2026 Olympics- Calgary votes no- 56%

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

You go to Seattle or Dallas because of rinks or stadiums?

That seems highly suspect, considering it's the sports teams using those facilities that you are likely going to see - assuming you fly to other cities to watch sports.

You also selectively left out London, Rio, Athens, Beijing and Sydney if we're not discriminating between Summer and Winter.

Yeah, I call BS. Nobody is going to a city because they have a great entertainment district.

I mean I know Margaritaville is hot stuff, but I doubt it’s going to boost the economy.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Why would CSEC give a flying fata about a fieldhouse?

They put it in the Calgary Next proposal.

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

And you went to those cities specifically to check out their entertainment districts?

Yup. Baltimore especially.
I like my sports and my boos.

[marsplasticeraser]

I only knew of St. Moritz and Cortina because of the olympics and put those towns on itineraries I've done in Europe. They are great towns. The old ice rink in Cortina (where they hosted the opening ceremonies) must have looked incredible in the day. Still very cool now (at least for me)

the SLC games really cemented (in my mind) that area as a winter sports mecca. Tourism numbers substantiate the growth in winter sports numbers in the area as well. I suspect Utah as a whole was overshadowed by Colorado and the olympics helped it gain traction nationally and internationally.

Originally Posted by Weitz

How many cities have you visited because they hosted the Olympics?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah, I call BS. Nobody is going to a city because they have a great entertainment district.

I mean I know Margaritaville is hot stuff, but I doubt it’s going to boost the economy.

And you went to London of all places because of the Olympics? Speaking of BS..

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They put it in the Calgary Next proposal.

For the Stampeders to play in. Are they SOL or not?

[RM14]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Simply because what you wanted didn't win? I mean sure there are some things that could have been better. But a lot of you guys are blowing the "people didn't know the bid" out of proportion because you lost.

Nope, more because people I would talk were still saying things like theyd rather have the green line finished.. not even understanding where the levels of finding were coming from. There was so much miscommunication in the last two weeks and problems arose that should have been agreed on and determined during the exploration stage. What a waste of the 30 million to fund the bidco if that was the deliverable. A jumbled mess of confusion from all sides.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

They put it in the Calgary Next proposal.



Yup. Baltimore especially.
I like my sports and my boos.

You specifically went to Baltimore to check out what I assume is Station North? Really?

Forgive me for not believing you - but you were just earlier complaining about the cost of a City rec pass but you are spending money to fly to Baltimore from Calgary to see Station North?

Please tell me you're the worlds biggest Orioles or Ravens fan, otherwise it's hard to believe.

[tvp2003]

This was posted earlier but I thought it was bang on:

https://twitter.com/jengerson/status...73306799316992

4) Also, I found the rhetoric of the Yes side increasingly off-putting as the campaign wore on. No real attempt to address legitimate concerns. Inflation of benefits. Etc.
5) Most egregious was that a No vote was a vote against Calgary more generally. A vote against its voluteerism and can-do attitude. No-ers just didn't BELIEVE HARD ENOUGH.

I might be in the minority as I'm pro "sports" but increasingly becoming anti "Olympics". Spending millions of tax dollars so that corrupt IOC officials can line their wallets and a bunch of amateur athletes that I've never heard of can participate in a competition every four years? No thanks.

Olympics won't fix 30% vacancy in the downtown core. Saving aging facilities like the Olympic Oval? A big meh from my perspective.

And as a pure economic stimulus/infrastructure play, 2026 had waaay too much risk despite Calgary's "entrepreneurial" spirit and "can do" attitude. If Calgary is so awesome, then lets build a field house without the Olympics. Same with a new arena. Something tells me both will happen, and that this "once in a lifetime opportunity" won't be "once in a lifetime" after all...

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by RM14

Nope, more because people I would talk were still saying things like theyd rather have the green line finished.. not even understanding where the levels of finding were coming from. There was so much miscommunication in the last two weeks and problems arose that should have been agreed on and determined during the exploration stage. What a waste of the 30 million to fund the bidco if that was the deliverable. A jumbled mess of confusion from all sides.

They should have pushed harder to delay the plebiscite. The Yes side still lost only yesterday voting by 54-46, but that's still a pretty significant swing from 69-31 a week earlier in the advanced voting. With another month, perhaps they would have been able to swing more votes.

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by GGG

I said this before the results and as a person who voted against the games but direct democracy sucks. We elect these people to make decisions for us. The Province didn't require a referendum because they read the political climate better, the province required one because they needed political cover from Kenny and didn't have the fortitude to outright say no. It was not about giving citizens a choice it was cowardice.

The province manages a 50 billion dollar budget and the city 5 billion. This project was well within the scope of there typical budget lines.

