[News] UPD: Calgary City Council approves exploratory bid study for 2026 Olympics

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

I guess the question is what is the appeal of hosting an Olympics in the first place.

To demonstrate to the world that you're a modern, attractive, big-league city?

Getting infrastructure upgrades paid for by higher levels of government?

Some kind of duty to the athletic community - somebody has to host these things, so we'll take the hit this time?

Something else?

To celebrate sport, athletes and culture. To showcase your country and culture to the world. To welcome the athletes and fans of the world for a large party.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

i heard an interesting idea yesterday regarding hosting the olympic games. what if there were 6 cities that the games would rotate thru on a regular basis? this would ensure the infrastructure investments would be used again in the future, and with regular upkeep could be a tremendous cost savings. i think we are already seeing this as evident based on the comments that some of our existing facilities are still 'good to go' from the ioc perspective.

example: calgary 2026, innsbruck 2030, nagano 2034, lake placid 2038, oslo 2042, beijing 2046, calgary 2050, etc....

Duff Gibson has been advocating this for years.

[surferguy]

^that would be interesting. Thoughts on cycling in one new city every third cycle?

[Corral]

Few who live in the southern hemisphere even know the winter Olympics happen. I would give it all a pass.

[Svartsengi]

Any talk about where to put the Alpine skiing if Lake Louise not on board?. I remember vaguely last Olympics all the potential locations considered and they settled on Mt. Allen (Nakiska) as the site. It was not unanimous and Nakiska doesn't satisfy the requirements any longer. Would Kicking Horse in Golden work?. It didn't exist in the early 1980's or at least not like it does now I think there was another smaller scale ski hill in Golden at that time.

Without Lake Louise the bid could be over.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Corral

Few who live in the southern hemisphere even know the winter Olympics happen. I would give it all a pass.

Only Europe, NE Asia, and North America are in the Northern Hemisphere.

All due respect to some of South America, some of Africa, and Australia but in economic scale the South opinion doesn’t count.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Svartsengi

Any talk about where to put the Alpine skiing if Lake Louise not on board?. I remember vaguely last Olympics all the potential locations considered and they settled on Mt. Allen (Nakiska) as the site. It was not unanimous and Nakiska doesn't satisfy the requirements any longer. Would Kicking Horse in Golden work?. It didn't exist in the early 1980's or at least not like it does now I think there was another smaller scale ski hill in Golden at that time.

Without Lake Louise the bid could be over.

Previously for the 2010 exploration bid, they were looking at Nakiska for the alpine events. I can't find the exact report and the picture consisting with it, but Nakiska has land to north peak that is assigned for expansion of the ski hill. (Which is consistent with the Evan-Thomas Provincial Recreation Area Master Plan) So if they can't make use of Lake Louise, Nakiska could be expanded to include new runs.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Corral

Few who live in the southern hemisphere even know the winter Olympics happen. I would give it all a pass.

From both a cultural and economic perspective on the impact of the games, who the hell cares at all about the southern hemisphere countries. It's not like we're going to increase tourism and benefit substantially from many of them.

[Jordan!]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

From both a cultural and economic perspective on the impact of the games, who the hell cares at all about the southern hemisphere countries. It's not like we're going to increase tourism and benefit substantially from many of them.

Have you ever thought, man I want to visit where the Winter Olympics took place?

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

Have you ever thought, man I want to visit where the Winter Olympics took place?

I usually do, just not when they are in Russia. We will see if South Korea does anything for me.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

Have you ever thought, man I want to visit where the Winter Olympics took place?

I remember as a little 6 year old boy in Austria, watching the Olympics in 88, thinking how cool of a place Calgary seemed like. It definitely put it on the map for me, and I was pretty jazzed when I found out a year later that my family would be moving close to it (even if that close meant Fort McMurray, ha).

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by craigwd

To celebrate sport, athletes and culture. To showcase your country and culture to the world. To welcome the athletes and fans of the world for a large party.

How much are these things worth to you? How much would you personally be willing to pay to do the above?

[sketchyt]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

Have you ever thought, man I want to visit where the Winter Olympics took place?

Yup, would love to visit Nagano. Looks amazing.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

How much are these things worth to you? How much would you personally be willing to pay to do the above?

Dollar amount? I don't know, several dollars.
It's pretty much a once in a lifetime event for people.
Experiencing 2010 was literally the best thing in my life. Hell, going to the 2015 PanAmerican Games and the 2013 & 2015 World Figure Skating Championships were amazing experiences to celebrate sport and explore new cities.

Not everything has to be based solely on ROI and/or check off some kind of cynical list.

[killer_carlson]

I'd fully support a Calgary bid. I'd also fully support a joint Calgary and Edmonton bid.

First, I think it's the only way we'll see more than tolken amounts of funding from the federal government for infrastructure projects.

Second, I like the attention the city gets federally.

