2026 - should Calgary bid?

[Bourque's Twin]

I would love for Calgary to make a bid. It would be great for the city and great for me personally. I was born in December of 1989, so I missed the Olympics by 2 years and the Stanley Cup by less than a year.

Bring them both back.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Plett25

I wouldn't wish the Summer Olympics on my worst enemy.

IMO Toronto/Canada is barely big enough to justify the facilities. Auckland/NZ (or Calgary/AB/Canada for that matter) is no where near big enough to justify the facilities required to host the Summer Games.

Auckland has existing infrastructure that would need to be renovated, but they do have stadia infrastructure as is. They have the water / dry land infrastructure as is as well, and this isn't factoring in any Olympic funding they would likely receive.

You compare Auckland to Calgary, but really, Auckland has more facilities already there for a Summer Games bid. Sport is HUGE down there.

The only thing really lacking is more hotels / accommodation areas for that many tourists at once.

[flamesfan1297]

I did not realize how many facilities the summer Olympics required, until I just googled the London Olympics. Wow that us crazy, the winter Olympics seem like they require So much less. I also never realized how many sports there actually was in the summer Olympics

[CliffFletcher]

After a Summer Games, the host is left with dozens of facilities that have almost no use after the Olympics. $60 million dollar kayak course, anyone? BMX track? Sailing academy? Veledrome? Equestrian Centre? Water polo arena?

I honestly don't know why any city/country would want to host the Summer Olympics. At best its an enormous government subsidy to the construction industry.

[Tyler]

Ask Greece how their Summer Olympic venue investments are doing LOL

[Iggy Snipe]

At least Calgary can use all the facilities all year around that they had built. I think Calgary could use another Olympics to improve all our facilities. Then the training would be even better, and the leisure! A lot Canadian athletes train in calgary year around as it is. That would be amazing if Calgary hosted the winter olympic games again. That would ensure a new hockey rink too..

[Plett25]

Originally Posted by Muta

Auckland has existing infrastructure that would need to be renovated, but they do have stadia infrastructure as is. They have the water / dry land infrastructure as is as well, and this isn't factoring in any Olympic funding they would likely receive.

You compare Auckland to Calgary, but really, Auckland has more facilities already there for a Summer Games bid. Sport is HUGE down there.

The only thing really lacking is more hotels / accommodation areas for that many tourists at once.

Sport may be HUGE down there, but their economy isn't. And every host city ends up spending billions on the Olympics. London had to spend $5 to 10 billion on venues for the 2012 games. I doubt that Auckland in 2014 is more prepared to host a future Olympics than London was in 2004.

I don't think Auckland has an 80,000 seat track and field stadium, a velodrome or an Olympic caliber aquatic center. Without those, Auckland isn't really any more prepared than Calgary for a Summer Olympics.

[Muta]

Originally Posted by Plett25

I don't think Auckland has an 80,000 seat track and field stadium, a velodrome or an Olympic caliber aquatic center. Without those, Auckland isn't really any more prepared than Calgary for a Summer Olympics.

I hate to break it to you, but many host cities build these types facilities once awarded the games. You'd be very, very hard pressed to find any host city that had all the required infrastructure before being awarded them. I don't think it's fair to single out Auckland in this regard.

And I should know about these types of infrastructure developments, since I worked on the 2015 Pan-Am Games design submissions for Toronto.

[flames_fan_down_under]

I think Toronto would be a great spot for the Summer Games. It is a world class city and would be more than capable of hosting a great Olympics. Also I think it's big enough that a lot of the venues would continue to get use.

I would be so excited if Canada got another Olympics in the next 20 years.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

I think Toronto would be a great spot for the Summer Games. It is a world class city and would be more than capable of hosting a great Olympics. Also I think it's big enough that a lot of the venues would continue to get use.

I would be so excited if Canada got another Olympics in the next 20 years.

If Toronto ever did get the games, that would leave Canada with 4 Olympic cities. Does any country have more? For the US I know there's Lake Placid, LA, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City, but I feel like I'm forgetting one

[Lil Pedro]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

If Toronto ever did get the games, that would leave Canada with 4 Olympic cities. Does any country have more? For the US I know there's Lake Placid, LA, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City, but I feel like I'm forgetting one

St. Louis and Squaw Valley have also hosted in the US

[getbak]

France has hosted 5 times in 4 different locations. Paris has hosted Summer twice, and Grenoble, Chamonix, and Albertville (which are all relatively close to each other close to Switzerland in the Alpine region).

