'The Olympics are dead': Does anyone want to be a host city any more?

UK Guardian ^ | July 28, 2015 | Les Carpenter

[vmivol00]

And the “girl” with the gold medal is the one with the pe....

[C19fan]

NBC killed it for me with their 95% sob stories and 5% actual sports.

[Twotone]

Another excellent reason to do it!

[2banana]

Why not run an Olympics with the INFRASTRUCTURE you all ready have?

Who cares if the Croatia v Bolivia Woman’s Basketball match up is in a HIGH SCHOOL GYM?

[ExTxMarine]

The problem is the Olympic demands for the venue designs! They REQUIRE a stadium big enough to handle X-number of spectators (whether they sell that many tickets doesn’t matter), has to be within a certain distance to the venue and/or training facilities, x-number of housing MUST be within a single area for the athletes, if over a certain distance - traffic has to be diverted to allow Olympic traffic as priority, etc..., etc..., etc...! It really IS a nightmare!

I was on a subcommittee when Arlington, Texas was entertaining the idea of bidding for the Summer Olympics. The requirements are ALMOST insurmountable, and the cost of the “wavers” (i.e., BRIBES, KICKBACKS, ETC...) is WORSE! But that is what is MOST OFTEN PAID - the bribes!

[FlingWingFlyer]

I don’t think the “gay” flags helped much either.

[dfwgator]

And there’s nothing wrong with having different events spread out across the globe. Have basketball in one country, track and field in another. Have the countries bid on individual events instead.

[LouAvul]

I think we need to change the events. Instead of watching some Kenyan distance runner, and later watch somebody throw a javelin, maybe we could watch them throw the javelins at the distance runners? And the shooting segment of the decathlon, they could instead shoot at little targets on the heads of the downhill skiers.

I might watch those.

[Lazamataz]

Society is collapsing. Screw the Olympics.

Maybe if we crawl out of the rubble, we can think about a new set of Games. Call them the Armageddons or something.

[FlingWingFlyer]

That’s what I was thinking. A DemocRAT scandal event would help also.

[ExTxMarine]

Host the shooting events in a country that doesn't hate guns. We could have some real long-range, high power events.

Better yet, have this event in Afghanistan or Iraq! Lots of targets, and they are moving! And we rid the world of raving mad, lunatic killers!

That's a win, win...WIN!

[Michael.SF.]

And then there is this Olympic moment

Things were a lot simpler then.

I agree with those who say one location: Athens (I have felt that for many years)

But then recall the 1984 Olympics. LA did not go broke, they used (reused) existing facilities and the event was spectacular.

[Martin Tell]

For the Winter Games, how about Switzerland? Great location, guaranteed snow, highly efficient, great builders, existing international organizations present, and neutrality.

In other words, it ain't gonna happen. Insufficient opportunities for graft.

[skeeter]

Funny, I dislike it for the opposite reason.

ABC had the gold standard for Olympics coverage.

[dfwgator]

Because ABC would actually focus on foreign competitors, like Olga Korbut, Nadia Comeneci, and my all-time favorite...Vasili Alexeyev.

[cll]

Siberia

[dfwgator]

IIRC, Atlanta made money, but the IOC hated it because they didn’t grease enough palms.

[Nowhere Man]

The Olympics died when the US broadcasters decided sports mixed with a little patriotism embarrassed them.

I know... B-( BTW, I miss Jim McKay, I think ABC did the best job. Roone Artledge was a genius of ABC Sports.

[dfwgator]

Still get a tear when I think of McKay saying “They’re all gone.” during Munich.

[Mr. Jeeves]

One of the reasons I hate NBC’s coverage is because they are too US-centric in their coverage.

Yeah, skipping three gold medal finals to do a twenty minute profile of a guy from Youngstown, Ohio who finished seventh in the luge and is working at Pizza Hut to put his terminally ill sister through college is not a winning broadcast strategy. :)