Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
Yeah that'll never even be close to good enough. America has 30+ ready made, much better facilities than Canada. Expecting to throw grass on McMahon, Commonwealth, SkyDome, BC Place, Olympic Stadium, Winnipeg (and even then, that's really weak as most hosts have 10-12 venues) and it being good enough is very hopeful, and highly unlikely. Probably looking at 4-6 brand new venues from scratch.
I'd think $3 billion is the very, very low end of cost to host a WC, security costs excluded. Joint bid with the US still makes the most sense for a cost control perspective...but the US can host it solo, so they don't need us.
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I was merely quoting a price to put grass in the existing stadiums. Of course an actually bid will be in the billions, plus the cost of adding grass to existing venues.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash Walken
Because it's the idea that Calgary somehow benefits in an Olympic bid because they already have the 40 year old facilities.
There is a benefit perhaps to already having the land rights for specific sites, but all of Calgary's 1988 olympic infrastructure will have to be updated and that will all be costly.
Ballooning constructions costs are essentially a hallmark of Olympic construction, and pretty much any deadline dependent development.
How much will it cost to turn this:
into This:
This notion that Calgary has a leg up on their competition because they hosted the games in 1988 is wishful thinking at this point. You're talking new ski jumps, new bobsled track, new stadium for hockey, potential new stadium for ceremonies, etc etc. Is Max Bell going to be good enough for Curling and speed skating again, or does that facility also require substantial upgrades to accommodate fan seating etc?
Having the mountains so close by is definitely a feather in the cap for a Calgary bid, but everything else will have to either undergo a costly renovation or be built completely from scratch.
Is McMahon going to host the opening and closing ceremonies again, or will that be in the Field House? |
I don't think Calgary has an advantage per se, but I think the redeeming quality or silver lining is that the venues Calgary does build for a future Olympics would get well used long after the Olympics are gone. I remember playing men's league with games starting at 11:45PM! Not enough hockey rinks for starters.