GamesBids.com: Tulsa 2020 Olympic Bid To Push On Despite Uncommitted USOC

Tulsa 2020 Olympic Bid To Push On Despite Uncommitted USOC
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GB Editor on Friday, March 5, 2010  2:41pm EST
 
Tulsa's 2020 Olympic bid committee is working hard on an Olympic bid package for
2020 even as newly appointed United States Olympic Committee (USOC) leadership
is apparently uninterested in submitting a 2020 candidate.
"At this point the USOC is not pursuing any bids for 2020", Patrick Sandusky,
spokesperson for the USOC told GamesBids.com.
GamesBids.com first reported on the Tulsa 2020 bid in August last year prior to
the election of the 2016 Olympic host city won by Rio de Janeiro.  The United
States nomination, Chicago, was defeated on the first ballot - a second
consecutive loss for the United States following New York's attempt to win a
2012 campaign.  The losses were largely blamed on poor U.S. international
relations, particularly between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and
the USOC.
Since the loss, the USOC has been committed to mending these relationships - and
in January appointed new CEO Scott Blackmum to help.  Blackmum has been verbal
in forgoing a 2020 bid to instead focus inward before perhaps pursuing a bid for
the Olympic Winter Games in 2022.  Winter Games Bids from Denver and Reno-Tahoe
are interested in the opportunity.
On Thursday, the USOC signed an agreement with the British Olympic Association
to help further mutual interests - a move seen as an important initial step in
repairing the USOC's tarnished image.
Neil Mavis, the Tulsa 2020 committee leader who developed the bid last year said
"We're waiting, basically, to see what [the USOC] is going to say."
"The question is, will the USOC make a bid for it, and can we talk to them about
how maybe us bidding for it can help them with getting back in the saddle.    We
need to wait for Scott Blackmum to make that decision so if he says we're going
to gear up, I know we've got a lot of support here and we'd like a crack at it."
Mavis said that his committee has not spoken to the USOC since prior to
Chicago's loss; he indicated that it was not appropriate to discuss it while
Chicago was the main focus and during the subsequent leadership change.
Tulsa City Councilor and bid committee member John Eagleton says he is still
committed to a 2020 bid but accepted that the USOC may not nominate an American
city.
"That would be truly disappointing, wouldn't it?", he said.
But both Mavis and Eagleton are committed to a long-term effort should their
plans not work out for the 2020 Olympic quadrennial.
Mavis believes Tulsa has a sound strategy for winning the Games and he wants to
leverage a strong theme and Olympic history to help.  He described the theme as
"a combination of Oklahoma's Olympic legacy and also Oklahoma's native American
legacy."
"We're not gearing up to take on any North American bid - we would plan from day
one to aim to try to beat an African bid", Mavis said contending that he
believed an African city would emerge with a plan similar to the one that won
the Games for Rio de Janiero in 2016.  Rio will be the first Games in South
America leaving Africa as the only inhabited continent never to host the Games.
Among the bid's strengths are the regions' Olympic assets including Oklahoma
Olympian Jim Thorpe, University of Oklahoma Olympians Bart Connor and Shannon
Miller, 20 wrestling gold medals, and three Olympic training sites for archery,
volleyball and rowing.
A feasibilty study done last year indicated that an estimated cost of the bid
would be about $12 million dollars (referencing Atlanta's successful bid in 1990
for the 1996 Olympic Games) but Mavis now admits that after consultation with
bid experts the cost would be much higher.  Chicago reportedly spent over $80
million on their failed bid.
On Tulsa's funding an equivalent campaign Eagleton said "Eighty million dollars
is a very large number and I am reluctant to say 'yeah, sure' - that is a
staggering number.
"I would put out that Chicago spent a lot of money on things that didn't seem to
help them out; I pride myself on working better, smarter, faster.
"Tulsa needs to put together a package that will show that we can do the
Olympics."
With the IOC nomination deadline for 2020 Olympic bids set for mid-2011, a U.S.
domestic bid campaign would need to begin almost immediately.  It's safe to say
that Tulsa will be looking at a 2024 bid instead.
The IOC will elect a 2020 host in Beunos Aires, Argentina on 2013.  Italy is
currently running a domestic campaign to select a nomination and Tokyo and
Madrid, both failing to win the 2016 bid, may also apply.