deloxley

Wow, what a research. So because some top restaurants are closing, a cycling team cant find a sponsor and Javier Bardem is shocked about the Spanish crisis, we shouldnt have the Olympics. Let me tell you that yes, unemployment is incredibly high, specially for young people. It is in the European Union as well, not as high, but it is a big problem for many other countries as well. That´s why the European Union has developed a special program to attack this issue. What you didnt mention is that unemployment has been declining in Spain for 5 straight months now, that our exports are rising above any developed country and getting even a surplus, that our current account balance will have a 2% surplus this year which is something amazing and that next quarter the recession will be over. You know, it is terrible for a country to be in a economic crisis and this crisis is not only a problem of Spain. Should we talk about Detroit and how something like what happened there is even possible in the richest country in the world? That´s something that is beyond anything you can imagine in Spain. The concept of a country being "rich" or "poor" or even "developing" is much more than a temporary unemployment figure. You know, Turkey can grow at 5% or even at 10% if they want, but they are ages away from the level of development of Spain. That´s why their budget for infrastructure is something incredible, because they have to build things that are so basic that Tokyo or Madrid already have them. But anyway, keep throwing your hate to Madrid. We might get the Olympics or we might not, what I wont ever do is pick a city like you do with Madrid and hate it so much. You know, life wont change in Madrid if we are not awarded the Olympics, thanks god there are many things much more important in this country. But if we do get the Olympics, please be near a hospital in case you have a heart attack.

Writing with a borrowed ipad on the street... please, somebody give me something to eat because here in Madrid, although we have an above the average per capita income and the city is home of some of Europe's largest multinationals, we are poor. It was seen at the latest FINA world championships how poor we are and how the financial crisis, a crisis that only affects Spain and not the rest of Europe or other parts of the world. Oh, wait, other countries spent much more money rescuing their banks than we did... like for example, the UK who just organized the Olympics and some of the UK banks had to be bought by a Spanish bank called Santander. Seriously, if you think Spain is "poor" you should come here and see it for yourself. It´s funny how some of you post here like if you were geopolitics/economic experts and it is obvious you lack a lot of knowledge. Anyway, I think that Istanbul is again the front runner. In my opinion, Tokyo's nuclear issue is too big and Istanbul seems quiet for the moment, so that´s good for them. About Madrid, let´s see what happens... in the meantime I´ll keep begging for money. Im so hungry!

You guys are too funny. Like Buenos Aires could change the vote of the IOC members. I understand that as the host city for the election it is not nice to support one city, but it is obvious that if they support any of the three bids, it will be Madrid. And I dont understand what Gibraltar or other places like Ceuta or Melilla have to do with all this. I guess that when people can´t find anything to criticize, they look for political or polemic things to talk about.

Actually it wasn't a bullet train, it was an Alvia train. Alvia trains use part of the high speed track network to reach cities that doesn't have high speed trains. And the reason for the accident, as everybody knows, is a human mistake by the driver. I guess that this is the first time in history that an accident happens involving a human mistake. Oh, no.. wait.. a similar accident killing 50 happened in Japan in 2009. I just dont see what the point of all this talk about high speed trains is. To undermine Madrid 2020? I think there are a number of reasons against Madrid 2020 but this one is not one of them. And lets be fair. If the high speed train accident is a problem for Madrid 2020, the nuclear accident in Japan should be too for Tokyo 2020.

If you want to state facts, let´s talk about all train accidents or airplane or whatever accident happen in any country. Accidents are just accidents and trying to blame a whole country is just unbelievable. A bullet train goes much much faster than the train that crashed. I don't know where you live, but I doubt you have seen a bullet train before, and by the way, Spain never had an accident with a bullet train. Never. But again, It would be easy to say for me that we never had a tsunami or that we never had a nuclear plant accident like the one in Japan. But again, that would be stupid on my side because I understand that accidents can happen ANYWHERE. An example: http://www.voanews.com/content/a-13-2005-04-25-voa9-66379932/547602.html A very very similar train accident in Japan, in 2009 (not so long ago) and the cause was the driver going above the speed limit. Anyway, Im done talking about accidents. I will never attack Japan or Turkey for the bad luck the could have at a given point with a bad accident and above all I think that victims deserve some respect, but maybe in your culture it is right to play with dead people to make a point about the Olympics.

You know, I dont support using these kind of disasters to damage a bid, so I dont support Paul. But using the deaths of 78 people like that is just too much. Im not so obsessed with the fc++ng olympics to behave like that. And by the way, the train wasnt a bullet train, so get your information right.

