CHICAGO - The Windy City is making its play for what it hopes will generate solid gold economic returns—solid Olympic gold, that is.
Last week Mayor Richard Daley and Chicago civic leaders met with the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) to determine whether Chicago could be the host for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games.
"Chicago potentially has much to gain from hosting the Olympics, "said Mayor Daley at a news conference following the meeting, "but we are still considering whether to pursue it."
Winning the chance to host the Olympics means that Chicago "would provide a platform to show off our city to literally billions of people," said Mayor Daley at the USOC meeting.
When it comes to winning an Olympics, Chicago has a lot going for it—to many it is the favored U.S. city for the 2016 Summer Games. But the mayor, though optimistic about the benefits, wants to cautiously examine what the city would be in for before an official bid is made.
Daley has appointed Patrick G. Ryan, executive chairman of the insurance brokerage provider Aon Corporation to head an exploratory committee to see just how feasible an Olympic bid would be. Ryan's combined talents give him a unique perspective on what it would take for Chicago to host such a large-scale international event. In addition to his chairmanship at Aon, Ryan is also chairman of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University and a director of the Chicago Bears.
Olympic hosting cities often must extensively renovate in order to meet the demands of greeting the world, but the makeover can really pay off after the visitors have left. Consider Atlanta, host for the Summer Games of 1996. Many credit the Games and the infrastructure improvements that it brought for making Atlanta the modern city it is today.
Chicago is already an attractive and modern tourist destination, so it would not have to face as large an undertaking as other past Olympic hosts. Yet there are some updates that would still have to be made in order to make Chicago Olympics-ready.
Chicago currently has several sporting venues around the city that could service the Olympic Games, but an even larger arena—one that could seat around 80,000— would most likely have to be built. In the past, Daley had toyed with the idea of building such a space which would also function as the home field for a second national football team.
Some have also suggested expanding a pre-existing venue. Fortunately, Chicago has the luxury of looking at the solutions forged by other cities in making for a successful Olympics.
Daley's Overseas Olympic Forays
In addition to his exploratory committee, Mayor Daley has also done some of his own Olympic development investigation abroad. Not long after his return from the Middle East, the globetrotting city official paid a visit to China this week. Part of his trip was spent examining what Beijing has planned for its 2008 Olympics.
While the Chinese capital boasts of having its scheduled construction completed by next year—the government intends to invest in thirty-seven new gymnasiums and stadiums as well as fifty-nine training centers—this efficiency comes at the expense of many Beijing residents.
In May 2005, the United Kingdom's Times Online reported that in preparing for the 2008 games, over 300,000 houses were demolished in Beijing, and residents were relocated from their homes. Beijing police placed many people under arrest for protesting the evictions. Beijing municipal authority declared on April 10, 2006, that more than 70 local laws and decrees would be made before the 2008 Summer Olympics. Even though the situation in Beijing is but a terrible exaggeration of the kind of sacrifice a city's residents must endure in order to host an Olympics, some Chicagoans are still concerned that the money for such a large event could be better spent. Earlier this month U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) criticized the mayor for being too focused on pet projects like an Olympics bid instead of paying more attention to things like improving city schools and reforming Chicago government. Neighborhoods Must Benefit Daley made it clear last week that the endeavor, if it were to go forward, should work to benefit Chicagoans. "Our neighborhoods and the people who live in them must benefit," he stated, "We will not seek the Olympics if we think it will detract in any way from our ongoing efforts to improve the Chicago Public Schools, strengthen our neighborhoods, make our city safer and more affordable, or help those most deserving of our support."
If Chicago were to make a formal bid for the 2016 Summer Games, a winner would not be announced until the International Olympics Committee convenes in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2009. The city makeover that would follow would, however, coincide nicely with the completion of the much anticipated Fordham Spire building which is projected for completion in 2016; making for a lot to celebrate in Chicago a decade from now. "When we do things in Chicago, we do them right," exclaimed Mayor Daley. "This has been true since our great world's fairs of 1893 and 1933. It was true of World Cup soccer in 1994 and the Democratic National Convention in 1996."
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