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The low attendance may be one thing, but there seems to be significant sponsoring money from China involved which is certainly not making this convenient for the WTA. And it‘s good if they own their past misjudgements and are now willing to take a more firm actions. Others should follow that example (but won‘t).

#1 is pure BS, we know that. They'll happily claim that they can influence geo-politics when it suits them. Again, I get that Peng is looking for privacy, but the IOC who conducted that interview in private maybe isn't the ones who should be implying "we got to talk to her, you don't" I was thinking the same thing. A lot of people seem to want to praise the WTA for pulling out of China, but perhaps they shouldn't have been in China in the first place

It‘s clearly a PR stunt to diverge attention. He probably knew what would come from WTA tonight and wanted to get ahead of it, though this bla bla will go nowhere and just makes him look more ridiculous.

I thought speculating is exactly what I was doing. Yes, I'm disagreeing with someone who knows a lot more than we do (and again, disagreeing with the last paragraph that includes words like "if" and "could"). You agree with him. "Good for you" as you like to say That "other poster" didn't get banned from here because he was snarky or crude. He was a lot worse and you know that. Wouldn't that connection be a jab at me? I don't care, but this isn't nearly as bad as the nonsense that used to exist around here. There's a lot of distance between "it's going to come up" and "not insurmountable." That's the problem. Yes, you agreed with another poster. Another post who was trying say it's not as big an issue as it's made out to be. The follow up that global sponsors are onboard is missing the point that this is a United States issue, not a worldwide one. The TOP partners will always be there. This is more the issue.. Nike to become first major sponsor for Los Angeles 2028 Olympics Nike is spending a lot of money for that Olympic exposure. So I doubt they'd want to make another major investor for another Olympics less than 2 years later. So that's where it could become a problem if Salt Lake is trying to pursue a company that might be interested in LA 2028 and then have that company need to make a choice between the 2. Once again.. absolutely not insurmountable. But it's an issue that the LA folks might not want to deal with, especially if Salt Lake is being given even more lead time than they normally would if a vote happened under the old formula in the summer of 2023. These boards got less interesting when Olympic bidding got less interesting and there was less to talk about. So it not just certain people here that scared people over. I've never claimed to be an insider. I happen to have some insight especially regarding things like TV rights that I'm applying here to form an opinion. It goes against yours and that of hints from Rob's story. I really don't think you care about the "HOW," but for some reason, my opinion disagreeing with your problem seems to be a problem. Mostly because apparently you think I'm just doing it to be a dick. I promise you that I'm not, even if there's a little snark thrown in on occasion. As if you haven't done that yourself on occasion. Contrarian, Devil's Advocate.. pretty much the same thing. What exactly would you like me to commit to here? You've done this before, I believe your term is "wishy-washy" that somehow I'm obligated to pick a side. Is there really a side to pick here? I'm not trying to ride a wave. I'm offering up an opinion just like I always do and I can assure you that if I agreed with you, I would say so. I didn't just post for the sake of opposing you, no matter how much it "seems" that I'm doing that. If you really want me to be more committal, then fine.. I don't think the IOC will announce a 2030 host before Beijing. Is that better than straddling the fence? I'll say it again.. I'm not looking for validation as if 4 months from now either of us will remember this conversation and I can jump up and shout "hey, see I was right." To use one of my phrases... we'll just have to wait and see Wouldn't it be easier just to take this out at face value rather than assuming this is something more than 2 posters in a forum giving their opinions? Can't we just leave it at that? Let's agree to disagree

After the Chinese WTA tournaments being cancelled two years in a row and dismal attendance every year before that this seems like a very convenient out for the WTA. The previous WTA CEO really gambled too big on developing tennis in China leaving the current CEO with a big mess.

A little fictious scenario in two press releases from Lausanne. #1 "The IOC cannot comment on any action an organisation which is not recognised by the IOC as an international sports federation is taking. The IOC calls for respect of Ms Peng's privacy at this stage." #2 "The IOC is happy to see that preparations for the upcoming XXIV Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, China are progressing very well. The IOC President Thomas Bach (Fencing, 1976) is very much looking forward to meeting President Xi again very soon."