I wouldn't be surprised to see France bid for 2026. It's the 25th Winter Games, and two years after the Centennial of the first Winter Games in Chamonix.

[Party Elephant]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

Maybe throw in someplace in New Zealand--Christchurch or Queenstown, perhaps.

Queenstown, with our permanent population of 15000, swells and nearly bursts every ski season just with the aussie tourists. Hotels are all booked full months in advance and traffic is a nightmare. We aren't even big enough to have a set of traffic lights. It would take a TON of development and new facilities to put the olympics here, and the thing about that is with the topography we have there isn't really space to build these things. Our airport, for example, has one runway and a very small terminal. Flights can't land or take off outside of daylight hours due to the mountains. And while our mountains are tall, the snow here is only consistent on the top third of the mountains (and even then it's a bit of a crapshoot), hence why the ski fields are all 2/3 of the way up the mountain. Most are accessed by steep, windy gravel roads with few guard rails. To say we'd need a lot of development would be a massive understatement.

Christchurch, on the other hand, maybe... They are already in the middle of an olympic-sized construction project in rebuilding a significant portion of the city, including the entire CBD, after the 2011 earthquakes. They are still years away from being rebuilt, but maybe with their massive workforce of skilled tradespeople they'd be up for another mega project in 10 or so years. It's only a couple hours drive to the Canterbury ski fields (which face the same problems as ours do further south), but the city doesn't experience much of a winter at all. But that's not really an issue, as long as there's snow on the mountains right? And they'll be building a new stadium for rugby anyways since their current stadium is only a temporary facility (I've been, it's just aluminum bleachers with trailers for concession stands and bathrooms) which could be used for the opening/closing ceremonies.

When I first read your post I thought, nah that's crazy, but thinking about it more I think Christchurch could host the winter olympics, as long as it's not right away.

Originally Posted by Muta

I would absolutely die of happiness if New Zealand won the Summer Games. That would be such an amazing, amazing location as a host.

Me too. Auckland would be a great host city, and there's no real reason they couldn't pull it off as long as it had the proper financial support (maybe Kim Dotcom could help out?)

Originally Posted by bossy22

I'm pretty sure Snowpark New Zealand is one of the largest terrain parks in the world.

Was, but they didn't operate last year at all. This year they'll be open for private use, as in you have to rent the place out. According to this article they have new owners that aren't sure what they'll do with the place long-term.


Holy long post batman, just mention New Zealand and I come running!

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by getbak

France has hosted 5 times in 4 different locations. Paris has hosted Summer twice, and Grenoble, Chamonix, and Albertville (which are all relatively close to each other close to Switzerland in the Alpine region).

I wouldn't be surprised to see France bid for 2026. It's the 25th Winter Games, and two years after the Centennial of the first Winter Games in Chamonix.

Yep, the 3 french Olympic sites are only 155 km apart. Albertville and Chamonix are only 73 km from each other and Albertville and Grenoble being 82 km apart.

[Tsawwassen]

Originally Posted by Plett25

I wouldn't wish the Summer Olympics on my worst enemy.

IMO Toronto/Canada is barely big enough to justify the facilities. Auckland/NZ (or Calgary/AB/Canada for that matter) is no where near big enough to justify the facilities required to host the Summer Games.

Montreal is probably big enough but who wants another stadium fiasco where it took 30 years to pay off.

[flamesfan1297]

Originally Posted by Tsawwassen

Montreal is probably big enough but who wants another stadium fiasco where it took 30 years to pay off.

I hope montreal learned their lesson

[Alberta_Beef]

So someone suggested that Montreal bid with the Skiing being hosted in the US at an American ski hill, apparently that is not such a foreign concept.

According to Wiki the 2022 bid from Krakow Poland includes all Alpine events to be held at Jasna in Slovakia.

[Hemi-Cuda]

I don't see Montreal ever getting the winter games. They've already had an Olympics, and if you're going to repeat then Calgary or Vancouver make far better alternatives

[Northendzone]

I would think all of that border crossing would be a nightmare.....

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

So someone suggested that Montreal bid with the Skiing being hosted in the US at an American ski hill, apparently that is not such a foreign concept.

According to Wiki the 2022 bid from Krakow Poland includes all Alpine events to be held at Jasna in Slovakia.

Both EU countries which, from what I understand, makes border crossing non-existent. Also, neither of them have their terrorism meter at "threat level midnight" like the U.S. does.