2026 Olympics- Calgary votes no- 56%

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Wormius

But the cost breakdown doesn’t show anything necessarily being wasted. They initially budgeted low on whatever the necessities were for the games and then it got inflated when they started building other infrastructure. Now if the cost overruns were all into security or some intangible, I would agree that it was a waste.

I don't know, when the costs start inflating to four times the initial estimate I think something is being wasted somewhere along the line, especially when dealing with billions of dollars. And that's not a London-exclusive issue either... did you see the numbers on VANOC I posted?

I have a hard time believing that Calgary's estimated budget would not skyrocket. There is precedent here, damn it, and Calgary's starting at a way higher ledge to fall off.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Muta

I think what's unfortunate is that the design, construction, sport and tourism industries won't get that shot in the arm they realllllly could have used for the next decade. Would have created thousands of jobs in a time we need them most.

I'd say this also hurts Calgary's reputation as an athletic training area which was a legacy from the first Olympics. If I was an amateur athlete, I would think twice about coming here now since the community support has essentially evaporated.

So do we just let some of these facilities crumble past their due dates now?

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Here's a fun fact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VANOC

"On January 30, 2009, VANOC announced its updated budget for the 2010 games. The operating budget was set at CAN$1.76 billion, with a contingency of $77 million.[5] This reflected an increase of $130 million over the $1.63 billion operating budget announced in May 2007..."

Initial stated budget for Vancouver: $1.76 billion
Final cost for Vancouver: over $7 billion (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ticle15036916/)
Change: 398%

Initial stated budget for Calgary: $5.11 billion (https://globalnews.ca/news/4649771/c...2026-olympics/)
Applying that change rate, the Calgary Olympics would cost $20.3 billion. That's obviously not and hard-and-fast way of looking at things but it's a damning indicator against a "model Olympics."

CTV had John Furlong ranting and claiming Bidco had a "contingency bigger than anything he had ever seen". I guess it would not have mattered in Vancouver either.

[chummer]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I don't know, when the costs start inflating to four times the initial estimate I think something is being wasted somewhere along the line, especially when dealing with billions of dollars. And that's not a London-exclusive issue either... did you see the numbers on VANOC I posted?

I have a hard time believing that Calgary's estimated budget would not skyrocket. There is precedent here, damn it, and Calgary's starting at a way higher ledge to fall off.

Who cares ?? The vote is over.

[Mephisto]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Yup and I think that is wrong and why it was rejected. I dont think other owners in other deals view a ticket tax as their share.

I agree with you that it should be more nuanced than assumed to be the owners share, but the Flames were very clear 18 months ago about their position on this. Maybe Edwards and King will come around to viewing ticket tax/user fees as a split contribution between Team and City - I won’t hold my breath though. The Calgary taxpayer is not in a strong negotiating position now on the arena, but maybe people view it as a lesser evil than the Olympics - we’ll see.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Good. Right now there are no viable bids for the 2026 games, and I hope it stays that way. Nothing will change the extreme corruption within the IOC if cities keep writing them blank cheques. But if they're forced to start begging more recent hosts with infrastructure already in place, scale down the games to a much more reaonable manor, or cancel them entirely then we might actually see some positive changes

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Muta

I think what's unfortunate is that the design, construction, sport and tourism industries won't get that shot in the arm they realllllly could have used for the next decade. Would have created thousands of jobs in a time we need them most.

Fight or Flight. Calgary chose tonight to curl up in a little ball and rock ourselves.

Not surprising the Olypics became to boogyman for all the beatings we have taken at the hands of the Feds and Province. Needed someone to feel good saying no to and exerting control.

Cutting nose off to spite face indeed.

[TheSutterDynasty]

Is there any support of the stance that building a new arena will help the economy?

Pretty sure us spending tax money on a building for a private group and then spending $13 on beer leaves us with less money.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I think the question is why are these games going over budget? Is it unique to each host city? That just sounds like poor planning. Tokyo apparently neglected to include the Paralympic portion of the games somehow. People point to cost overruns, buy I don’t see any huge reasons why ours would have. Unless somehow during construction we found an ancient Viking burial ground and had to move an entire venue or something. It boggles my mind how it could ever get to where something could cost the city a fortune in unexpected costs.

The only way we would hit into the 10s of billions in over run is if we replaced every single lamp post in Calgary with a blue ring lamp post.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by chummer

Who cares ?? The vote is over.

Oh, give me a break. People are still posting here and getting plenty of "thanks" off of calling me stupid for thinking the games would cost tens of billions. I just posted historical precedent for a 1) recent, 2) Western (by all definitions) games which ballooned way out of proportion. So at least give me a chance to respond to you and PepsiFree calling me out. That's what discussion forums are for.

