OT: San Diego 2024 Olympics bid

[SDFan]

Last year San Diego City leaders supported an official Olympics bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Projected cost is either $3 or 4 BILLION depending on which figures you use. It includes 26 venues to host all the events and most host cities have built brand new stadiums to use for opening and closing ceremonies and track and field events. San Diego does not have a stadium worthy or large enough for such events and the global TV coverage that goes with it.

With all the negativity shown towards a replacement for Qualcomm stadium that would cost approx. $1 Billion of shared public/private costs and remain a public asset- where in the world do they think they would find $3-4 Billion of Public money and overcome all the critics who would be in full force? Is San Diego full of self-serving Hypocrites when it comes to spending tax dollars?

http://timesofsandiego.com/sports/2014/06/13/usoc-snubs-san-diego-olympic-bid-americas-finest-city/

Price tag for hosting a San Diego Olympics has been put at $4 billion.The cost of hosting an Olympic Games could exceed $3 billion, USOC Chief Executive Officer Scott Blackmun said last year when the organization sent out feelers to mayors of 35 U.S. cities considered potential hosts.

Host cities are required to provide at least 45,000 hotel rooms, an Olympic Village with rooms for 16,500 people and a 5,000-person capacity dining area, space for 15,000 media and broadcast representatives, an international airport able to handle thousands of international travelers per day, public transportation to venues and roadway closures.

[Panamamike]

LOL....and people are bitching about the stadium cost for the Chargers.....a far less risky proposition. Here is just one of a slew of articles about the financial mirage and in often cases nightmares of hosting Olymipc games.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-history-tells-us-about-hosting-the-olympics/2014/10/10/d63ac21c-4e45-11e4-8c24-487e92bc997b_story.html

[TTK]

The FBI should investigate this.

[richpjr]

The Olympic Committees - possibly the only thing more corrupt than FIFA!

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

4 billion? Do we get a new stadium for four bills?

If we can't get one bill for a San Diego stadium how will the city come up with 4?

[sandiego17]

Think big! Did we make the cut?

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Maybe we missed the cut because we have to Stadium expected to be viable in 2024 and if the Chargers go we will not have on in 2032 either. Also what costs 4 billion in 2024 could cost 8 billion by 2032. Yet we need the Chargers and the NFL to put up 500+ million to build a stadium next year...

Are they even thinking this through?

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

San Diego could never get its act together for such an event. Sadly, that's just the truth.

[Den60]

Oh God no!

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

Oh God no!

Of course not. It's people like this that hold the city back.

[Den60]

Of course not. It's people like this that hold the city back.

While I support some public money being used to fund a new football stadium we sure as hell don't need to incur the massive debt to host and Olympics. Have you looked at all that would need to be built? Does San Diego really need 3 more new sports arenas (one for BB, one for boxing, one for gymnastics)? Hell, I read that Viejas would have to be expanded by 3K seats just to host badminton.

Also, the Olympic committee ends up making all the money. They get a piece of everything that takes place. We have property in Park City and when the Olympics came we were told that we would have to accept less than our normal rental income for the duration, even though the rental price was significantly higher than normal. We decided to not rent it out. I got there the night of the closing ceremony. Great skiing because no one was on the slopes. Many businesses that served the actual skiing part of the resort went broke that year. My son was young then and still taking lessons. He and one kid had two instructors which was a great deal for him (and me) but not the instructors.

[SDFan]

ok, so I hope you guys noticed this happened 1 year ago and barely got any media attention for committing $3-4 Billion in public money that would never be recovered or produce anything of lasting significance for the city- except MAYBE a new football stadium if they constructed the needed large 1 for opening & closing ceremonies. This thing had unanimous blessing and cheerleading of the SD City Council and you can bet they would have found a nice location for that new stadium and other venues like the Olympic Village for 16,000 people and fast tracked (ignored) EIRs, NEPA, CEQA environmental lawsuits and every other reason cited not to build Petco or replace Qualcomm. All the antagonist parties would have been paid off or otherwise silenced.

I mainly posted it to put things in perspective for all the Negativists throwing out reasons Qualcomm can't be replaced and become a civic asset for generations- even though it will only be used part of the year and some very loud, shrill voices are against using THEIR TAX MONEY for such a boondoggle- and like The Olympics or America's Cup won't make $ for the city as a constant revenue source. I might add somehow the city found a way to build that new +$200 Million downtown library and recently bought a $91 Million building to consolidate city business offices after Jerry Sanders proposal from a few years ago to do this was shot down as an un-necessary waste of public dollars. The fact both Big Labor (Todd Gloria) and Big Developers (Faulconer) are aligned together behind the new SD stadium effort gives me hope it will get done after all the stops and starts of negotiations with the Chargers is completed. It won't be easy, but it can get done with the right players supporting it now.