Should Calgary Bid on the 2026 Olympics

[Manhattanboy]

Over to you Flames....

Over to you NHL....

[flambers]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

I think any plebiscite fails decisively. Ryan Jesperson said he’s had many callers indicating non-support and not one in favour.

I bet it passes.....

Lots of people who support the Olympics simply don't listen to talk radio....

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

So what you're saying is we should cancel the Olympic bid and just give the Flames the arena, since that's all that anyone cares about? I mean I guess.

Not quite, I think that the benefit of the Olympics that has been pitched is infrastructure so without a signityre piece of infrastructure you didn’t deliver on the sales pitch.

If you say look at what we get with federal and provincial dollars that wouldn’t otherwise be spent here you need something to show for it.

[Manhattanboy]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

Do you also get excited about poor estimates and shaky cost justifications? Or are hundreds of millions or billions in cost overruns part of the price to pay for a few days of partying? Can you expand on the legacy projects that a 2026 games would leave behind beside a small arena that the NHL wouldn’t use and a field house?

Maybe take it down a notch there?

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Good! The Olympics in Vancouver are etched in my memory as some of the most fun and exciting times in my entire life. Calgary needs something to get excited about. I hope the citizens do the right thing and vote Yes.

I remember in Vancouver before the Olympics how so many people were talking about making plans to leave the city when they were on, how much of a headache it will be, traffic will be a nightmare etc etc etc. the negativity was in overdrive. Now it is remembered so fondly by so many people and finished debt free and the legacy projects are very well used.

There are no legacy projects to this bid. That's one of the main reasons people against the bid feel the way they do. It was my number 1 problem with this bid until the last week events showed the BidCo to be largely inept.

[flames_fan_down_under]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

Do you also get excited about poor estimates and shaky cost justifications? Or are hundreds of millions or billions in cost overruns part of the price to pay for a few days of partying? Can you expand on the legacy projects that a 2026 games would leave behind beside a small arena that the NHL wouldn’t use and a field house?

LOL no I can only speak to my personal experience and that both Vancouver and Calgary have been successful Olympics hosts in the last 30 years. But you've already made up your mind it seems!

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Maybe take it down a notch there?

Far too many people aren’t using logic when they are deciding to vote. “It will be fun” is far from justification to agree to something that even the organizers can’t actually estimate or tell us who will pay for what

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by GGG

Not quite, I think that the benefit of the Olympics that has been pitched is infrastructure so without a signityre piece of infrastructure you didn’t deliver on the sales pitch.

If you say look at what we get with federal and provincial dollars that wouldn’t otherwise be spent here you need something to show for it.

But if the arena is truly the decisive factor in this, cut out all the other risks and make it simple. The other infrastructure that's left is meaningless, and based off what we've seen the past 48 hours cannot be relied upon to come in on budget. With there being no back door to arena funding in the current deal that so many thought might be there, it would seem unlikely there's an arena deal to be made, especially since the CSEC has more leverage now that for most people it's wanting the arena more than the Olympics. Might be a good time for them to dig in and play hardball.

[Dion]

Understanding benefit and loss

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/le...ers-for-oct-31

Some people think we can relive the excitement and fun of 1988’s Olympics by hosting the games again in 2026. But it is different now for a host. Calgary’s unemployment rate is 8.7% according to the 2017 Calgary Annual Report.

Calgary is broke. We are constantly being threatened with higher taxes and/or cuts to services, and new user fees are constantly added or increased. Alberta is broke. The government has Alberta heading toward a debt greater than $50 billion. Taxes are one of the few choices left to fight off the debt. And Canada is broke. The federal government is in a deficit position and doesn’t seem to be heading anywhere soon to address it.

If you are looking for a way to increase your tax load, putting up a few billion to host an Olympics is a fun way to go. Then again, a practical person might suggest putting current and future taxes to a better use; like education, medical care, roads, a cleaner environment.

But if you are still steaming about the lack of progress on pipelines, vote “yes.” We can stick it to the rest of Canada’s taxpayers. Have them pay most of the costs for our fun. The best part of this is that the rest of Canada doesn’t even get to vote!

It’s your choice when you vote. Just be sure you understand what it is you stand to gain and stand to lose.