That's not good for the IOC. Because now the narrative will be that they need to act and pull business from China. And we all know they're not going to do that. Not at least for the next 4 months

Hopefully Bach will explain exactly where he's got in mind... would be nice to know where the 16th logo comp will be before the 15th* is over *The 15th comp which is very very open...

Needless to say, 2040 is a long ways off. But I do wonder if Bach has a specific city or country in mind that he's trying to entice. Otherwise, seems kinda pointless to start pondering about this

I have. Given Egypt's economy, I highly doubt it will be built by 2040. It's not just the hot climate either, it's the security situation given groups like ISIS are active especially in the Sinai.

This WC stadium in Qatar made of shipping containers:

Sooner or later, China will own the whole world, not just Africa.

Do you know what the definition of insanity is? Doing (or in this case, asking) the same thing over & over again & expecting a different result. No, WE don't "know" anything. But that doesn't mean RL doesn't, & that we can't speculate on the information that we do have around here (it's not like he's on the ground at these meetings/conferences, etc. just for the heck of it). It's what these forums are all about ITFP, & always have been about. Otherwise, what's the point in them. It still wasn't necessary, though. What's the point in it other than being snarky? "Other than your ass" is another uncalled for, crude comment. Those type of jabs remind me of a certain, former ex-member from L.A. (I don't need to name them, since you know exactly who I'm referring to). Didn't we have enough of that type of nonsense when they were around? Yes, I'm sure. I simply agreed with that poster. I didn't dismiss anything. I know it's going to come up at the negotiation table. But even you, yourself have admitted that the sponsorship issue is not insurmountable. So what's the problem. It's now about offering up your opinion, though. It's about HOW you offer up that opinion. Again, going up a couple of quotes, but it's akin of a certain you-know-who (not to mention a couple of other current ones around here). You claim that I should "know you better than that". Well, I would've thought that you were also above such behavior (but I guess not). It's the kind that makes these boards toxic & not even worth the bother at times. And contrarian is actually your word. I've used the term Devil's Advocate before. Because that's what it seems that you do with a lot of these topics that we have disagreements with (to put it mildly). You seem not to want to commit to one side or the other, but instead, just straddle the fence, so when a certain outcome evolves, you can ride the wave 'either way', like politicians try to do. Which I guess a lot of these topics can be 'framed in that light'. But there are other times where the balance is more on one side than the other. Or again, a big dose of Devils's advocate.

Have you seen Egypt's new administrative capital?, they are building a whole olympic park in it, with a 90k athletics stadium, surely dates and the hot climate would be THE problem, but at least they will got infrastructure by then to hold the event.

As it turns out, a panel discussion about the Legacy of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics was held 1 December at the Brisbane Futures event. While Anastacia Palaszczuk, Premier of Queensland, spoke about a golden age bring delivered for Queensland as a result of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics and also the establishment of the Organising Committee, I believe that this is a different event to the Legacy Workshop with the IOC also involved in an advisory capacity which was noted in the Future Host Questionnaire Response completed by Brisbane 2032 in May 2021 (p.10). The Queensland Premier aldo spoke about bringing the best and brightest minds together on the Legacy Committee for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Brisbane Arena was also mentioned by the Premier as the likely venue for swimming which is interesting to note as it adds further certainty to this project actually going ahead. I‘m not sure, but it remains to be seen if a Legacy Workshop between the IOC and the Brisbane Organisers has already occurred within 3 months (by 21 October 2021) or if it will be held after the Organising Committee has been established. Has anyone heard anything about a Legacy Workshop between the IOC and Brisbane 2032 ? Under the New Norm system of selecting Hosts for Olympic and Paralympic Games, a critical part of winning the Games is not building white elephant venues which are used ‘once only’ for the Games and left to rot afterwards. Games Hosts/candidatures must demonstrate the legacy of any new venues and how they will continue to be used after the Games.

