Should Calgary Bid on the 2026 Olympics

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

What's the harm in asking?

Spending $2 million to get rejected is pretty embarrassing.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Simple english, Nenshi doesn't want the Olympics

Huh? How did you come to that conclusion? There likely isn't anyone on Council who has been more supportive of an Olympic bid than him.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

What's the harm in asking?

They don’t want the people to say no. They want the provincial government to be the bad guys. It’s obvious because of the change in tune of a bunch of councillors now that money is tied to a plebiscite and they indicate they will vote no now.

[Snuffleupagus]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Spending $2 million to get rejected is pretty embarrassing.

Is that $2m not part of the $$$ already committed by the province?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Is that $2m not part of the $$$ already committed by the province?

No, that's the problem. The province wants there to be a plebiscite, but so far, no one has offered to pay to hold one.

I agree with what the mayor said last week, if the Provincial government wants there to be a plebiscite, they should pay for it.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by getbak

No, that's the problem. The province wants there to be a plebiscite, but so far, no one has offered to pay to hold one.

I agree with what the mayor said last week, if the Provincial government wants there to be a plebiscite, they should pay for it.

I get the feeling it won’t get that far, so probably a moot point.

[Joborule]

Well if IOC really wants to have the winter Olympics in North America for 2026, they're gonna have to pull a desperation move to get it now.

But I don't think they care much for that as they do summer. And that will be in LA for 2028. So this bid is dead.

Sucks that now some key infrastructure is gonna take longer to get built. Doubt the fieldhouse is gonna get built at this rate since there isn't political will to get it done.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Really what should happen is the feds should take all the infrastructure money they were gonna throw at BC for the next say 10 years, and redirect it to AB as punishment for their current tantrum.

[OMG!WTF!]

I think the whole idea Nenshi had was to get a bunch of otherwise unfunded infrastructure built for cheap, break even on the games and have a big fancy pants party. Noble ambitions but given the history of Olympic games, there's no way we're getting a free lunch out of this. And we'd look remarkably dumb dropping 40 million then deciding we're not even going to bid. It's already kind of sad that 6 million would have paid out all the residents of midfield park, but didn't even get us enough info to decide if we should bid on a two week bender.

[Ozy_Flame]

Ah, Calgary - why have a world class event when you can have a good ol' fashioned bureaucratic and fiscal debacle rooted in populist teeth gnashing?

I miss home.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Ah, Calgary - why have a world class event when you can have a good ol' fashioned bureaucratic and fiscal debacle rooted in populist teeth gnashing?

I miss home.

I thought you live in Scotland?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I thought you live in Scotland?

What?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I thought you live in Scotland?

Nope, Austria.

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Ah, Calgary - why have a world class event when you can have a good ol' fashioned bureaucratic and fiscal debacle rooted in populist teeth gnashing?

I miss home.

We want big things (I mean who wouldn't?), but don't have an appetite for the costs in getting those things.

I feel there's more to gain than lose here, at a very optimal price considering our current infrastructure advantages, and disappointed we're gonna be passing up on the opportunity.

[flambers]

Speculation going around, City will vote on the Olympics on Monday April 16.

They will vote "no" to the Olympics.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Spending $2 million to get rejected is pretty embarrassing.

It costs 2M to have a plebisite? That's just nuts.

[Krovikan]

Originally Posted by speede5

It costs 2M to have a plebisite? That's just nuts.

~500k households in Calgary, so $4 per doesn't seem too unreasonable.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

[CliffFletcher]

Maybe the city should just raise a special capital fund, say, $400m, for new public sporting facilities. That's much less than we'd be on the hook for if we got the Olympics. And we could put it all towards high-priority facilities that would get used a lot, rather than tiny niche sports like ski jumping.

[Ozy_Flame]

2 mil doesn't seem that much to hold a plebiscite, but the City should really find a way to do online voting for these things, with the proper security protocols in place. That said, having such a system might not even be worth it then because plebiscites are so uncommon these days. If the platform could be used to do other things, such as online petition submissions, inquiries, community campaigning, etc. Then I could see it being decent.

[Northendzone]

here is a chance for you to change my mind on this fiasco - can you summarize the infrastructure gains that we will get for the projected net cost to calgary of $2 billion?

Originally Posted by Joborule

We want big things (I mean who wouldn't?), but don't have an appetite for the costs in getting those things.

I feel there's more to gain than lose here, at a very optimal price considering our current infrastructure advantages, and disappointed we're gonna be passing up on the opportunity.