Quote:
Originally Posted by Weitz
Why would a pared down bid even win anymore? Now that there are what 6 other places bidding now too?
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They're all going to be pared-down bids.
I've only seen numbers from the proposed Innsbruck bid (which was voted down and replaced at the last minute by Graz) and the Swiss plan, but they were both looking to be significantly cheaper than Calgary's.
If Calgary has a bargain-basement plan, the Swiss have a second-hand store plan and Innsbruck had a garage sale plan.
If Italy submits a bid, it will be looking to reuse as many facilities from 2006 (and possibly 1956) as possible.
I doubt the Swedish bid will ever gain the political will to get it to the finish line, but they're looking at using a sliding track in Latvia rather than building their own to keep costs down. The Austrian bid will likely see them using a speed skating oval in Germany, and possibly other facilities in Germany. One cost-cutting option for the Swiss bid included using the speed skating track from Turin, but that likely wouldn't fly now with Turin putting together its own bid.
The Turkish and Japanese bids are likely to be the most-expensive with new facilities, but they're also the biggest long-shots.
I think the lack of interest in bidding for 2022 showed the IOC that if they want the Winter Games to continue, they need to make sure that host cities aren't burdened with white elephant infrastructure and massive long-term debt. 2026 needs to be a model to showcase to other potential host cities that hosting the Winter Games is actually something desirable.