2026 Olympics- Calgary votes no- 56%

[Locke]

Man, I have to say I cant remember getting the hard-press for my vote like this before, even for Mayoral or Federal elections let alone for a non-binding plebiscite on the Olympics.

Canvassers at my door, signs on people's lawns, robo-calls in the middle of the night, they're really all in on this.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by RM14

Ok

He's right though.

We are being asked to cast a vote on the existing bid and information within.

That bid contains no new 18000 seat venue of any sort.

It does contain a 7000 seat venue.

Those are the facts as it stands now, and also insight IMO to how extremely poorly this has all been handled.

[RM14]

Yep, that's the literal vote. You'd have to use skepticism to achieve the assumption that it's more than likely that part will change, as bidco has publicly stated that that part of bid is not set in concrete. Their statements form part of the bid we are voting on.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by transplant99

He's right though.

We are being asked to cast a vote on the existing bid and information within.

That bid contains no new 18000 seat venue of any sort.

It does contain a 7000 seat venue.

Those are the facts as it stands now, and also insight IMO to how extremely poorly this has all been handled.

I don’t know if it’s indicative of it being handled poorly, but rather that a plebiscite is really poorly timed. It seems like a catch 22. We’re voting on this fairly early, with incomplete information, information that would be well fleshed out had the plebiscite been later, but if the plebiscite was later and the vote was still no, the waste of resources would be even higher than it is now, which none of us would want.

I think it’s been handled near as good as it could’ve been, given the timing and the situation. The result of what we have to work with isn’t inspiring, but that’s just how it is I suppose.

[craigwd]

Originally Posted by transplant99

So hockey will be in a 7000 seat arena while figure skating gets the 19,000 seat venue?

To be fair as it stands now:

Hockey 1 - Saddledome
Hockey 2 - new arena which replaces FDB.
Figure Skating and Short Track Speed Skating - Fieldhouse
Curling - Other arena in southern Alberta or Bow Valley.

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by RM14

Yep, that's the literal vote. You'd have to use skepticism to achieve the assumption that it's more than likely that part will change, as bidco has publicly stated that that part of bid is not set in concrete. Their statements form part of the bid we are voting on.

A bid presented with a nudge, nudge, wink, wink from bidco. Par for the course I guess.
When all is said and done, if successful, this olympics will cost the city and residents dearly. I don't understand how anyone would trust them with a few million dollars, let alone a few billion.

[RM14]

Originally Posted by craigwd

To be fair as it stands now:

Hockey 1 - Saddledome
Hockey 2 - new arena which replaces FDB.
Figure Skating and Short Track Speed Skating - Fieldhouse
Curling - Other arena in southern Alberta or Bow Valley.

To be fair, that's the worst case scenario and does not reflect what iwill actually will happen in 7 years

[RM14]

Originally Posted by monkeyman

A bid presented with a nudge, nudge, wink, wink from bidco. Par for the course I guess.
When all is said and done, if successful, this olympics will cost the city and residents dearly. I don't understand how anyone would trust them with a few million dollars, let alone a few billion.

It's not even a wink. There are public statements that say this is not reflecting other projects being planned seperate and independent of the bid.

[marsplasticeraser]

It’s ironic to me how often I hear the complaint about losing out on federal transfer payments and it’s unfair.

here is a chance to get ~$1.5 billion back yet there is such strong opposition.

The fed money will be spent whether we take it or not. To base your argument that this money will be saved is erroneous. It will just be reallocated, most likely to a sporting event out east.

Where we see no advantage.

I look at what the city and province are putting in and it seems a no brainer to get the olympics for that.

But my family uses almost all the facilities involved and I know first hand how how much work needs to be done, as all facilities need Work.

Put another way, a big chunk of the capital spending will eventually have to spent anyways.

Ultimately, Not doing the olympics doesn’t remove the capital costs but it does remove $2.5 billion in funding we wouldn’t get otherwise.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by RM14

It's not even a wink. There are public statements that say this is not reflecting other projects being planned seperate and independent of the bid.

If an arena is Separate from the bid then that means it needs more city dollars without the federal matching funds.. My issue is this was the opportunity to get someone else to pay for it. They didn’t take it.