This sounds like a publicity stunt by Bach to get the media's attention on the IOC away from the Beijing Olympics, the Peng Shuai saga, potential diplomatic boycotts, and the pandemic. An African bid in 2040? Zero chance. None. Even with the New Norm and Agenda 200, there's not one city on the continent capable of building the facilities that would have some benefit after the Olympics or the infrastructure necessary to handle the event. South Africa was widely tipped to have the best shot especially in the aftermath of the World Cup, but Durban couldn't even organize a CWGs, and South Africa's economy is going to take decades to recover (remember the iots that broke out as a result of food shortages recently?) Dakar can't even organize a Youth Olympics. Oran, Algeria is on the verge of having the Mediterranean Games stripped. Bach in his delirium actually thinks there's an African city out there that could host an Olympics? The only way it might work is if the bid is a country-wide bid from let's say South Africa holding events like athletics in Durban, cycling in Cape Town, some indoor events in Johannesburg. Even then significant investments would be needed to make it work. Given China's interest in Africa as part of its B&R initiative (there have been media reports that China now effectively "owns" the main airport in Kampala, Uganda) maybe China can come in and build the infrastructure needed for an Olympics in Africa at interest rates they know can never be repaid then China can cash in and be the Olympics' first de-facto host. An African Olympics paid for by China and then owned by China.

A lot of the people on social media complaining about NBC's coverage clearly did the bare minimum in terms of figuring out where events would air and just assumed that Peacock would have everything. Shame on NBC for probably being intentionally vague, but Peacock was never going to be the solution for everyone in terms of live coverage. And the best stuff they had was actually on the free version of the platform with various studio shows and live coverage in the mornings of gymnastics and track and field that NBC did little to publicize. From what I've read, NBC has plans to re-imagine Peacock around the start of February because of all the issues with Tokyo. Supposedly the plan is for much more streaming on Peacock, with most events live and in full with ads. My hope is that won't affect what they have on the NBC Sports App where everything is normally accessible if you have a cable subscription. As long as that's unchanged, let them do whatever they want with Peacock. Obviously a lot fewer events during the Winter Olympics than the Summer, so that'll be a lot easier to manage

President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach said that he hopes to see a nation from Africa step up to bid for an Olympic Games in 2040. While lamenting that he was unable to see an Olympic Games hosted in, or awarded to Africa during his term leading the IOC, Bach told a […] The post IOC President looks forward to African bid to host Olympic Games in 2040 appeared first on GamesBids.com. View the full article

Looks like the matches in the group stage are scheduled for 1pm, 4pm, 7pm, and 10pm. So not necessarily all during the evening, but it'll basically be 2.5 out of the 4 matches each day that occur after sunset

Does he know something we don't about the future calendar of the Commonwealth Games or has he just got the years the wrong way round?

https://twitter.com/BasilZempilas/status/1465985769684692996?s=20

Yes that is intriguing. The warm-up pools are traditionally fairly close to the main competition pool. As I understand the Brisbane Arena is meant to be a versatile multi-use venue, the warm-up pool may be installed in some sort of “event or exhibition space” next to the main auditorium, or an area on the same or another level that might normally be used for storage of entertainment/props/scenery. I would not even rule out a section of the venue’s carpark being set aside and partioned off for the warm-up pool.

What are the first few required actions for the Brisbane Organising Committee in the first 6 months after awarding of the Games? According to p.10 of the IOC Future Host Questionnaire Response by Brisbane 2032, the IOC and Brisbane 2032 need to have a Legacy Workshop with advisory support by 21 October 2021. I don’t know if this Legacy Workshop has occurred as yet between the IOC and Brisbane 2032 (?). Second on the list is that both the Olympic Organising Committee and the Olympic Coordination Authority must have been established by 21 December 2021. The “Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Arrangements Bill 2021” to establish the organising committee is before the Queensland parliament right now and on-track, No sign yet (?) of the “Olympic Coordination Authority Bill” that is likely to be because it will immediately follow in sequence once the first Bill has been signed into law by the Queensland Governor. The next thing on the list is Foundation Planning (p. 10) by 6 months from the Games being awarded, which is by 21 January 2022. This would seem, as the title suggests, the priority planning the Organising Committee needs to take to set itself up into operational mode and be able to begin it’s work. Finally, by 21 January 2022 and ongoing, finalisation of the Legacy Stimulus Fund mechanism needs to occur and establishment of the rolling funding partnership framework. This, I imagine, is to do with the 50/50 Olympic and Paralympics funding split between the Queensland and Australian Governments. Sounds a bit boring, but these necessary steps will set things in motion for key decisions and actions that will build toward the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games and which many are interested in.