached homes and townhouses. For something like the Olympics, cement factories and film warehouses are easily moved.
 
I haven't been a big supporter of a Toronto Olympics since losing to Atlanta for the 96 games left a bad taste but I do always enjoy seeing the plans drawn up. It's exciting in a "City of the Future" kind of way. It's kind of like the Waterfront plans but with more gusto - even if they are both wishful thinking. Instead of saying this area would be a good place for a future landmark building with no specific purpose or funding model, the Olympic plans always say this area IS where we will put THIS specific future landmark building and this is how we'll use it and it will all be payed for and the world will be a science fiction utopia. I think we could use more of that sort of stuff to get people excited about the possibilities for our city.

As far as Chicago goes, if president giuliani is busy nuking iran in 2009, the IOC might not be too eager to give the US the games.
 
Toronto 2015 Pan American Games Bid

Toronto pulled out of the running for Expo 2015 Bid.

The Globe is reporting that Toronto should bid for 2015 Pan American Games.

Smaller in scale, cheaper to fund, yet also provides lasting legacies in terms of new sporting infrastructure. I think we should go for it.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070711.OLY11/TPStory/Sports

Louroz
 
"The best way to make a profound and lasting impact on the Canadian sports scene is to hold another Olympic Games"

It's like Montreal never happened. What a legacy- a crumbling 'big owe,' debt that has just recently been paid off, the embarrassement of a crooked major. A world class veledrome becomes a biodome. If we want to leave a lasting impression on Canadian summer sports- how about we try funding them properly. And although Calgary was a financial sucess and Canada Olympic Park and the oval were important infastructure for Canadian winter sport, what has really left the greatest impact on Canadian sport is increased funding and targeted funding since Salt Lake.

I would much prefer we host a Pan Am games - definately better to screw them up then an Olympics!
 
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