I was just looking through the forums online because I was bored and then I came to wonder something that I have often wondered about in the past.  How do we get columbus in the race for hosting the Summer Olympic games?  I really think that Columbus could host the games, we have two arenas, a huge football stadium, a soccer specific stadium, a small baseball stadium with a second one in the works.  There would be a lot of work to do in order to prepare Columbus for the Olympics, but every city needs help.  Also, with Columbus' proximity to other major ciites such as Cleveland and Cincinnati could allow the whole state to participate in one way or another.  Having the Olympics would be a great excuse to build the high speed passanger train between Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland that people have been only dreaming about for decades.  I think Columbus has a lot of potential.  When the Olympic Committee came to look at Columbus when Cincinnati was making an Olympic bid, they liked what they saw.  So, what does everyone else think? Is it possible, and if not, what needs to happen to make it possible?

 

 

hell, i think its possible! why not columbus? centrally located, OSU, stadiums, athletic facilities. i think we have what it takes. i think all that columbus would need is more hotels(ritz, another hyatt or two, four seasons, another luxury marriott), much, much better public transport(light rail, passenger rail, subway system???, 24hour buses), advertising, consulates(mexico, england, germany, france, italy, japan, china, canada, spain, ireland) and anything else im missing!

C-bus lacks a velodrome (for biking).  Thats a dealbreaker right there. 8-)

Actually, just say Columbus is hosting the olympics, but hold most of the events in Indy (they held the Pan-Am games twice in the 80s/90s)

I have fun with "plastic fantastic" Columbus a bunch, but I do think it really merits consideration.  And if it falls short (inthe modern history I think there is only 20 cities that have hosted it worldwide) it can still get the US trials

I think Columbus would make the perfect city to host the Olympics. They could host some events in neighboring cities if they have to or desire to, I think that has happend before. Columbus has the perfect location, being within driving distance to so many other large cities. I say, why not? Hey, that can be something you can work on after graduation!!

Like others, I guess I'd say "why not?"

 

But whether it's something that would ever actually happen... well, that's probably a different story.

All I can say is be careful what you wish for because it might come true.  I went to Salt Lake City with a friend of mine that grew up there.  Driving into the city I was amazed at these huge overbuilt 10 lane freeways that started well outside of downtown.  My friend said it was not like that growing up, it was all built for the Olympics.  Many of the main arterial steets have been widened to ridiculous proportions as well, mostly for the Olympics.  There are other white elephant arenas around the city also that they have no idea what to do with.  SLC is a sprawling western city anyway, but I wonder how much the overbuilt infrastucture is going to contribute to further sprawl in the future.  I talked to a lot of the locals too about how bad the pollution has gotten there.  It is not uncommon for a brown haze to hang over the city and actually make it seem gloomy outside...until you go up in the mountains and it is sunny. I saw that haze first hand driving into the city...it looked like LA in the 70's.  One bright spot of all that new infrastructure is a token train line that runs downtown and out to University. 

 

I have also been to Olympic Village in Montreal which is also a white elephant there.  They managed to turn the velodrome into a rain forest thing, but a lot of those other cool buildings and grounds are in pretty bad shape.  Although their metro system was also built for the Olympics.

 

My point is that if Columbus gets the Olympics, they may finally get a token train system than runs from point a to point b...but they will also end up with a hugely overbuilt infrastructure that might furher encourage sprawl and become a burden to the taxpayers after the games are over.

After seeing some of these places, getting the Olympics doesn't seem like such a win for the host city.

 

Yeah, I have family that live in Salt Lake City, they havn't told me much about what the after affects are like but they did tell me that there was A LOT of construction prior to the games being hosted.  My Uncle told be about the light rail system that was put in.  He said before it was built, a lot of people didn't like the idea of a train, but after it opened they had to start expanding the lines because it was so popular!  Anyway, we could all get involved with planning the event,to make sure things are done right.  We could encourage growth (such as hotels, residences, sporting venues) along multiple train lines to discourage the need for wider highways or even build temporary structures to avoid the white elephants.  As to the smog thing in Salt Lake City, they have that problem because they are in valley surrounded by moutntains on all sides so, to my understanding, it doesn't take very much to get a smoggy day there. 

I think Columbus hosted the Special Olympics last year.

Columbus could go for it.  They could put together a similar proposal to the one Cincinnati did (events all over the state).  I'd expect a similar result.

 

Facility-wise, Columbus would make the most sense.  Transportation-wise, traffic could be a nightmare.

^Not really.  They'd definately force the LRT deal to work (re: Salt Lake City).

^Not really.  They'd definately force the LRT deal to work (re: Salt Lake City).

 

Summer Olympics draw a much larger audience. 

^Not really.  They'd definately force the LRT deal to work (re: Salt Lake City).

