Bozeman for the 2022 Winter Olympics? (Billings, Belgrade: hotels, bankrupt, pros and cons)

[brikag]

GamesBids.com - Preparations Are Underway for a 2022 Olympic Winter Games Bid in Montana, USA

Can this be pulled off? There will be competition from Denver and Reno/Tahoe area.

Denver will never get the Olympics b/c of the past history of 1976. That's a fact!

Reno/Tahoe area (Squaw Valley) may have a chance.

Bozeman?

The pros and cons....Discuss

[Reziac]

I think the first thing to consider is -- what will it do to the character of the town and the surrounding area, and to the actual site where the competition is held? Are the long-term effects positive or negative? Does the town have the sheer capacity to handle it?

I don't know how it's impacted other locations, but this is definitely something to investigate.

[MTSilvertip]

I am curious, where will the millions of dollars to build all the venues come from???

Bobsled runs, Speed Skating rinks, grandstands, warming huts, improved access roads and trails, there is already a hocky rink in Four Corners so Hocky and Figure Skating would be handled, but this is not a cheap enterprise to host.

I see in the article that the state should pay for it, but the state, while still in the black, does not have huge reserves of money available to fund a project of this size, and Bozeman certainly doesn't.

There is an airport in Belgrade, but no train or bus transportation as such so how would any of the people traveling to view the event get between venues unless an entire mass transportation system was set in place. Buses would work, but they cost money too.

The road down the Gallatin Canyon is pretty narrow, would it be widened for the traffic?

The health services in Big Sky are pretty limited, would clinics be set up? EMT service for accidents on that narrow winding road?

The area has a lot of hotels, so that shouldn't be a problem, but usually a high security village is set up for the athletes and their support staff, who would build and pay for that??

Security overall would be a huge problem if the venues are spread over a 50 mile area, (Bridger Bowl to Big Sky). The closest Speed Skating Area is in Butte, would the constestants and fans be transported an additional 90 miles to compete and watch or would a new ring be built in Bozeman? Lots of places for something to go wrong. Who would supply and pay for the additional police and security for this?

I toured the site at Sarajevo where the winter olympics were held in the 1980s. I saw the additonal buildings and runs and support sites that were built to handle the event. (OK, What was left of them after a war).
Getting the olympics is an expensive proposition, just ask Salt Lake City.

It would be a great event, I just wonder whose wallet will have to be emptied to pay for it.

If it could be paid for without increasing taxes, is voted on and approved by the citizens of Gallatin County, And the logistic and security concerns are addressed and answered, it would be great to have the olympics in Bozeman.
But... if the groundwork isn't done first, it could really be a huge fiasco.

[Rickers]

It's a stupid idea, Bozeman can't afford to go into the kind of debt that is generally required to host the games. I don't even want them held in Montana at all. Screw the Olympics.

[Reziac]

Excellent points, Silvertip -- this isn't a cheap project, and as to the prospect of a Whole Lot Of Revenue from the games, which would ultimately pay for it -- well, that may or may not materialize, and if it doesn't, that could bankrupt the state, especially if it happens to coincide with high fuel costs meaning much-reduced tourism. It's too big a risk and too many IFs for a state with modest revenues and no real way to recover if it proves a financial disaster.

So... better to send it elsewhere, unless of course Ted Turner wants to step up and fund the whole thing -- INCLUDING putting everything it breaks back how it was before.

Per 2010 Winter Olympics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"As of 2004, the operational cost of the 2010 Winter Olympics was estimated to be $1.354 billion."

I don't find a MT economic numbers site offhand but I did find remarks in the Billings Gazette stating that the General Fund 's projected reserves are about $300M.

So... the 2010 Winter Olympics cost about 4 times what MT *expects* to have in reserve. By 2022, I'd guess the cost would be roughly 4 times as much.

Yep... who the heck do they plan to have pay for this?? Or do they plan to use the opportunity to sell the whole state to foreign developers?? Now that I mention it, the concept is making my tinfoil hat pinch. I think I'd look very carefully at just exactly who, and what business interests, are backing this. Follow the money.

So.... What Rickers Said!!

.

[Reziac]

Okay, here are some numbers -- it looks like any city hosting the olympics, summer or winter, can expect to be left with massive debts, and only occasionally do they turn a profit... and then only if you spin the numbers Just So:

winter olympics profit loss - Google Search
Which Olympic host cities have made a profit rather than being left with debts? - Yahoo! Answers
Olympic Caveats: Host Cities Risk Debt, Scandal : NPR
MediaPost Publications NBC Scores Olympic Profit 01/26/2009 (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/index.cfm?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=99008 - broken link)
Re: Caught under a mountain of Olympic debt - Armed Volunteers Patrol Mexican Border - AOL Message Boards
The quoted article also points out that it costs hundreds of millions of dollars in upkeep every year thereafter, for facilities which post-Olympics lie almost unused.

Can't see the link now but somewhere I found figures that Beijing is spending $23 BILLION, and projects revenues of only about $120 MILLION. So... a few bucks lost for every buck that comes in. This seems to be the norm, after all the paper shuffling is extracted. Appears that the only way to turn a profit is if all the needful facilities already exist, as was the case with Los Angeles.

I'd guess the only way Bozeman could pay for this is to sell Gallatin County to California.

[AQHA]

Originally Posted by Reziac

I'd guess the only way Bozeman could pay for this is to sell Gallatin County to California.

I think they already did...

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by AQHA

I think they already did...

I think so too

[Rickers]

I have a long standing grudge against the olympic games. They seem to refuse to accept surfing as a world class summer sport, but don't they have a ribbon dancing event ?
When I think of the olympics I think of corruption, steroids and host cities losing their patooties financially.
If folks don't want a flood of out of state immigrants moving in, in one giant wave then the last thing in the world they should be wishing for is for the olympics to be held in Montana.

[NYMTman]

Bozeman would stand to become a globally famous ski town much like Aspen or Banff if this were to somehow come to pass. Either phenomenally good or tremendously bad depending on your point of view.