Third, I think a joint bid could work very well. I think Edmonton would support the what sporting events it was given, as I think Edmonton has demonstrated strong support for amateur events in the past. Something like curling, Aerials, short track. Would be good

[marsplasticeraser]

So the reason I’d support the Olympics (at a break-even or close-to cost) is the tremendous value to the city in raising our profile. Basically it’s two-weeks where most developed nations show constant media coverage about how great Calgary and the surrounding region is.

This benefits in tourism obviously and can be easy to calculate long term benefits. I think what’s more interesting is this shapes calgry’s image over the long-term. Because of the olympics people will want to move here and businesses will consider Calgary for expansion/overseas office. Instead of saying “where’s Calgary?” They’ll already have a favourable opinion. “Oh calgary, you guys live in a beautiful place and can really manage major projects well. You made money both times you hosted the olympics”

If you don’t believe this, go on vacation. Most people know calgary and the Rockies from the’88 olympics. They came to visit because of us being an Olympic city. I also know highly skilled immigrants in Calgary from Western Europe who could have moved anywhere, but they came to Calgary in part because of the olympics.

Consider Nagano. Would we know anything about Nagano without olympics?

Originally Posted by Tinordi

How much are these things worth to you? How much would you personally be willing to pay to do the above?

[GordonBlue]

seriously? you think businesses are going to go "Oh calgary, you guys live in a beautiful place and can really manage major projects well. "

do you have any links to stats as to how many international companies moved to Calgary because of the '88 Olympics? now the metrics for business have changed since then. being a nice looking town with an Olympics just won't cut it in 2026.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by moncton golden flames

i heard an interesting idea yesterday regarding hosting the olympic games. what if there were 6 cities that the games would rotate thru on a regular basis? this would ensure the infrastructure investments would be used again in the future, and with regular upkeep could be a tremendous cost savings. i think we are already seeing this as evident based on the comments that some of our existing facilities are still 'good to go' from the ioc perspective.

example: calgary 2026, innsbruck 2030, nagano 2034, lake placid 2038, oslo 2042, beijing 2046, calgary 2050, etc....

People keep bringing this up as a perfect solution, but a 24 year rotation seems like an almost cruelly devised window between games where almost all your infrastructure from the last games will be almost okay but not quite and most likely in need of major upgrades/replacements.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by marsplasticeraser

So the reason I’d support the Olympics (at a break-even or close-to cost) is the tremendous value to the city in raising our profile. Basically it’s two-weeks where most developed nations show constant media coverage about how great Calgary and the surrounding region is.

This benefits in tourism obviously and can be easy to calculate long term benefits. I think what’s more interesting is this shapes calgry’s image over the long-term. Because of the olympics people will want to move here and businesses will consider Calgary for expansion/overseas office. Instead of saying “where’s Calgary?” They’ll already have a favourable opinion. “Oh calgary, you guys live in a beautiful place and can really manage major projects well. You made money both times you hosted the olympics”

If you don’t believe this, go on vacation. Most people know calgary and the Rockies from the’88 olympics. They came to visit because of us being an Olympic city. I also know highly skilled immigrants in Calgary from Western Europe who could have moved anywhere, but they came to Calgary in part because of the olympics.

Consider Nagano. Would we know anything about Nagano without olympics?

If any of this were true, cities would be tripping over themselves to try and host the Olympics. Instead the IOC is basically begging us to bid with what will likely be, relatively speaking, the poorest Olympics ever. The Olympics are a waste of money, this is why the IOC is so desperate to get anyone to host this Olympics that isn't a dictatorship. As far as business moving here goes, Calgary is already the corporate capital of Canada outside Toronto. And it's not because of hosting the Olympics, it's because of the corporate tax rate. If Calgary hosts the greatest Olympics ever in 2026, but the AB government doubles the corporate tax rate, businesses aren't moving here, they're fleeing en masse.

And I have been on vacation to several spots around the world. Most people know of Banff more than Calgary. Hosting another Olympics isn't going to change that.

[Nacre]

For some reason I am not able to directly quote this. Anyway . . .

"So the reason I’d support the Olympics (at a break-even or close-to cost) is the tremendous value to the city in raising our profile. Basically it’s two-weeks where most developed nations show constant media coverage about how great Calgary and the surrounding region is."

I know this is the reason most people support hosting the Olympics, but it doesn't work that way.

The international media takes the run-up to the games to trash the city as much as possible. (Especially the British press.) Before Rio hosted the 2016 summer games there were endless stories about trash, crime and the Zika virus. And in the end none of those were significant problems; not a single Olympic visitor was infected with the Zika virus. Vancouver also had a tempest in a teapot of early media coverage, if you remember.

The benefit to the Olympics is long term development within the region. Austria has the highest per capita tourism rate in the world, IIRC, and about 90% of their tourists come from Germany.

I think another Olympics in Calgary is a good idea if the IOC lets Calgary re-use existing sports venues from the 1988 games and backs down from its expectations for ultra-max-supreme security. Beyond that Ontario and Calgary should invest in things that people in Ontario and Calgary need.

Barcelona is a good example of an expensive games that was nonetheless successful. They spent a lot of money on cruise ship docks, hotels, rebuilding their beaches and public transit. All of those things were good investments even without the Olympics.