41 replies to this topic

[DannyelBrazil]

Imagine sending the 2020 Olympics to Athens with all the troubles Greece is living right now...

End of Olympic Games history.

[Lord David]

^^ Simple, you get the Romans to invade, declare it a Pagan ritual and then end the Olympics for a couple of 1000 years, only to be revived in like 3094!

[oakydoky]

DannyelBrazil, on 19 September 2011 - 01:28 AM, said:

Imagine sending the 2020 Olympics to Athens with all the troubles Greece is living right now...

End of Olympic Games history.

Not necessarily.Whilst a single Olympic host city will never happen as the ego-trip that various world-cities get from hosting is too overwhelming to allow that, if a single Olympic host city was proposed, obviously protocols would be put in place to allow for that.

I mean, if Athens was hosting every 4 years, they wouldn't foot the entire bill themselves. All the various NOCs, TV companies, sponsors etc could chip in etc and profits could be split between nations or whatever. Some 'democratised' version could be held.Or something along those lines where the world values Athens and Greece as the birthplace of the games and some arrangement is made to facilitate it as host and a system is created where they physically host and the world still benefits. I dunno.

But in an age of money, such a thing could never happen.

[RobH]

LOCOG's budget for hosting the Games (this is seperate from the venue and infrastructure budget managed by the ODA) is about £2bn.

A good chunk of that comes from TV rights from the IOC and IOC TOP sponsors. But a good chunk also comes from merchandising and the large domestic sponsorship programme. Merchandising opportunities would be severely stretched with one host city repeating, and a one-off domestic sponsorship programme wouldn't be relevant in this context. That hole would need to be plugged.

You'd have to work on the rather big assumption that TOP sponsors would fill it I guess. Or you scale down the event.

[Golan Trevize]

olympikfan, on 15 September 2011 - 12:16 PM, said:

Cities and counties are belt tightening in all parts look at the PIGs (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain.)

Actually, now it's IGS, Portugal and Ireland are getting out of the trouble they were in.

[DannyelBrazil]

oakydoky, on 19 September 2011 - 07:17 AM, said:

Not necessarily.Whilst a single Olympic host city will never happen as the ego-trip that various world-cities get from hosting is too overwhelming to allow that, if a single Olympic host city was proposed, obviously protocols would be put in place to allow for that.

I mean, if Athens was hosting every 4 years, they wouldn't foot the entire bill themselves. All the various NOCs, TV companies, sponsors etc could chip in etc and profits could be split between nations or whatever. Some 'democratised' version could be held.Or something along those lines where the world values Athens and Greece as the birthplace of the games and some arrangement is made to facilitate it as host and a system is created where they physically host and the world still benefits. I dunno.

But in an age of money, such a thing could never happen.

It's not all about money. There will be another reasons to not allow this, from ego of the countries `til the universalization message of the games.
And add to this, ordinary people will miss the difference of cultures casted in the Opening Ceremonies, by showing the host nation - at the end, most of the people in the world love the Opening show more than the competition itself due the fact not all countries wins medals or are Olympic powers.

[baron-pierreIV]

They tried that in 1906--one of the reasons for the Intercalated Games. But great-greatgrandpappy didn't like it. It just cuts out the "international" flavor of the Olympics because then it would be a "Greek games" each time. Altho the Greek smight now argue, having it there every 4 years would salvage their economy which was ravaged in part by the grand party they threw 7 years ago.

[Rols O'Bertilsson]

What about Vegas and Reno as permanent summer and winter hosts respectively?

[baron-pierreIV]

Sir Rols, on 17 October 2011 - 05:05 PM, said:

What about Vegas and Reno as permanent summer and winter hosts respectively?

Love it! You can bet they'd (the IOC'ers) have big credit accounts at the casinos! Maybe buy a few foreclosed Tuscan-style condos at beautiful (but abandoned) Lake Las Vegas.

[Athensfan]

I see the reasoning behind one city, but I agree that it's not going to happen. Responsibility just isn't sexy enough for the IOC. It doesn't have the x-factor. Athens would be the only politically viable option and, as others have pointed out, it would be frought with problems.

At one point I thought about rotating between several cities, but I don't even see that happening. The egos won't allow it and you'd lose a lot of the benefit of recycling venues if they only saw action every 20 or 24 years.

The formula isn't going to change until circumstances force a change.