New York 2012 May Still Have A Chance

Some theories floating around before the 2010 Olympic bid election in Prague Wednesday suggested that Vancouver would be strengthened because European IOC voters might want to close the door on North America and New York for 2012.

The thinking was that the IOC wanted a Games in North America for 2010 or 2012 to appease American broadcaster NBC who recently signed a $2.2 billion rights deal. But since it was unlikely that consecutive Games would go to North America, a Vancouver 2010 Games would leave the window wide open for Europe in 2012 and slam the door shut on New York, boosting European bids.

But after voting results were released, it appears that the IOC may not have intended to eliminate New York after all.

"On the first ballot there was a significant amount of support for PyeongChang which shows that many European voters chose the Asian bid and not Vancouver" said Rob Livingstone of GamesBids.com. "Combine that with the low support for Salzburg and it seems that the IOC members were interested in keeping their options open for 2012."

PyeongChang almost won on the first ballot after receiving 51 votes compared with 40 for Vancouver and 16 for Salzburg.

"There is no rule against consecutive Games on a continent and had PyeongChang won today, just that would have happened" Livingstone remarked with reference to the Beijing 2008 Games.

It appears that the IOC members may have sent a message that the glamour, glory and dollars of a New York Games is still a possibility. Write or read comments about this article

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