The 2018 Winter Olympics!! (Denver, Vail, Winter Park: 2014, pros and cons, price)

[brikag]

There has been studies and stories about the fact Denver wants to host the Winter Olympics (WO). Now, granted with the recent economic crisis that has been going on can put a damper of the whiole situation, and July 2011 is three years away for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to make their decision.

I have two questions....

1.) Will the IOC look over look the 1972 situation and award Denver the WO for 2018?

2.) Would you support the Games if it came to your city?

History:
Denver was awarded to host the 1976 WO in May 1970. The people who were against it rallied for a referendum not to build the venues citing the economical and enviromental impact would be great and damaging. In 1972, the voters of Denver overwhelmingly voted against hosting the WO. This terrible outraged the IOC. The 1976 WO was hosted by Innsbruk. Oddly enough, Lake Placid hosted the 1980 WO. That is why I asked those two questions, above.

GamesBids.com - Denver Quietly Considering Winter Olympic Games Bid

[Shuffler]

No good would come of it. It would call unwanted/unneeded attention to our already-crowded State.

If the decision were mine, I'd gladly pass, in the spirit of former Gov. Lamm

[zionvier]

Although I'd love the chance to have it locally, I must agree that I'm not sure if I'd want Denver or Colorado in general to host it because of the negative side effects from it. I'm torn between if we should host something of that magnitude. It would be nice to see an unbias post-WO report on Salt Lake & Lake Placid. Did it boost the economy? did it destroy that much environment? what are the pros and cons of hosting it that occur years later?

[tfox]

I don't think that 1976 alone will kill Denver's chances. It was Denver that actually led to quite a few changes on how the bids are selected by the IOC. Now, they insist that host cities have their financial ducks in a row before even considering their bids. So, I think that if Denver passed the hurdles needed to mount a serious bid this time around, I don't think that the bid would be torpedoed simply over spite about 1976.

I'd support bringing the Olympics here, simply because I think that the Olympics brought numerous benefits to Salt Lake City that I think the Denver area could enjoy. Specifically, I think it could open up spigots for funding of desperately needed infrastructure improvements that we will not have otherwise.

As for Dick Lamm's argument that the Olympics would bring growth and sprawl to Colorado, I think we can all see that it happened anyway. Colorado is already pretty much synonymous with winter sports nationwide, I can't see how the Olympics would change that picture. People are going to move here either way.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

No good would come of it. It would call unwanted/unneeded attention to our already-crowded State.

If the decision were mine, I'd gladly pass, in the spirit of former Gov. Lamm

Crowded - now that's funny Apparently you haven't been to an actually overcrowded state/area if you think CO is overcrowded. Montana or Wyoming seem to be better states for hermits.

[Shuffler]

It is crowded where the good jobs and affordable housing are, if you need specifics. Not everybody can afford a few acres in the mountains or on the plains where it's not crowded.

Denver is a stupid place for WO if the main skiing venues are 2hrs away in Vail or Beaver Creek. They'd better hope there is actually snow in Denver if and when the games are ever held here....that'd be kinda embarrassing to have olympic games and no snow on the ground.

[tfox]

Originally Posted by Shuffler

Denver is a stupid place for WO if the main skiing venues are 2hrs away in Vail or Beaver Creek. They'd better hope there is actually snow in Denver if and when the games are ever held here....that'd be kinda embarrassing to have olympic games and no snow on the ground.

The distance is a problem, but not insurmountable. Most WO don't have the ski events right in the host city, anyway. SLC was very fortunate to have great venues within about 40 miles. Vancouver is within about 80 miles of Whistler/Blackcomb, and that seemed acceptable, so I think 100 miles from Denver to Vail is okay, and remember that Winter Park/MJ is about 75 miles away, and most of the Summit County resorts about 80 miles away, so I think it's workable. THey'd probably want to spread the events around between Summit County, Winter Park, and Vail anyway.

The big problem, however, would not be the distance but the lack of capacity on I-70, lack of alternative routes, and lack of transit on this route. I guarantee that it would take way longer than 2 hours to get from Denver to Vail for an Olympic event. In fact, you might not make it at all. What if a semi overturns on I-70 and blocks it during the Olympics? You'd have chaos.

On the other hand, it might take an Olympics type event for government to actually seek a solution to the I-70 headaches that we have today.

[borborygmi]

I'd guess Denver won't get the bid based strictly upon the disproportionate number of times in the past few decades that the WO has already been hosted in North American cities. The fact that the WO will have been hosted in locales so relatively close in proximity as Vancouver, SLC, Calgary, and Lake Placid in such recent years I think will likely hurt Denver's chances.

[Shuffler]

My immediate thought is that I-70 will be a freakin' disaster and an embarrassment to Colorado (as if it's not already).

And cameras panning in on Denver with no snow on the ground for a winter olympiad? That would be priceless. Next thing you know they'll be wasting water to make snow all over Denver (half kidding here) to create the illusion.

Or we hire the Chinese geniuses who tweaked the opening ceremonies in Beijing for TV...

[tfox]

Originally Posted by borborygmi

I'd guess Denver won't get the bid based strictly upon the disproportionate number of times in the past few decades that the WO has already been hosted in North American cities. The fact that the WO will have been hosted in locales so relatively close in proximity as Vancouver, SLC, Calgary, and Lake Placid in such recent years I think will likely hurt Denver's chances.

Possibly, although WO tend to rotate between NA and Europe, for the most part. 2014 will be in Russia, technically Europe,. I seriously doubt 2018 will be in Europe back-to-back, so NA is probably the default location. Asia (Korea, China) are possibilities, and they could go Southern Hemisphere for the first time (New Zeland or Chile), meaning the games could be held in August/September (which will be a bit odd).

So, I think Denver does have a good shot in 2018, and it if loses out to a non-European bid in 2018, I think it would again have a good shot in 2022.