Should Calgary Bid on the 2026 Olympics

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Olympic assessment committee discussing results of survey:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1031930983400988673

Who the hell put % symbols beside the 1-10 scale?

The top 7 questions are affirmative statements, and the bottom 3 are negative (can't, can't, too much). Interesting that the results follow that pattern (and that #7 is the weakest affirmative statement).

"Calgary's facilities can't handle the Olympic games" is a pretty ridiculous question.

"can't afford to host" is also terrible (conflating capability to pay with whether it is wise to do so).

[powderjunkie]

I’m coming around to the idea that a joint bid is the way to go, on the condition that you get two Olympiads out of it. Vancouver would be a far superior partner than Edmonton (too bad that it’s probably too late in the game to explore this, not to mention BC vs. AB political conflict). A partnership could mean anything (e.g. 50/50, 75/25, etc.), but I would lean towards at 55%/45% type set-up, where each city alternates as the ‘main’ host.

The games have more than doubled in size since ’88, so this could bring it down to a more appropriate size for each city.

Piloting this for the winter games would make a lot of sense for the IOC, as their current problem is actually an over-abundance of Olympiads requiring host cities (as strange as that is to believe for an event every 4 years) – because the supply of winter cities (especially in good time zones for viewership) is inherently limited.

For instance:
2026 - Canada (Calgary + Vancouver)
2030 - One-off bid
2034 - Europe (some France/Swiss/Italian/etc. partner combo)
2038 - One-off bid
2042 - Canada (Vancouver + Calgary)

A 20 or 24 year sequence might be even better, though opens up a lot more room for uncertainty and changing conditions; there would need to be some sort of off-ramp for the host cities ~10 years out.

I would run the opening ceremonies concurrently in each city, with athletes marching in the city hosting their events. It wouldn’t be impossible to ensure all events in supporting city end on Saturday; all athletes go to main city for closing ceremonies.

2026:
Calgary:
- 55% Opening Ceremonies
- Men's Hockey (new arena)
- Curling (new fieldhouse)*
- Short track (Saddledome)
- Long Track*
- Freestyle skiing & Snowboarding (newschool events) (COP)
- Slalom (and parallel slalom?), Snowboard racing (COP)
- Nordic (CNC)
- 100% Closing ceremonies

Vancouver:
- 45% Opening Ceremonies
- Figure Skating (Roger’s arena)
- Women's Hockey (Pacific Coliseum; medal rounds at Roger’s)
- Ski/board cross (Cypress)
- Moguls and aerials (Cypress)
- Downhill, Super G, GS, Combined* (Whistler)
- Ski Jumping* (always Whistler)
- Sliding* (perhaps always Whistler, unless we want to build a better track)
- Closing ceremonies viewing party

I don't think it would actually be much of an issue for LL to host them, but if Parks Canada really did want to prevent it, they could always be at Whistler. There's a push to have more slalom and parallel slalom events on tiny hills closer to urban centres, so I think it would work well to have split them from the speed alpine events - each host city gets a taste of alpine and has the stars come through.

Not sure about how easily the Richmond Oval or Hillcrest convert back to hosting big events? With a decent reno, Calgary oval probably makes sense as the 'permanent' venue. Calgary could also be permanent host for curling (fieldhouse designed accordingly).

At the next Olympiad, you can swap most of the events that are less specific to their venue.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

The great thing is that we have airplanes that can get to Vancouver in an hour. Why do we need a passenger rail to Whistler for one sport again? Talk about scope creep!

Or even just chartering some flights to Pemberton airport.

[Muta]

I'm 100% for a bid. The only thing that I'd like to see shared with another location would be the skip jumps - they can absolutely go to Whistler. Everything else should be in and around Calgary.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by nik-

ehhh, cost is a pretty major factor, it's hardly a bias of options. It's basically the crux of the issue with hosting Olympics.

Cost is always brought up as a negative factor. Cliff knows that too.

Could ask instead if you want the Olympics and all the new infrastructure that comes with - which is a 'positive' bias on the same question.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Muta

I'm 100% for a bid. The only thing that I'd like to see shared with another location would be the skip jumps - they can absolutely go to Whistler. Everything else should be in and around Calgary.

Thats not exactly a short jaunt.

Kind of a pain in the ass for athletes, spectators and organizers alike.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Cost is always brought up as a negative factor. Cliff knows that too.