[H2SO4(aq)]

I should clarify, I wasn’t attempting to make any implication about CPs demographic or opinion or anything. More just commenting that cp is 56.46% yes and Calgary is 56.4 no. Ironic numbers. Carry on gents. This was a tough debate.

[Jbo]

Originally Posted by TheSutterDynasty

Is there any support of the stance that building a new arena will help the economy?

Pretty sure us spending tax money on a building for a private group and then spending $13 on beer leaves us with less money.

Maybe...but we might get a damn concert through here more then twice a year.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Mentioned earlier, I wonder if we can get poll numbers from recent accountings.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calga...bots-1.4894767

The majority of the scrubbed comments were in favour of a bid, the consultants said.

Voting bots are automated software programs that imitate human voters in online polls or surveys. The tools can be deployed en masse to input multiple responses to online forms if there aren't precautionary security measures like CAPTCHA codes in place.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1059932517078228992

Yeah, they’ve definitely infiltrated this random message board! We need to INVESTIGATE!

[Senator Clay Davis]

Good thread.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1062573306799316992

[JBR]

Disappointed obviously but Calgarians have spoken. There’s plenty of opportunities and projects to look forward to in our city like the arena and LRT expansion (green line and YYC). Onward.

I’m not confident that our current bumbling council are the people to get these things done, and am worried about the fate of McMahon, a fieldhouse and existing Olympic facilities. Council’s mismanagement of this process helped lead to its downfall.

If this thread, and entire process showed us one thing... it’s that citizens are engaged and care about the City.

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

I think the main avenue to getting an arena deal done was by having upgrades done to McMahon for free would have helped placate CSEC on Plan B not having any solution for the Stampeders, which would help bridge the gap there. And the city getting it's main piece of sport infrastructure funded with the fieldhouse would mean there was wiggle room on their side to accept some costs as well. Going even deeper, the likely scope creep of the games would then involve the Saddledome's demolition being worked into Olympic costs (also helps bridge the gap between the city and CSEC)

Now there is no funding for a Stampeders solution leaving that issue out there. No funding for a fieldhouse, so that remains the city's main unfunded wish list item, and no potential ways to include anything with the Saddledome into potential Olympic costs, so we are back to zero there.

But it's nothing but cognitive dissonance to try and say the Olympic bid was rushed an unclear, but wanting the arena somehow wedged in at the last minute to save it.

I guess we're arguing the same thing except instead of inferring all those steps and voting Yea hoping they happen I wanted to see some details before they happen. If the BidCo had included the 20,000 seat arena everybody wants instead of the bastard 5000 seat arena no one wants it would have won. I think that's pretty clear from what people have been saying. If it comes out that CSEC had been reached out to to join in this bid and refused I'll be pretty pissed off at them and I'm on their " side " here

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

I don't know, when the costs start inflating to four times the initial estimate I think something is being wasted somewhere along the line, especially when dealing with billions of dollars. And that's not a London-exclusive issue either... did you see the numbers on VANOC I posted?



I have a hard time believing that Calgary's estimated budget would not skyrocket. There is precedent here, damn it, and Calgary's starting at a way higher ledge to fall off.

The article on Vancouver from the G&M you posted?

“Vancouver Olympics worth the $7-billion price tag, study says”.

“The 2010 Winter Olympics cost more than $7-billion to stage, but they were worth it because they spurred major infrastructure developments that helped transform Vancouver and Whistler, a new study concludes.”

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Of this whole process, I was really disappointed by Nenshi continuing to make the laughable 10 to 1 return on investment claims to the end as part of his public sell job. It's pretty sad to see such a transparent falsehood being peddled by our mayor.

I imagine that many of the purple 'politics in full sentences' crowd that helped elevate him into the mayor's seat in 2010 were disappointed to watch him turn into exactly the kind of politician they rebelled against with that very campaign.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

So JT and Notley basically offer Calgary free money to help upgrade/build 11 facilities and we say no.

That was probably the only time we're going to get offered free money to see actual tangible benefits in the City, and we said no.

Now that money from Sport Canada is probably going to get spent elsewhere in the country since Calgary doesn't want it.

And Calgary is still on the hook to upgrade/build most of those facilities, but we have now chosen to do it alone.

I honestly don't know what to say other than I am disappointed right now, but honestly not really surprised.

You clearly don't understand the concerns from the no side.

And it was not "free" money.

[transplant99]

For those that wish to read about past cost overruns in the Olympics, the University of Oxford has "done the work" already.

https://eureka.sbs.ox.ac.uk/6195/1/2016-20.pdf