[News] UPD: Calgary City Council approves exploratory bid study for 2026 Olympics

[TheScorpion]

Bettman on 960: "A 2026 Olympics in Calgary will need a new arena"

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Bettman on 960: "A 2026 Olympics in Calgary will need a new arena"

That's correct Gary, the great thing is the city can just use the new Flames arena which will likely be open three to four years before the Olympics.

[Hack&Lube]

I feel that without a big rebound in the energy sector that these games won't happen.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember 1988 and the oil companies going balls out with sponsorships and events and that probably helped the games stay profitable.

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I feel that without a big rebound in the energy sector that these games won't happen.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I remember 1988 and the oil companies going balls out with sponsorships and events and that probably helped the games stay profitable.

Pretty sure people were walking away from houses in the 80's due to the Oil Glut.

Nevermind, looks like we were recovering around then and that's why we got the Olympics.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Rhettzky

Pretty sure people were walking away from houses in the 80's due to the Oil Glut.

Nevermind, looks like we were recovering around then and that's why we got the Olympics.

I thought we were in the midst of NEP in the early 80s when we got the games. Also late 80s Calgary was recovering from the mid 80s oil price crash but it was far from a boom town.

The Olympic bid was a bold vision to think big amidt tough times in Calgary. Raise civic pride. At least that is how my very young self remembers.

[Frequitude]

'86 is when people were walking away from their homes. The price of oil dropped from $70 in November 1985 to $23 by March 1986 and interest rates were around 10% (though down from 20% in the early 80's). So definitely right before the Olympics.

[Tyler]

Calgary gets more thinking time on 2026 bid from International Olympic Committee

Calgary has extra time to mull a possible bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics because the International Olympic Committee has shifted its timelines.

The IOC announced Tuesday in Lausanne, Switzerland, that the "invitation phase" starting in September for 2026 bids will be expanded to a full year to give "cities more time and more help to develop their proposals."

With the winning bid to be announced September, 2019, the formal bid process has been shortened to one year from two which reduces costs, the IOC said in a statement on its website.

"In a nutshell, the candidature process which worked so well in the past has become too expensive and too onerous for this new political reality," IOC president Thomas Bach said.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/olympics/cal...pic-committee/

[jayswin]

At this point it really feels like the IOC is basically saying "Hey, Calgary, we want and need you, just tell us what you need to make this happen and we'll do it!".

[RM14]

IOC might be recognizing the fall election as a bid killer

[Violator]

Couple hundred million towards a new arena would be nice of the IOC.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by RM14

IOC might be recognizing the fall election as a bid killer

I doubt the IOC is extending proposal time to accomodate a Calgary municipal election.

[RM14]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I doubt the IOC is extending proposal time to accomodate a Calgary municipal election.

I am sure they are aware of it after watching many other government debates end bids in recent years. The might not even get a bid from Calgary if they didn't change the deadline. Leaving the IOC with Switzerland and Austria. Switzerland might be a awesome location..

[Senator Clay Davis]

RM14 is pretty much right. When hosting the Olympics has gone to a straight vote, it keeps losing. If they have to submit a bid before the municipal election, it becomes a quasi-plebiscite, and that probably keeps all but the safest councilors from supporting it since it's going to be viewed as a tax (increase) issue. Politicians who feel insulated, like new councilors who have years before the next election, are significantly more likely to support something like this. Though it still doesn't change the federal or provincial equations which are far more important.

It does suggest the IOC is desperate for Calgary to bid, which in turn suggests no one is actually going to bid at this point in time. I continue to hold the belief of letting the IOC sweat this out, don't bid until they get extremely desperate and this might actually work out to Calgary's advantage somehow.

[Tyler]

Nenshi doubts Calgary will approve 2026 Olympic bid without major changes in IOC contract

Calgary will likely reject another Olympic bid or put off its decision until 2018, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Wednesday.

The mayor said he's "not a big fan" of the cost estimates already presented by the Calgary Bid Exploration Committee, which projects a $2.4-billion shortfall between revenue and costs if the city were to host the Winter Olympics in 2026.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgar...cite-1.4212755

[Gaudfather]

Most projections tend to underestimate costs and over estimate revenues. So the shortfall could realistically be closer to $3 billion than $2.4 billion.

I would have no problem with Nenshi telling the IOC to get stuffed!

[Bunk]

I take this as a bit of a stress test to see how far the IOC is willing to bend on the revenues side.

It will be interesting to see the messages from the IOC given how willing they've been to talk about flexibility.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Gaudfather

Most projections tend to underestimate costs and over estimate revenues. So the shortfall could realistically be closer to $3 billion than $2.4 billion.

I would have no problem with Nenshi telling the IOC to get stuffed!

Suggesting they're off by $700M, with no evidence or research on your part, is quite presumptive for you to make and say with such a matter-of-fact tone, and dare I say insulting to the committee that's been put together and has crunched the numbers with great scrutiny.

[Weitz]

nm

[Ozy_Flame]

I'm starting to think that in order for this to work in Calgary, the IOC is going to have to pony up for most of - if not all of - a new hockey arena. They have boatloads of money and are going to have to convince the City and its people they aren't going to leave town with their traditional parting gift of a scorched earth wake of destruction.

[You Need a Thneed]

My suggestion is that the IOC has to give us either 2030 or 2034 on top of 2026.

But perhaps even the revenue from a second Olympics doesn't pay - you would save on Intrastructure, but still have additional security costs, etc.