dave199

Canada and the US have really separated themselves from the competition in the medal standings.

Really? I don't think Canads is "the most anti-American country in the world". I beg to differ. At the end of the day we would always have the Americans back on the international stage. As for Kanye West, I'm not a fan and could careless. I would have preferred Drake plus he's from Toronto

What kind of example is Tokyo setting for future bidding cities? This $2 billion price tag for the stadium will surely scare off a lot of interested bid cities.

$1 Billion plans to redevelop the Portlands were announced today. This will undoubtedly be apart of the 2024 bid as the Athlete's village and Olympic stadium will be in this area. If we get the necessary funding from Feds and Provincial it's slated for development in 2017 to be completed in 2024. Hmmm!!! During the press conference John Tory kept comparing the Pan Am Athlete's village in the Donlands to what can happen in the Portlands. He's giving us a generalized hint. Nice animations http://www.citynews.ca/2015/07/14/video-toronto-waterfront-makeover-gets-1-step-closer-to-reality/

http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1028678/nick-butler-could-toronto-be-north-americas-best-hope-of-hosting-the-2024-olympics Nick Butler: Could Toronto be North America’s best hope of hosting the 2024 Olympics? Add comment By Nick Butler at the Main Press Centre in Toronto Monday, 13 July 2015 When I saw the headline of an article in CBC News last week, entitled: “Pan Am Games could boost a Toronto Olympic bid, IOC President says”, I half-chuckled to myself. With the exception of India, Thomas Bach has spoken positively about every single city of which a theoretical Olympic bid at some point is muted, and as well he might because it is his mission to generate as much interest as possible. Bach’s response on this occasion was a usual one of cautious optimism. “I think Toronto could be a good candidate but we still have to see now the Pan American Games, how it's working here," he said. "The Pan Am Games can give a boost to a [Olympic] candidate." Yes, but that is so vague, I thought to myself. And if they are going to bid, it surely won’t be for 2024 but for 2028 or even 2032… Yet, after attending the subsequent Canada Olympic Excellence Day in Montreal and opening few days of the Games here, it has become increasingly clear how determined many officials are to launch a bid, and how the 2024 race is being targeted, not necessarily just to gain experience for a more concerted future attempt but with a view to mounting a serious challenge. Marcel Aubut, the ebullient Canadian Olympic Committee President, repeatedly spoke of these ambitions in Montreal, drawing comparisons with Rio de Janeiro's use of the 2007 Pan American Games as a stepping stone to its successful 2016 bid. While this was fairly unsurprising, the fact that Toronto Mayor John Tory was so enthusiastic is more noteworthy, with the politician speaking positively of such an attempt both in public and in his private meeting with Bach. The city finished second behind Beijing in the race for 2008 and third behind Atlanta and Athens in the battle for 1996, remember, but this revived enthusiasm represents a remarkable change in attitude from just 18 months ago, when an Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to defer a bid for the 2024 Olympics. Both bidding and preparing for the event was seen as far too expensive, with then Mayor Rob Ford predicting it could be "15 years at least" before the City would realistically consider hosting the Olympics. So far as I can see, there have been three significant changes since then. First, the replacement of the controversial Ford - a character best known internationally for being at the centre of a substance abuse scandal - with the much more pro-Olympic Tory as the city’s Mayor. Second, the completion of development projects associated with the Pan American Games, and positive impact on the local population, something that will undoubtedly have also contributed to the Mayoral change of heart. Ten new sports facilities have been built and 15 existing ones have undergone renovation work, for instance, while there has been widespread improvement to the city’s transport infrastructure, including a new rail link having been developed linking the city centre with Pearson Airport. Third, the impact of the IOC’s Agenda 2020 reform process, a modernisation drive which had barely begun when the January 2014 red light was given. While we have been necessarily sceptical about just how much change Agenda 2020 has introduced, it has largely achieved its primary objective of reinvigorating interest in the Olympic Movement and destroying old preconceptions about the rigidity of the bidding and organising process. Key has been the enhanced flexibility introduced as part of the reform drive. While before bids had to be conducted in a certain way to meet pre-determined IOC criteria, now cities are encouraged to shape a bid as they wish. Taking advantage of existing venues outside the city centre, for example, something which would certainly appeal to Ontario officials given the wide spread of venues for the Pan American Games. With enthusiasm for the bid in place, what chance then does it have? An editorial in the Toronto Star on Saturday (July 11) was entitled: “Why Toronto should bid for the 2024 Olympics”; listing the many benefits the ongoing Pan American Games have supposedly brought the city before hailing how there has never been a better time to launch a bid. This in itself is interesting and can be compared with the situation in Boston, where the local press has been mainly strongly opposed to the bid. The same could be said of Oslo’s ill-fated attempt for the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympic last year, where a vocal media was a key arm in assisting opposition groups. On this occasion, neither the press nor the public would be unanimously supportive of a Toronto bid but I feel they would be largely so. Of course, this is by no means enough to win a race but, rather like the first round of a golfing major, it is a vital pre-requisite of avoiding defeat. Toronto also boasts other advantages. The city is big, among the largest Pan American Games hosts in history and the third biggest city in North America, meaning it would certainly have the physical capacity to cope with hosting demands. Due to the anti-American sentiments which still prevail in much of the non-Western world - possibly to a greater extent in sport this year following the FBI’s intervention in the FIFA scandal - being in Canada rather than the US could also be an advantage. A similar sort of bid and part of the world but with less political and historical baggage, perhaps. Then we have the aforementioned problems with Boston. I had the pleasure of meeting the bid’s new chief Steve Pagliuca last week and was impressed. He seemed comfortable in the Olympic world and was persuasive in arguing how and why public support would turn. Since then, however, another poll has come out showing support is as low as ever, and however much sugar-coating officials give about superior state-wide support in Massachusetts, the point is that it is not really improving in the city and the opposition is as unified and organised as ever. Rather like voters in the British General Election not admitting to having opted for the Conservatives in the privacy of the polling booth, you can now barely find a United States Olympic Committee (USOC) official who will privately admit to having chosen Boston, I have been told, and it is clear what many of us thought at the time about the wrong city having been chosen is surely now a view held by many of them as well. It will not be easy to turn back now to another city like Los Angeles, however, but nor is it advisable to stick with Boston while these problems remain. Given this dilemma, a race that everyone said was the United States’ to lose is currently being lost and this opens the door for other cities: Paris, Hamburg, Baku, Budapest, Rome…and Toronto? It remains possible we are getting overly caught up in the early success of the Pan American Games. The US could recover its momentum or Toronto could lose theirs, perhaps, or decide to hold fire until 2028 after all. But at the moment the Canadian city is on the rise and could just be manoeuvring itself into a position of strength with two months to go until the application deadline http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1028678/nick-butler-could-toronto-be-north-americas-best-hope-of-hosting-the-2024-olympics

