2026 Olympics- Calgary votes no- 56%

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by The Familia

I voted yes. In one way I’m happy that we can stick it to the IOC, but I am still mad that Calgary will go back to the rock we have been hiding under for the last half a decade. Our sporting facilities will continue to crumble and we will continue falling further behind. This was one chance to get Quebec and Ontario to pay for some of our stuff but that is gone now. Honestly this city has lost its mojo for sure. There is no grand vision and there are no more dreamers who want to elevate this city. Let’s do everything for as cheap and boring as possible. When we do get cool things like the Peace Bridge and the library people cry until the cows come home.

Renovations to Mcmahon and the big 4 elevate the city? Renovations to the oval elevate the city? That doesnt seem like a grand vision. Seems pretty status quo. Whether those facilities get some renos or not I really dont see any drastic change in the city. I would have been fine with them getting renovated but people acting like the Olympics would have had some huge impact are the ones dreaming. What is the last city that actually got some massive boost from an Olympics in any aspect?

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

For that two week bump yes.
But not after that.

An entertainment district would be better.

This and a new convention centre, could bring in events multiple times a year, every year for several years.

[RM14]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

For that two week bump yes.
But not after that.

An entertainment district would be better.

They are building the entertainment district and it would be pretty much the heart of the olympics, fully built out.

Next vic park update is in December.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by GGG

I believe she is talking post games bump.

Ah. Still somewhat questionable. Having your city host the Olympics is massive for name recognition alone on a global level. I deal with lots of Americans who come here to ski or see the mountains already, hard to imagine it wouldn't help bump that slightly overall.

When I was travelling in the 90's the only reason many people had even heard of Calgary was the 88 Olympics. Hosting the Olympics is pretty massive for being recognized on a global scale. Not sure how anybody can deny that with a straight face.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

I dont know if it has to be all taxpayer contribution.

Well it can't be, because that would require more money going to an arena than the city proposed to give for the Olympics.

You can get creative with ticket taxes

Already a part of the proposal, so no you can't.

and a share of parking.

Not the city's to give, but I'll come back to this in a bit.

A deal is there.

No, there isn't.

For Flames playoffs ganes in a new arena and entertainment district. Hell yeah.

Where did an entertainment district come from and how is it getting funded now? And more importantly, what parking is being given as a share when the area is developed (into an entertainment district)?

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Again, if this is really the case the owners don’t need our money.

I agree. But then the city doesnt get the deals on the property. The owners could just go get private property.

But thats not the current negotiation. The owners hold the hammer because they can leave.

So the city needs to get creative and combine the two deals together.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

If this went to vote 5 years ago when the economy was good I think it goes forward.

Yeah, I was thinking about that. If we had bid for the 2022 Games, we probably would have won in a landslide and now we'd be in the middle of the pre-Games building boom to get things ready.

[Wormius]

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.

Yeah, I was disappointed that wasn’t addressed at the several opportunities Bidco and the City could have. They could have also used he opportunity to allay some trepidation due to No side rumours.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Johnny Makarov

10s of billions? haha. I sure hope you aren't majoring in economics or accounting.

I'm not, thank goodness, but I can look at precedent. Did you hear about how much costs have been ballooning in Tokyo? And you can say all you want about Calgary being a more "conservative city" but the IOC of today will not make this the same Olympics that Calgary experienced in 1988. I'm quite confident that we'd go over budget by a significant margin.

[Knut]

City needs to save face. I bet the Arena and entertainment district is done now. This may work out good for the Flames.

[chummer]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Thank goodness. There are so many better ways to express civic pride than spending tens of billions of ballooning costs on a ten-day party

Tens of billions??

C'mon scorp, aren't you studying journalism? Enough of the hyperbole.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by chummer

Tens of billions??

C'mon scorp, aren't you studying journalism? Enough of the hyperbole.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were projected to cost $7 billion at the time of their approval.

They now are projected to cost $25 billion. https://globalnews.ca/news/4531547/t...osts-increase/

The IOC is dangerous and we cannot allow ourselves to affiliate with them. This isn't a one-off, either -- costs at Rio and Sochi ballooned way out of proportion.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

For that two week bump yes.
But not after that.

