Quote:
Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis
And as has been pointed out repeatedly, 1988 is 1988. It's not even worth comparing anymore, it's so exceptionally different. There are twice as many events, and twice as many athletes. You're acting like we just hosted a few years ago. The "world class facilities" in place is a bit of red herring, as you are assuming there will be zero cost going into improving those facilities, which isn't remotely true. Upgrades are better than new, sure, but that isn't free and could still end up being a significant cost. The tourism angle is pretty much a bunch of crap, Calgary is not and will never be a destination city. Banff and the Icefields Parkway is why most people come to Alberta, and that's not going to change or increase because of the Olympics. It's a desperate argument really, not one I'd wanna be using as a key argument to wanting to host.
As far as "another city in Canada" who is more prepared to host, I'm kinda thinking the feds should not support any Olympic bids until we see just how much health care is going to take a hit now that the boomers are starting to retire. That's sort of a massive problem on the horizon, one the feds should be deeply focused on, much more than fluff like hosting the Olympics, a 100% vanity event. If the prospective host city and province wants to increase taxes on their citizens with the aim of hosting, go for it. Of course supporting that is a political death sentence, so highly unlikely to happen. I'd love a ballot measure, would you support that? Something tells me given the likelihood it fails, you probably don't.
As to Trump, you missed the point. He doesn't have to be in office to have made North America significantly more susceptible to terrorism. 9/11 sent up Vancouver's security costs, even though it happened nine years before the event. Big terrorism events have lasting impacts. Calgary wouldn't want to global infamy of having a terrorist attack happening at an Olympics it hosts. That would probably crush tourism. End of the day, the Olympics offers far too much risk, for a very small potential of a big reward. Echoing what others have said, we need the infrastructure anyway, no need to whore ourselves out to the IOC to get them. We should just get them because we need them. Getting those without hosting the Olympics would be the greatest legacy of all.
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The biggest point I was actually trying to make was that I believe Calgary has the most potential for making a PROFIT from hosting an Olympics as we have a lot of the infrastructure and facilities in place already to lessen the financial burden compared to previous hosts. Of course we'll need to spend money on upgrades and new facilities. But, It's not a guaranteed financial black hole as you're painting it out to be. It's an investment that has a lot of great benefits behind it. The creation of jobs, the economic impact locally, the marketing exposure, the additional federal and provincial funding, the civic pride and legacy of hosting another Olympics.
In terms of timing, the city is going to have a hard time finding funding for things like a new arena, airport lrt, neighborhood revitalization and etc. Personally, I think it would be nice to receive the federal and provincial funding to help fast track the construction of these projects that we will eventually need anyway. It'd also be a great benefit to upgrade all of our current or future facilities to world class standards so that we can attract even more athletes to train and live here permanently.
As for the whole Trump/terrorism issue. It certainly is one, but if everyone was to just avoid setting up big events because of the possibility of terrorism we might as just fold up the Olympics entirely, or fold up the Calgary Stampede while we're at it or never build skyscrapers out of fear. It's a reality to be dealt with, but the inherent costs of security today does not mean you can't turn a profit. There's certainly a lot of pros and a lot of cons both ways, but I'm in favor of hosting the Olympics regardless as I feel the pros ultimately outweighs the cons and the unique legacy it can create is unparalleled.