Could ask instead if you want the Olympics and all the new infrastructure that comes with - which is a 'positive' bias on the same question.

funny that a lot of people don't care about the cost, just getting things built for the city that external taxpayers help pay for.

"share the Olympics? no way. that means less stuff built for us."

I understand the attitude, as there can't be too many people who want the games in town purely for the sport. If I lived in Calgary, I'd hate the idea of an Olympics without a new arena.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Locke

Thats not exactly a short jaunt.

Kind of a pain in the ass for athletes, spectators and organizers alike.

It's not unusual though. I mean, look at the 2012 ones, they had venues all over the country, many for the same sport:


https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ol...nue-guide.html


Realistically, ski jumping is a small sport, isn't going to have huge crowds, doesn't have a load of athletes(like, say, hockey) and they could still go to the opening and closing ceremonies, schedule the jumps for a few days in the middle of the games, and no one would care about perceived distances.


The organizers would probably turn over most of it to the ski jump federation to run, and only have to worry a little about logistics. Most of it seems like a non-issue to me.

[Envitro]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I long for the day when we can reclaim the railroads for actual passenger travel.

Agreed. Using Japan's rail system, and especially the bullet trains, was a monumentally awesome experience.
Puts our transit system to shame.

Yes, yes, much smaller geographic area. But they also have mountains you know? We went from Tokyo central station to Nagano in like 1hr on the slower of the bullet trains. And we went through mountain passes and tunnels.

Just sayin

[calf]

Maybe just ditch ski jumping and avoid the hassle of planning around a minor event.
In it's place, combine ski-cross and biathlon and have the skiers shoot at targets placed on the course/their opponents.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Envitro

Agreed. Using Japan's rail system, and especially the bullet trains, was a monumentally awesome experience.
Puts our transit system to shame.

Yes, yes, much smaller geographic area. But they also have mountains you know? We went from Tokyo central station to Nagano in like 1hr on the slower of the bullet trains. And we went through mountain passes and tunnels.

Just sayin

They also have a population of 127 million, vs our 35 million in a country 26 times smaller.


Just sayin

[Mr.Coffee]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I long for the day when we can reclaim the railroads for actual passenger travel.

Sorry they’re busy moving oil because.......

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

They also have a population of 127 million, vs our 35 million in a country 26 times smaller.


Just sayin

Tokyo alone has a larger metro population than Canada has people. Billions of rides per year, billions in revenue as a result. A lot you can do with that.

[sureLoss]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1037766541993947136

https://twitter.com/user/status/1037767846275608577

https://twitter.com/user/status/1037769184673816576

https://twitter.com/user/status/1037769938222559232

[nik-]

Thanks for picking up the cheque Valgary.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by nik-

Thanks for picking up the cheque Valgary.

In case of legal action, here is the org chart for Valgary if heads need to roll:

[GordonBlue]

"We’re now hearing presentation on what a good bid *could* look like. On security: Emma May says estimates peg security costs at around $1B, primarily to be borne by Federal Government"

how can anyone peg security costs at 1B for a 2026 olympics when it was about that for 2010?
seems a bit disingenuous, doesn't it?
guess it's easy to throw out any old number when expecting someone else to pay for it.

[Senator Clay Davis]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1037769600186740736

New total bid price closer to $6 billion, but it sounds like a poverty games for the most part with none of the infrastructure people actually want. Security cost also seems on the low end considering Vancouver cost $1 billion in 2010.

[RM14]

How was the security costs calculated for 2010? I am wondering how much of it was a new cost to the public vs allocated costs from other security costs budgeted and expended anyways.

For example, if the armed forces are sending troops from elsewhere in Canada, is their existing salary allocated to the cost of the event security? Or, just the additional costs of travel and accommodation?

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by RM14

How was the security costs calculated for 2010? I am wondering how much of it was a new cost to the public vs allocated costs from other security costs budgeted and expended anyways.

For example, if the armed forces are sending troops from elsewhere in Canada, is their existing salary allocated to the cost of the event security? Or, just the additional costs of travel and accommodation?

not sure, but for the Calgary 1B estimate, how often are estimates this far out accurate?
for Vancouver, actual security costs were 5 times their prediction.
I don't think anticipating the 1B cost doubling to at least 2B would be out of line.