So if an Arena can’t be built with the current city contribution to the games then saying it will be built outside of the games is not a benefit of the games.

Also these separate projects which are unannounced will tie up infrastructure dollars. For them to be unannounced at this stage is not acceptable. Either the bid is what is written down on the paper for what it costs or the bid is all of the extra we wants with no idea how it will be funded or how much it will cost.

Effectively you are saying that the city will contribute 300 million to a new arena outside the currently announced funding for the Olympics. Perhaps 150 million more if the funding dollars tied to the community arena can be moved to the event center. (Though if that can happen why isn’t it announced already).

So what you effectively are wanting people to do is vote yes on an undetermined scope and undetermined budget. If anyone looks at why olympics go grossly over budget it’s from doing exactly what you are asking. Scope change kills Olympic budgets.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by marsplasticeraser

It’s ironic to me how often I hear the complaint about losing out on federal transfer payments and it’s unfair.

here is a chance to get ~$1.5 billion back yet there is such strong opposition.

The fed money will be spent whether we take it or not. To base your argument that this money will be saved is erroneous. It will just be reallocated, most likely to a sporting event out east.

Where we see no advantage.

I look at what the city and province are putting in and it seems a no brainer to get the olympics for that.

But my family uses almost all the facilities involved and I know first hand how how much work needs to be done, as all facilities need Work.

Put another way, a big chunk of the capital spending will eventually have to spent anyways.

Ultimately, Not doing the olympics doesn’t remove the capital costs but it does remove $2.5 billion in funding we wouldn’t get otherwise.

Your aware that the federal portion of funding is spent entirely on the operating budget for the games and is not contributing anything to legacy. So while it shouldn’t be considered a cost causing a tax increase it’s only value is whatever economic stimulus it provides. It does not provide anything beyond the two week window.

[RM14]

The arena is coming independent of the olympics and that is a fact. That fact should be considered when interpreting the bid. They should have just presented the bid on the assumption of it being built.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by RM14

The arena is coming independent of the olympics and that is a fact. That fact should be considered when interpreting the bid. They should have just presented the bid on the assumption of it being built.

No, it really is not a fact at all...at this point anyways.

It is assumption and conjecture with an educated guess on top.

It is, in fact, not a fact.

[RM14]

Originally Posted by transplant99

No, it really is not a fact at all...at this point anyways.

It is assumption and conjecture with an educated guess on top.

It is, in fact, not a fact.

Fine. Its extremely likely and will happen.

It isn't even in the foothills cluster renderings.

[monkeyman]

It's ironic to me how anyone who's complaining about paying taxes that ultimately don't come back to the city and province, limiting our ability to fund new projects and limit our debt, would back an olympics that will effectively increase their taxes for decades to come and further limit our ability to take on new debt and fund future projects.
Not to mention, it does absolutely nothing to rebalance the transfer payment distribution formula that is the real problem. Even though we will be running deficits and incurring more and more debt as a city and province, we'll still be a net contributor of transfer payments for the foreseeable future.

[Hackey]

What percentage of profits does the IOC take? Do they fund anything? Do they have any responsibility?

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Hackey

What percentage of profits does the IOC take? Do they fund anything? Do they have any responsibility?

You can be assured they will make great money regardless of what happens.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by RM14

The arena is coming independent of the olympics and that is a fact. That fact should be considered when interpreting the bid. They should have just presented the bid on the assumption of it being built.

So instead of putting it in the bid and getting matching dollars they keep it out of the bid and don’t but they are for sure going to build it anyway?

[chemgear]

They did the deal for the arena? I haven't been paying attention I guess, it's a done?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Hackey

What percentage of profits does the IOC take? Do they fund anything? Do they have any responsibility?

The IOC does not take any profit from the operations of the games. They do control the TV revenues from the games and the major sponsor revenues (Visa, Coke, etc). They get somewhere between 4.5 billion and 5bilkion in revenue in a 4 year Olympic cycle. They control the use of the Olympic Rings logo. They have offered to pay 925 million USD for the Winter Olympics in cash and services. Calgary has put 700 million CAD as the cash contribution from the IOC for the games.

The IOC has no responsibility beyond provinding the 925 in cash and services.