An entertainment district would be better.

Very questionable and very debatable.

Putting Calgary's name out there on the global scale would boost tourism a lot more than an entertainment centre. People come here from Europe and the US to go skiing or hiking. The Olympics are like a massive advertisement for our city and the proximity of the mountains. An entertainment district does none of that.

[monkeyman]

people have to stop living in the 80's/90's. the world is a much smaller place, people are finding new, more personal reasons to visit countries/cities other than an event that happened that they probably didn't even watch on tv.

[DirtyMike]

Originally Posted by Dan02

That's the point, people would have voted the bridge down, yet now it is an iconic part of the city.

I just don't see how pumping money into 60-year old McMahon, 40-year old Saddledome or the 70-year old Big 4 would leave us with anything "iconic". I think it would be just extending their useful lives long enough to hold the Olympics. Upgrading Nakiska isn't going to make it snow more there, it's still going to suck, just with more seats for lunch. It's not like we just said no to a new conference center, new flames arena, and new football stadium.

In my opinion, the only "iconic" piece of infrastructure we would have been left with was a fieldhouse, which could still be built. Wonder if BidCo tried to work with CSEC to put the McMahon, Saddledome, and 5K arena capital towards new buildings.

[oldschoolcalgary]

At the end of the day, people elect their officials to make the best decision for the city...In theory, they would be the best informed on such subjects.

Once the city abdicated that responsibility and gave it over to the citizens to make that choice, they had to be convinced that the numbers were actually legitimate... based on the votes, they did not.

And let's not make this a "Calgary is full of losers" thing... Austria, who also hosted a winter olympics had its own plebiscite: The voted no too, that's why they dropped out. Stockholm has zero government support. The Italian bid has no government support.

the 2026 year isn't exactly overstuffed with cities and countries wanting to host it... people can draw whatever conclusion they want, but the fact is that all the bids for 2026 had tepid support internally.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Excuse me? Are you trying to argue nobody from outside the province would come to the Olympics? That's a bold faced lie.

No its really not.

Every study done on it comes up the same way. Tourism falls to or below existing levels after the games end.

I found it very odd as well, but its apparently the truth.

"It will have a greater positive impact than Expo 86 did," the former premier guaranteed in 2002, a year before Vancouver was granted the Games. A report commissioned by the government said the Games would be a "once in a lifetime opportunity," to increase tourism.

A decade later, the final tally shows the Games fell far short of the promises.

"The increase in tourism just never happened," said Robert VanWynsberghe, who headed the final Olympic impact report released last October. "Vancouver and Whistler might be the two places on the planet that need more tourists the least. We get a lot of tourists and the idea that we would see a significant increase was wishful thinking."

During February, 2010, while the Games were being held, a record 547,357 visitors stayed in the Vancouver area, an increase of 99,318 over the previous year. By March, the number of tourists in Vancouver was back to normal.

By the following February, the number of visitors in the city was down to its lowest level in 12 years.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ticle16772542/

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics were projected to cost $7 billion at the time of their approval.

They now are projected to cost $25 billion. https://globalnews.ca/news/4531547/t...osts-increase/

The IOC is dangerous and we cannot allow ourselves to affiliate with them. This isn't a one-off, either -- costs at Rio and Sochi ballooned way out of proportion.

There is a significant difference between games held in the West, and games held in the East. There would be overruns, but “10s of billions” is extremely hyperbolic, don’t ignore Vancouver or London.

[Dion]

To those who thought I was stick in the mud, I would have loved to have seen Calgary hosting the 2026 Games. Attending the 88 Games was a memorable experience for me and I have no doubt it would have been the same in 2026.

While i'm not a resident, I did follow the process closely and felt the whole thing was a fiasco. City Council, Bidco and to a lesser extent, the Feds with their late finance announcements didn't install any confidence in me and left me feeling jaded about the way things went down.

I hope all sides learn from their mistakes and make another bid in the future

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by DirtyMike

Wonder if BidCo tried to work with CSEC to put the McMahon, Saddledome, and 5K arena capital towards new buildings.

"Remember that proposal we couldn't agree to before. Well what if we increased the scope but also lowered the public dollars going into it. Interested?"