I agree bidco shares the blame but the Province, Feds, City and Bidco weren't on message like they needed to be for this to succeed. Instead you had fighting over funding up until 2 weeks ago. That needed to be behind closed doors and then a unified yes campaign after. Who screwed it up we likely don't find out, it sounds like Bidco, but the Province with the binding referendum forced them into a poor position.

100% agree. The moment the provincial government insisted on a plebiscite, the bid was doomed. It was an easy out for them. Kenney supported the plebiscite as well.
Direct democracy failed on Brexit, and on a much smaller scale, failed on the Olympic bid.
Some issues are best decided by our elected representatives ... this was one of them. It was impossible to get the information to the masses and for them to look at it objectively. For the record, I voted yes, but with some reservations.
The blame mostly lies with the province IMO.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

You specifically went to Baltimore to check out what I assume is Station North? Really?

Forgive me for not believing you - but you were just earlier complaining about the cost of a City rec pass but you are spending money to fly to Baltimore from Calgary to see Station North?

Please tell me you're the worlds biggest Orioles or Ravens fan, otherwise it's hard to believe.

It was part of an Eastern trip a few years back. NY, Atlantic City, Philly, Baltimore, Washington DC and Pittsburgh. If not for Station North, I would have skipped Baltimore.

So does that count?

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

100% agree. The moment the provincial government insisted on a plebiscite, the bid was doomed. It was an easy out for them. Kenney supported the plebiscite as well.
Direct democracy failed on Brexit, and on a much smaller scale, failed on the Olympic bid.
Some issues are best decided by our elected representatives ... this was one of them. It was impossible to get the information to the masses and for them to look at it objectively. For the record, I voted yes, but with some reservations.
The blame mostly lies with the province IMO.

Pretty well all of the other cities that pulled out of the Olympics had plebiscites whereby citizens could express their opinion. Why should Calgary be any different, especially considering the size and scope that the Olympics has grown to and especially because of the growing public displeasure with the Olympics due to the corruption and doping associated with it?

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Barnes

For the Stampeders to play in. Are they SOL or not?

No. Fieldhouse was separate from the Stadium

[DiracSpike]

Hopefully Council gets to work right away on the Fieldhouse, just because we won't be having an Olympics doesn't mean we can't have one.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by redforever

Pretty well all of the other cities that pulled out of the Olympics had plebiscites whereby citizens could express their opinion. Why should Calgary be any different, especially considering the size and scope that the Olympics has grown to and especially because of the growing public displeasure with the Olympics due to the corruption and doping associated with it?

If this was the case council should know this and not bid. They represent us.
I mean they had to spend millions to get 46%.

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

No. Fieldhouse was separate from the Stadium

It most certainly was not separate.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

100% agree. The moment the provincial government insisted on a plebiscite, the bid was doomed. It was an easy out for them. Kenney supported the plebiscite as well.
Direct democracy failed on Brexit, and on a much smaller scale, failed on the Olympic bid.
Some issues are best decided by our elected representatives ... this was one of them. It was impossible to get the information to the masses and for them to look at it objectively. For the record, I voted yes, but with some reservations.
The blame mostly lies with the province IMO.

Well people are cheap. As soon as they are told that this is going to cost them money, they're primed to vote against it. I'm convinced that basically anything we have today that is great would be killed in a plebiscite. The new library, peace bridge or even iconic things like the Calgary Tower would never be built if you told people that it would cost them $20/month or whatever in taxes.

I'm convinced that any arena deal would fail if it were put to a plebiscite as well. It would face a campaign of "we could use that money for..." and "we should be prioritizing..." and there's no chance it would pass.

I'm pretty disappointed with this. I actually don't care much about the Olympics themselves, but that 7 year construction project and tourism boost would have been great.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

It was part of an Eastern trip a few years back. NY, Atlantic City, Philly, Baltimore, Washington DC and Pittsburgh. If not for Station North, I would have skipped Baltimore.

So does that count?

What in specific about Station North was so attractive? I am genuinely curious, there is literally nothing marquee that stands out there, especially if you're coming from cities like New York and Washington.

It's kind of like saying you can't wait to see Hamilton's entertainment district after just coming through Montreal and Toronto.

[Flamenspiel]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

Hopefully Council gets to work right away on the Fieldhouse, just because we won't be having an Olympics doesn't mean we can't have one.

Lol, good luck with that.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

What in specific about Station North was so attractive? I am genuinely curious, there is literally nothing marquee that stands out there, especially if you're coming from cities like New York and Washington.

It's kind of like saying you can't wait to see Hamilton's entertainment district after just coming through Montreal and Toronto.

Obviously I wanted to see Camden Yards. At the time the district was also new and I had heard this dirty city of Baltimore built a nice harbour district so I checked it out. I don't if that's specific but I certainly would have skipped it if not for the district. I skipped Boston for this reason.