The CBC coverage does suck. The reason being that there isn't enough coverage being offered on tv. They prefer to show the Calgary Stampede today.

Wasn't the Athlete's village over $1 billion? They built a brand new community that was once a wasteland.

Editorial piece from The Star Why Toronto should bid for the 2024 Olympics: Hepburn Pan Am Games have been good for GTA, and Olympics could be even better. Share on Facebook Jean-Christophe Bach / AP International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said last week that Toronto could be a good candidate for the 2024 Games. By: Bob Hepburn Politics, Published on Sat Jul 11 2015 Once considered a long-shot, Toronto’s chances of hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics are suddenly on the rise. In fact, the success so far of the 2015 Pan Am Games now underway across the Greater Toronto Area is prompting international Olympic organizers to take a long, hard look at the city again as possible host for the 2024 Games. That’s great news because, despite the incessant groaning by critics about traffic delays and poor ticket sales for some of the relatively more obscure sports, the Pan Am Games have been good for Toronto. And the truth is the Olympics could be even better for the city. Winning an Olympic bid would result in improved transit infrastructure, development of underused parts of the city and the city’s waterfront, a revival in economic development and a showcasing of local arts and culture to the world. At the same time, the gross overspending and mismanagement that have plagued recent Olympics, most notably at the 2008 Beijing Games and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, appear to be over. Olympic organizers have learned hard lessons and last December instituted sweeping reforms designed to control costs and make it easier to bid for the Games. With that in mind, Toronto city council, with help from Queen’s Park and Ottawa, should move quickly to submit a bid for the 2024 Olympics. The deadline for bids is Sept. 15, barely two months away. The International Olympic Committee will select the winning city in the summer of 2017. Tokyo will host the 2020 Olympics. Already bidding for the 2024 Games are Boston, Paris, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg. IOC president Thomas Bach told the CBC last week that Toronto could be a good candidate for the 2024 Games, but he wanted to see how the Pan Am Games work. “A successful organization of such a big multi-sport event like the Pan Am Games can give a boost to a candidate,” Bach said. Preparing a full bid would require a lot of fast work, but it could be done. The initial step would be for Toronto’s economic development committee to reverse a decision it made in early 2014 against spending money to do a detailed pre-bid analysis of the pros and cons of hosting the Games. The next move would be to update the formal proposals for the Pan Am Games as well as the city’s failed 2008 and 1996 Olympic bids. Those in-depth documents included details of all the proposed Olympic venues, from basketball at the Air Canada Centre to boxing in Hamilton and skeet shooting in Oshawa. The biggest expenses would be for a new stadium, likely in the Toronto Port Lands area, a new athletes’ village and the inevitable security costs. Obviously, though, Toronto should bid for the Olympics only if it makes sense on several levels. First, the bidding process must be fair. That hasn’t been the case in some past years. When Toronto bid for the 2008 Games, it was clear the IOC was leaning heavily toward Beijing because China had never hosted the Games. The same is true when it came to the 2016 Olympics, with Rio de Janeiro becoming the first South American city to host the Games. However the bidding for 2024 appears to be truly open. The Summer Olympics haven’t been held in North America since the 1996 Atlanta Games. That could mean either Boston or Toronto, if it decides to join the bidding, could be the top front-runners. Second, the bid must make economic sense. The easy answer to that can be seen by taking a look at the impact the Pan Am Games have had on southern Ontario. The Toronto area has never experienced a boom in infrastructure and development as it has over the last five years. A total of 10 new sports facilities have been built and 15 existing sports facilities have been improved or renovated. In addition, Union Station has been modernized, a rail link has been built to Pearson airport, an athletes’ village built, the waterfront and Queens Quay improved and a subway to York University and Vaughan is nearing completion. As the Toronto Star said in an editorial on July 10, “the result is an extraordinary legacy that will serve Toronto residents, and those in surrounding regions, for decades to come.” Indeed, Toronto has accomplished a lot with the Pan Am Games. We can accomplish even more with the 2024 Olympics.