[oldschoolcalgary]

well, since the plebiscite looks like its moving forward, a couple of things:

1) hopefully there's good voter turnout... whatever side wins, i am sure there's going to some ruffled feathers if the vote is from a minority of voters...If there's voter turnout of 60% i think the results can be reasonably extrapolated to the 'will' of the voters... if its sub 50%, the losing side is sure to dispute it.

2) the people that do vote will hopefully spend some time actually processing the numbers being pitched around.

should be interesting to see how many people vote and what they decide.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by nik-

What?

It’s a sentiment prevalent in social media. One small example:

https://twitter.com/yyc_cyclist/stat...487951874?s=21

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Bunk

It’s a sentiment prevalent in social media. One small example:

https://twitter.com/yyc_cyclist/stat...487951874?s=21

Yeah, but social media is a cesspool so what do you expect. That's not a portrayal of the no side.

[Joborule]

If CSEC is going to give this a push to try to get the Olympic vote in their favour to get a better arena deal, they need to act NOW. I don't think that's gonna happen, unless the discussion behind closed doors have been very tightly sealed. You'd figure if a deal was imminent in lieu of the vote, rumours would start swirling at this point.

[Jacks]

Current debt and deficit don't mean anything on a bid that is years away, it's either a good deal or it isn't. You have to spend a certain amount and you'll get a certain amount of benefit back, how that balances is what matters long term. The Feds are spending their share of the money whether we get it or not, it's allocated to sports funds so that leave the approx 1B+ that the province and city are going to spend.


Saying that '88 was great but we are broke now is kind of silly, does anyone remember the 80's?
Unemployment went as high as 12% in the years prior to the games.
We were 10's of billions of dollars in debt.
Interest rates were in double digits.
We were a complete fiscal mess but that didn't have anything to do with the Olympics either way.


We need to see the final totals on expenses and what we get for that investment, either it makes sense or it doesn't in the long term. All of this hysteria in the meantime is just noise to me.

[gottabekd]

Originally Posted by Bunk

It’s a sentiment prevalent in social media. One small example:

https://twitter.com/yyc_cyclist/stat...487951874?s=21

I'm not sure I follow how that is related to "a brexit kind of anti-establishment populast tenor". I think one can recognize that obviously developers are going to be very pro-Olympics without that being an anti-establishment stance.

Wait a minute, I thought supporting Nenshi was the anti-developer stance...what is going on?!

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

But if the arena is truly the decisive factor in this, cut out all the other risks and make it simple. The other infrastructure that's left is meaningless, and based off what we've seen the past 48 hours cannot be relied upon to come in on budget. With there being no back door to arena funding in the current deal that so many thought might be there, it would seem unlikely there's an arena deal to be made, especially since the CSEC has more leverage now that for most people it's wanting the arena more than the Olympics. Might be a good time for them to dig in and play hardball.

I’m opppsed to both arena and Olympics so I’m not trying to argue for it really speculating on how people will vote and what it would take for it to pass. I think we need to wait a little bit before saying there is no way this should come in on budget. At this stage you have a +/- 30% estimate with 20% contingency so you have to really screw up to fail by more than 10% over.

We need more detail on what was cut from scope. My read on it is they cut a bunch of the housing which was always poorly defined. To me it looked like housing was a slush fund they were going to use to reduce scope or cover losses. I don’t see that changing other than the fat part of the estimate got trimmed. I think 10% over whatever number is in the bid document provided nothing is added to scope is reasonable.

[woob]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

majority of council votes to kill, but not enough to actually kill.

I’m not sure you understand majority.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by nik-

Yeah, but social media is a cesspool so what do you expect. That's not a portrayal of the no side.

That’s fair. By no means am I saying that is all or most. But I still think in a lot of the messaging from the most ardent opponents - social media especially, but also in other venues and mediums, there is a strain of this is “elites” pushing this.

[Bunk]

Originally Posted by gottabekd

I'm not sure I follow how that is related to "a brexit kind of anti-establishment populast tenor". I think one can recognize that obviously developers are going to be very pro-Olympics without that being an anti-establishment stance.

Wait a minute, I thought supporting Nenshi was the anti-developer stance...what is going on?!

I was pointing to more the last part of that statement.

[BloodFetish]

I hope they tax weed to pay for the Olympics. THAT will rustle some jimmies!