 

Summer Olympics draw a much larger audience. 

 

Thus, an even bigger chance of LRT.

Columbus?? Olympics?? You got to be kidding me!! If Cincinnati got shot down on the first step, I would find it hard to believe that C-Bus would not have the same fate. With or without LR, they have fewer venues, stadium & arenas within the same radius as cinci, Fewer hotel rooms, and suffer the same infasrtucture and transportation problems. Besides the Olympics are international, and Columbus is far from being an International City. 

 

I think the only Midwestern city in the United States that will be able to claim they hosted a modern Olympic Games will be St. Louis.

^Why St. Louis?  OSU gives Columbus a huge advantage.

Columbus has Nationwide Arena, St. Joe's Arena, and the Schottenstein Center for mid/large indoor events.  It's got Crew Stadium and Ohio Stadium for large outdoor events.  It's got Clippers Stadium the baseball stadiums at OSU.  They've got plenty of indoor space for smaller events.

 

I see a couple of issues:

1) There is no outdoor track and field facility (the facility at OSU is too small for the Olympics). 

2) The airport may not be large enough to handle the huge influx of people in a short time period.

And the absolute dealbreaker... ;)

3) We don't have a velodrome!

 

I think the Ohio State Fairgrounds could be completely renovated to become an Olympic facility and make up for some of the shortcomings.  The place is run down, huge, in a great central location, and could be used for future state fairs in it's renovated form.  It also sits on the first proposed Light Rail corridor from Downtown to Polaris.  Another two could be constructed (one across I-70 and the other up I-670 to the airport and Easton).  This would provide easy access to a few thousand more hotel rooms, as well as connect almost every venue to downtown and the airport.

 

I say we do it!

St. Louis is also very far from any areas that could hold sailing, etc. 

St. Louis will never hold another Olympics either, I was merely commenting on the fact that they will be the only Midwestern American city to hold that honor. When they held the Olympics in the early 1900s there was no sailing.

 

Venues are the easiest part of the Olympic process. As you can see from many of the past Olympics since ATL and Calgary, most of the venues are designed to be taken down after the games, or at least scaled back.

 

The killer for Columbus is the same thing that killed Cincinnati. TRANSPORTATION - no light rail or any rail for that matter, A lack of an international gateway for travel. (At least Ciinci was able to claim non-stop international flights) LODGING - Not enough hotel space.

St Louis had the Olympics back when it wasnt the big deal it is today.

 

I think for the midwest Chicago would probably work for a venue as they have the lodging and infrastructure to do it...and Lake Michigan for the sailing competition.

I think Cleveland would be a better location for all ohio

The thing is, Columbus has plenty of room to grow and plenty of area's within the city that can be infilled!  Also, if Columbus were to get the olympics, it wouldn't be for another 20 or 30 years I am sure, I mean London just won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics and people are already working on the bid for the 2016, so Columbus, at the earliest would be able to host hte 2020 olympic games. 

 

Also, Port Columbus is planning more than a billion dollors worth of expansion projects.  They have the new tower already and they are planning to build two new terminal buildings and adding a new runway.  Remember too that Rickenbacker is also a comercial airport.

 

Who has ever heard of Torino?  They are hosting the olympics in February, I never heard of the city and had to do a google search to find that it was located in Northern Italy.  Who, out side of the United States and a Morman, has ever heard of Salt Lake City!?  People didn't think much of Atlanta or even Sydny<I can never spell that right>.  The thing is, they proved themselves at the games.

 

As far as transportation, heck, even cities like London have to make major improvements to there public transit.

 

I have more to say but I have to get home for Christmas and i am already running late!

 

Peace

The Olympics are going to be the province of only the largest cities.  Because of the increasing size and complexity of putting together the bid and of course the venues and ancilliary facilities I would think that only a handful of cities will be able to pull it off.  I don't think we will see another city the size of Atlanta, Barcelona or Athens get the Olympics again, let alone a Columbus, Cincinatti, or Cleveland.  We will continue to see cities the size of London, Beijing, or New York host.  The Midwest's only chance is Chicago.

Where's Cincinatti?

In Oiho.

thats a shame you have never heard of turin or torino in italian. it is a large italian city, but not to well known outside italy, except for fiat, tic tacs, psychics, and ferro roche chocolates. the ciyt is still not as well known as milan and rome. they are buiding a subway and/or light rail system in addition to there tram system. but its true that a city like columbus could hold the olympics, turin has about 900,000 people(i believe) about 200,000 or so more than columbus

In Oiho.

 

Classic response.

hey atlanta=columbus more so that not, so maybe its possible. however, from what everyone is saying it seems it would be better at some point for the whole state to try for the olympics rather than any one city??? might have a better chance of working out.

