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Originally Posted by Travis Munroe
There are very few examples to compare this too. I have said before that I may be less likely to vote yes should we be rolling along right now in a good economic climate. Fact is, everyone around us is not only doing good but many places are booming. Just about anything right now would help give us a boost and the example of comparing this to other games in cities that are not facing tough times is a comparison that can't hold much weight.
I guess the 1 thing we can agree on although worded differently is that "something" has to be done. Sitting on our hands and waiting this out isn't going to work. I see that something as a higher risk/higher reward Olympic bid that involves billion in outside money but also the potential of much of our own money while I assume you would like to see a much smaller risk taken but still something that involves pushing the economy up.
The bid for the 88 Olympic games came in the early 80s when the price of oil came crashing down and interest rates were sky high and all I ever hear people talk about was how it helped boost the city, morale was high and the games turned out to be great.
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The world is so much different now from 2008, or 1998, let alone 1988 (or 1981 when the bid was accepted). The Olympic boost here is minimal at best because in order for the finances of the Olympics to work anymore, it's gotta be a poverty games. So the days of bid spending on big projects is over (unless you're living in a dictatorship), because it's political suicide to do so. It's funny cause I can buy into a high risk project if the reward is worth it. The rewards from hosting the Olympics are staggeringly overstated by it's proponents. Because, once again, if the rewards were so robust, why is the IOC staring at zero bids this time next Wednesday?
The Olympics are effectively a construction project, and like a lot of construction projects when it's done there might be a handful of permanent jobs created, but not all that many. There seems to be this utterly insane notion that somehow hosting the Olympics is going to bring new companies and industries to town, but I'm guessing even the proponents of such a take know that's a lie. If there's any economic recovery between now and 2026, the Olympics are likely to have little to nothing to do with it. More to the point, if that's what we're relying on to save us economically....we're already ####ed.