SPORTS | Striving for excellence
18 April 2008
Chicago’s 2016 Olympic Bid Emphasizes Accessibility
City's bid to host the games stresses convenience, sustainability, scenery
Washington -- Chicago promises to make the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics accessible, spectacular and user-friendly if awarded the right to host the games.
The U.S. metropolis is among seven cities competing for that privilege, along with Baku, Azerbaijan; Doha, Qatar; Madrid, Spain; Prague, the Czech Republic; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Tokyo.
Chicago wants to distinguish its bid by making the games as easy as possible. The Chicago 2016 Committee, which manages the city’s bid, claims that no other Olympic host has a plan for a more centrally located and concentrated games. The Chicago plan calls for the Olympic Village to be close to most sports venues, allowing the overwhelming majority of the athletes to be within a 15-minute ride of their competition arenas.
Three-time U.S. Olympian triple jumper Michael Conley Sr., a Chicago native, said that for athletes it “means being able to concentrate on competing rather than expending energy on logistics and traveling.”
In addition, locating the Olympic Village and most competition venues on the shore of Lake Michigan and in close proximity to the city center would make the spectacle of Olympic events impressive, says Mica Matsoff, the committee’s director of communications.
OLYMPIC REVENUES
Three-quarters of Chicago residents support the city’s Olympic ambitions. They believe that hosting the games would give an additional boost to the city’s image and bring more revenues to local businesses. Other U.S. cities that hosted the Olympics created between 75,000 and 300,000 jobs because of the games, according to Matsoff.
The committee points out that none of the U.S. cities that hosted the games lost money. But other hosts did. So Chicago has planned carefully and cast the net wide to make the bid and the proposed Olympics financially feasible and strong.
Chicago’s 2016 candidacy is financed entirely by contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations. If awarded the games, the city expects to get $2.5 billion from the domestic marketing programs, $1.75 billion from private-sector sponsors and more than $700 million from ticket sales.
But the city also has looked at limiting the potential costs and environmental impact of the Olympics. It believes that it can rely on 22 existing or temporary objects and build only five new structures. It also concluded that the existing capacity of its public transportation system, with already scheduled upgrades, is sufficient to accommodate the influx of athletes, fans and other visitors.
“We don’t want to build things in the city that would do any disservice to it after the games are gone,” Matsoff said.
GLOBAL METROPOLIS
Keeping bid supporters excited about hosting the games is a challenge, Matsoff said. So is making Chicago’s best aspects better known in other countries, especially to members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Promoting the city's image as an attractive global metropolis that draws an increasing number of international conferences, tourists and sport events is essential to winning the right to host the games.
Numerous U.S. athletes, including former Olympians, have promised to promote the city, according to Matsoff. Executives from global companies headquartered in Chicago and other prominent residents also have pledged to speak out on behalf of the city when they travel around the world.
Patrick Ryan, the head of the Chicago 2016 Committee told U.S.A. Today that “the great assets of Chicago have to be made known to the world.”
The IOC is scheduled to announce a short list of city-candidates in June and name the 2016 host city in Copenhagen, Denmark, in October 2009.
If Chicago makes the final cut, Ryan hopes the new U.S. president, whoever wins the elections, personally will lead the city's delegation to the IOC vote in Copenhagen.
All three presidential candidates have endorsed Chicago’s bid.
More information on the Chicago’s Olympic bid is available on the Chicago 2016 Web site.