 

 

hey atlanta=columbus more so

 

Except that Atlanta has 20 lane interstates in their downtown.  Columbus has 12 lane interstates in the suburbs.

 

Why does everyone think Columbus would be good for the Olympics. I mean why not Dayton or Toledo. Personally I am a fan of Toledo. It has the lake for sailing, and it has some arenas and a University, Plus it could be a regional games with Detroit Cleveland, columbus, Cinti and Dayton hosting events. I mean think about it. IT is a nice compace city. IT EVEN HAS AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. What more do we need. YEAH TOLEDO. OLYMPICS 2030. Dont you guys all agree that this is just as plausable as a Columbus games??

 

If you look at the Olympic Games they go to the largest metro in the area. Columbus is the 3rd largest Metro in Ohio which makes it less likely they will get the games. It will never have the infastructure to hold an event like this either.

 

For those that argue Salt Lake and Turino and Lake Placid as examples, remember that is for the Winter Games which I dont think Columbus has a chance to go for either. Most winter games are held in smaller cities because the prerequisite to host the winter games is Mountains for skiing events. I really think that eliminates Columbus from consideration for the winter games as well. And as far as Salt Lake goes, they had far better infatstructure since they were the western hub for Delta and could handle a ton more flights than Columbus. Plus they are a much bigger tourist destination than COlumbus (which means more rooms)

I don't know too much about Toledo, so I can't comment too much on it.  But I am under the assumption that Columbus may have more venues than that of Toledo.  I also just remembered that Columbus has Scioto Downs, perhaps that could be used for equestrian events? 

 

Something else also just came to mind.  With all the venues in the Sate, including the stadiums in both Cincinnati and Cleveland, perhaps we could be the first venue to ever host the Olympics and Paraolympics simultaniously?  That way those in the Paraolympics may possibly get just as much recognition?  It seems to me that once the main olympic events are over, the paraolympics are just forgotten. 

 

Some here think we can do it, others think it is not likely.  But what will it take to get the olympics here?  So:mething lilke this takes time and a lot of planning, and that is what most of us here do, plan urbanly :-P 

 

 

The best choices for Ohio cities in terms of Olympics are Cincinnati and Cleveland, as they both have the infrastructure, the water, the national image, and large international airports and large Fortune 500 companies that can handle it (it's really all about the money).  I don't think crime and such have to do with it (look at Atlanta).

 

With that said, Columbus would probably be the best chance Ohio gets (as it can utilize all sides of the state for recreational opportunities).

Ahhh, if Columbus would improve it's trasportation primarily the addition of a rail system of any kind, add more large luxury hotels, and continue on with the airport expansion. I don't see why not. Plus, there is still a ton of land up for grabs in the metro counties. However, I don't see residents wanting to pay higher taxes just for the olympics.

:bump:

 

Given the current happenings in Beijing, I thought I would bring this up again. 

 

I was doing a bit of preliminary research on my lunch break and found a few documents that would help me to understand the City Bid process.

 

http://video.olympic.org/http/cap_2016_uk.pdf

 

Also, according to Wikipedia for the 2020 Olympics games, Birmingham, AL, Minneapolis, MN, and Bostan, MA are all submitting bids.  I think we could compete, atleast with Birmingham and Minneapolis, Boston ehh... I'll be optomistic and say we can beat them too.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Summer_Olympics

 

Of course, this will all be contingent upon whether or not Chicago will win the bid for 2016.  Personally, I think it will be going to Rio, atleast I hope it is. 

^ lol! i sure hope some foreign cities get in on those bids.  :wink:

 

well let's remember that one ohio city rather seriously tried to host the olympics. it ended up in los angeles, but at least municipal stadium came of it.

 

unfortunately, i think cleveland's old bid is as close as it will ever get for ohio.

 

not for the midwest tho -- i see chicago has a serious bid in. i think they have the best chance and that they could very well get it:

 

Baku (Azerbaijan), Chicago (USA), Doha (Qatar), Madrid (Spain), Prague (Czech Republic), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Tokyo (Japan) are all bidding on the 2016 games.

 

I get stuck in details when I think about the Olympics.  The summer olympics need a huge track and field venue. NFL stadiums are not set up to fit a standard-sized track. So, do you build another $500 million facility that will only be used for three weeks? What do you after that?

 

I remember Chicago proposing a "temporary" stadium. I don't remember how feasible that actually was.

 

While the prestige and tourist dollars would be fantastic, you'd have to make some long term infrastructure choices that wouldn't necessarily benefit you in the long run.

I get stuck in details when I think about the Olympics. The summer olympics need a huge track and field venue. NFL stadiums are not set up to fit a standard-sized track. So, do you build another $500 million facility that will only be used for three weeks? What do you after that?

 

---------

 

While the prestige and tourist dollars would be fantastic, you'd have to make some long term infrastructure choices that wouldn't necessarily benefit you in the long run.

