Expos can actually be good investments and have positive returns not only for the city but also the citizens.
Unlike the Olympics which are just 2 week circuses that turn a city into an armed camp and have tickets so expensive that the average person who is paying the cost of the Olympics will never get to see even one event, Expos are events that everyone can enjoy.
But expensive tickets and two week circuses is what we had with the PanAm's. And they sold that as the greatest success story, and that's where the problems starts, the PanAm games where skewed to look successful to justify their costs, otherwise hosting the Olympics would be even a greater success.
The city reaps large investment dollars from the private sector and largess for infrastructure from the province and feds. Being 6 month events, all citizens can enjoy the festivities regardless of their financial situation and they tend to bring a far more diverse crowd in than the Olympics. You also don't get the dreaded security scene that has turned the Olympics into a sporting event held at a military base and the complete shut down of the city for three weeks.
It still costs to visit an Expo. It's operates like the CNE, you have to pay to get in, pay to visit some events, pay for exclusive only food that costs twice the price, and so on and so forth. So if you don't have the money to begin with to drop, then its not worth visiting.
Security is still high at a Expo, and like the Olympics, its costs are a major factor in its funding. Just remember that a World Expo is just like the Olympics, minus the sporting events....and popularity.
All major hosting events promise large investments from the province, feds and private sectors as the core benefit, and you do need the province and the federal government on board if you want to submit any major bid because they're the only one's with the deep pockets that can afford building the venues.
However, like the hosting the Olympics, most venues will be torn down or abandoned unless heavily subsided as it was the with the PanAm venues that have an 20 year legacy fund to off set the operating costs, but after than fund is depleted, they too will see the wreaking ball.
The issue is what to do AFTER the games. This is where Vancouver REALLY blew it. Many Vancouverites say that the change in the city's culture from hippie/easy going to a money hungry self centered one all started with Expo 86. I visited Vancouver for 3 months before the Expo and came back 3 years after Expo and the city seemed completely different in it's mentality and I remember mentioning it to people and they all said the same thing...........it was a result of Expo'86 and long time citizens still refer to that event being a changing moment in the city's character.
Bennett {the Premier at the time} wanted to develop the Expo lands after the games so he effectively gave them away to a Hong Kong investor and told him to develop it and sell to anyone who wants them..............enough said. In Vancouver, the party was great but the city is still coping with the hangover with a city obsessed with real estate and it's image.
If Toronto avoided that horrid mistake which has devastated the liveability and character of Vancouver they could be a great success. Expos have lost much of their luster over the years but if Toronto was to throw caution to the wind and go for the most innovative and enticing Expo of the new century, Toronto will be the gold standard of Expos for the 21st century just as Montreal was for the 20th.
We're already a city obsessed with real estate and image, if anything we've been in quite competition with Vancouver in terms of overprice condo units for sometime now. All hosting the World Expo will give us is another LRT line, some nice parks between high priced condo towers and venues that can be converted into sporting venues or convention hall.