A lot of the comments left behind are so retarded. I can't say I'm really surprised considering these are Sun newspaper readers. Example 1 (Is this necessary? Wonder if this user thought it was funny? ) GeertWildersKnows • 7 minutes ago Newsflash! LGBT games confirmed for Toronto in 2017! Caitlyn Transjenner looking to make a comeback in the Bi-athalon!

Damn that Rob Ford! The buzz in definitely in the air now, the Pan Ams are finally winning over an audience who will want the bigger prize.

Good performances by Canada. Still atop the medal table

What a great display. The city should put on more firework displays from the CN Tower. This was a 15 year wait.

Word has it you don't want to miss the first 10 minutes of the show.

I'm just wondering, but are you guys saying this will be disappointing because the setup is not like a traditional ceremony setup?

Never said it was a game changer. What I was trying to convey was with the current selection of candidates and other potential cities in the wing waiting to enter, Toronto would be the best candidate to challenge Paris. As for Boston, I hope things work out for them. The bid will probably be pulled. With the potential of Toronto entering the race, it will ultimately be disheartening for the Boston team.

Full interview with Bach

Video: News | Jul 7, 2015 | 1:01 Is Toronto poised to host Olympics?IOC president Thomas Bach says Toronto could be a good candidate to host the Olympic Games in 2024 http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2671245598/

We all knew this would happen: During an interview with the CBC's Heather Hiscox, Thomas Bach says Toronto would be a great choice to host the 2024 Olympics. Trying to recruit, that's for sure.

Some videos for your viewing pleasure: Behind the scenes at Pan Am athlete's village CBC's Heather Hiscox gets a tour of Toronto's newest neighbourhood, the Canary District http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2671163167/?page=3 'The city is ready' Toronto Mayor John Tory says the city is ready to host the Pan Am Games. http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2671159631/?page=3

I'll give you that. Besides the stadium issue, what other problems was that New York bid having?

Just read that Bach and 14 other IOC members followed him to Toronto for today's PASO opening. More IOC members are to come. Hope the Pan Ams run smoothly.

The way I see it: If Toronto doesn't enter. it will be between Rome + Paris. If Toronto enters, a strong North American opponent, it will be Toronto vs. either Rome/Paris on final ballot. I just can't see both European cities going up against each other on a final ballot when there is a strong NA city in this race. I wouldn't say Paris is unbeatable but they're definitely a mammoth of an opponent to go up against. We beat them on the ballot for 2008 but the circumstances are much different now. As of right now, I don't see any other candidate or potential applicant posing any kind of threat to the current order of favourties for this race besides Toronto. Can we get some international members perspectives here? Besides Paris being this beautiful picturesque city with tremendous amount of history and appeal, the 100 year anniversary since it's last Olympics may really help its cause. Add to this its close heartbreaking loss to London for 2012. What will Paris do if they lose by a close vote again for 2024? Will IOC members be torn with the possibility of denying Paris again? So many questions and unknowns at this point.

Has the Opening reel been released yet by the CBC?