 

I imagine raising the field of Ohio Stadium back to it's original height (with non-permanant platforms of some sort) when it had the track before the renoavation.

 

What do you mean by long term infrastructure choices that wouldn't necessarily benefit us in the long run.  I think of rail when I think of getting the olympics.  What did you have in mind?

 

Did Cleveland make a bid for the Olympics or did you mean Cincinnati?

HEY SILVERFISH... Columbus in the summer for the Olympics? Get real. Hotlanta was a lesson to us all, I would have hoped. Here's a thought... disperse that State government to some of the suffering cities elsewhere in the state and stop ladeling all the economic development eggs into Franklin County. Have some shame, for God's sake. The Olympics? When Ohio is in a near depression? How about taking the billions of dollars and using it for jobs in Youngstown, Toledo, Dayton, and Landcaster. (Those are other cities in Ohio. Yes Columbus... Ohio has other cities.)

SILVERFISH?

By the way... does anyone remember how many millions of State taxpayer dollars were wasted on the last "big thing" for the "Big Farm" (Columbus) called AMERIFLORA?? Wow THAT was a wise use of precious tax money, wasn't it? The Franklin Conservatory was restored. That was a good thing. But the rest? Wasted. Down the toilet. How about the faux Santa Maria "tall ship" on the un-navigable Scioto River? What's next Columbus? Why not create a grade change or two... add some hills, valleys, mountains. Columbus is SO terrain challenged. Every map of Columbus is a relief map. Why not "SKI COLUMBUS"... add a 6,000-foot mountain near Polaris! Add snow-making machinery! WHA-ZAH it's "Vail in the Corn Field"! You know what else Columbus could do with State funds? How about a lake? Hell... what about and Ocean!!! Yee hah! "SURF COLUMBUS"! Just dig out an adjacent county or two and create sandy beaches! Why not? Anything but REAL economic development for the poor people who don't live in "(fill-in-the-blank) VIllage". No. that would be too much like the rest of Ohio.

 

 

You mean SlipperyFish, if you are going to tear me down, atleast get the name right.

 

I figured the Olympics could be a way to boost things in the long term for all of Ohio.  Not all the events would take place in Columbus.  I was thinking a lot of the water events such as kyakiing, the triathalon could take place near or around Kelly's Island, some other things such as archery,equestrian, and mountain biking events in the Athens area. 

Some how I don't see how Ameriflora and the Olympics compare.  Apples to Oranges if you ask me.

The U.S. selection committee made it loud and clear in their denial of Cincinnati's bid, for the 2012 games, that cities without rail infrastructure are not capable of hosting the games.  Even if Cbus gets its streetcars, the committee will want to see light rail under-construction by the time the bid is submitted or about to be (not just some plans).

 

The committee commented that Cincy has excellent facilities, but it was the infrastructure that lost the bid for us.  The same would be the case for all Ohio cities (Cleveland's lines might suffice, but it's a stretch).

 

 

 

You can see that Cincinnati was reaching out and taking advantage of our compact region.  Utilizing the best possible venues around.  This is why the Olympic Committee said we had some of the best venues around (see boxing, equestrian, sailing, tennis, triathlon, baseball, and soccer.  Plus the close proximity of all the major venues was also a big selling point.

 

^If those venues would have been connected by a light rail line within the Cincy/Dayton area and HSR between the 3 C's the Olympics just might have been coming to Cincinnati in 2012 or 2016.

 

Also for fun, here is the Cincinnati Olympic bid pin:

So we can revisit this for the 2028 games then?  Maybe having the infrastructure by then? 

 

Where can one find the report for the Cincinnati bid?  Any idea?  I think I was in High School in Columbus when all that went down.

 

Another question, let's say that we could handle the olympics, would you even want them?

Here are a couple more renderings from Cincy's bid...

 

Gymnastics venue...I believe this is UC's Nippert Stadium (football) with a new dome/upgrades:

 

Triathlon at Sawyer Point (Ohio River):

Where can one find the report for the Cincinnati bid?  Any idea?

 

Nick Vehr was the main guy behind Cincinnati's bid...check out if you can find any contact information for him.  I know he's still working in Cincinnati somewhere.

 

Another question, let's say that we could handle the olympics, would you even want them?

 

Yes...absolutely!

i'd hardly think it was only rail transit that ko'd cinci consideration.

 

unlikeliness aside, why on earth would the ioc go for events spread out that far?

Canton boasts the Canton legends arena football team at the civic center, Fawcett Stadium, Paul Brown Stadium, 2 Target stores and The HOF.  Plus we could just bulldoze all of Massillon and build the olympic village there.  Once the Olympics go to Canton they never go back.... Canton olympics INFINITE.