The row is an old issue that when either the UK or Spain wants to divert attention use so people talk about something else. And anyway, I dont think Gibraltar is such an important issue that the IOC would vote against Madrid just for that. And anyway, to understand if Gibraltar is an issue for Madrid we have to understand first what is the problem with Gibraltar, but that´s another story. I dont think Gibraltar would impact more than the recent radioactive spill in Japan or the suspention of 30 something athletes in Turkey, not to talk about their political situation there. I think all the three bids are not very lucky with so several problems and issues at the last moment.

OK, I understand what you mean now. Most of the top sponsors are american companies except Samsung and Panasonic. What you say it is true, but considering there are many american companies I would say that the games then would be awarded taking into account what it is best for those american sponsors, dont you think? So I think that if we look just to sponsorships the real advantage is for Turkey, which is a very large market still to be fully developed. To be honest, I dont know! but I understood now what you meant by top sponsorships. Thanks for the clarification :-)

I was very surprised to read, not only in Baron's post but in other's doubts about sponsorships about the Madrid 2020 bid. It looks like people think that the Spanish financial crisis is mixed with everything with the word money in Spain. I have looked at each bid sponsors and looked for the size and revenue of each company and this is the result: - Madrid is the bid with the higher number of sponsors. These sponsors, apart from major Spanish global companies, have revenues in total exceeding 310 billion euros. There are also major international companies sponsoring such as Accenture, PwC and Renault, but I only took revenues generated in Spain to be more objective. - Tokyo's sponsors, although not as many, have revenues almost the same that Madrid, around 290 billion euros in revenues, with major Japanese companies involved. - Istanbul bid is the one with the weaker sponsors, with revenues around 60 billion euros in total. So when talking about sponsors, it seems that Madrid and Tokyo have the advantage. And again, Im aware of the difficulty of Madrid getting the Olympics, but when let´s not use reasons that are not real. At least all regarding sponsorships, Madrid is doing more than OK.

Tokyo 2020 has many corporate sponsors for the bid, as does Madrid. I dont know if you wouldnt call Telefonica a major sponsor, but it is one of the largest telecom companies in the world, it has same level of revenues as Panasonic with the different that Panasonic looses billions of dollars and Telefonica is profitable. Santander, La Caixa (a top 25 bank in Europe) and many of the largest construction companies in the world are also sponsoring the bid. But again, I also think the bid has few chances to get the games, but I dont think sponsors are the main problem here.

I wanted to ask everybody here what do you think about Madrid or Spain's organizing world championships in the different olympic sports during the last years... if that is a point that we should consider and if it could affect positively to the bid. Since Barcelona'92, Spain has hosted 31 world championships (only Germany has hosted more, with 32), and in part as a result, Spain's results in many different sports have improve a lot. I think that in a way it shows a compromise with sport over the years and although I dont think it is a major factor, I think that it could benefit the bid. At the same time, Spain is hosting this year 2 world championships in olympic sports and 4 next year. Japan doesnt organize a world champ since 2011 and Turkey will organize between this year and 2014 4, having organized since 1993, 10 championships in total. Organizing so many events could also benefit in making stronger relationships with sports deciding making personalities. What do you think about all this?

And I am happy that the Spanish media are ignoring them. Im not entering in the independentist debate of whether Cataluña should be a country or not. I simply dont care. What I dont like at all is that they use sport as a way to claim whatever they want. Look what happened at the FINA World Championships, where the public made protests at Spanish national anthem. And now this. Dont think for a moment that Barcelona wanted to organize the winter olympics comes after a long period of internal debate. It´s all politics and the ultimate reason is that they want to fuc** Madrid. Anyway, I think that the Barcelona project looks like a joke and in no way the IOC is going to support a project that clearly is not going to be backed by the Spanish national government or other institutions at a national level. If Madrid dont get the Olympics, all this could change anyway.

So when we want to know the "truth" we should read only your posts? I guess he undermines Istanbul the same way you do with Madrid. Or otherwise explain why Madrid is not a reliable or safe option.

Probably to say that is exagerating too much, but I can´t think right now of another tennis facility with three courts with retractable roofs (12.500, 3.500 & 2.500 capacity).

Hello. Long time since the last time I posted here (a few years now). Answering your question: Yes, we have a financial crisis and the house bubble burst at the same time, but it is not like we are at war or starving (like it is implied by some comments). Madrid is a city with almost 6 million people, there is always need for housing (social housing, luxury housing or whatever type). The organization plans to transform the olympic village into social housing. I also wanted to comment (regarding another posts) that although the country is in a financial crisis (like many others), we are perfectly capable of financing the olympics. Another thing is if I agree to spend the money on that but financially is perfectly possible. Another post commented that we would have to rely on international visitors to sell the tickets.... Man! Does people really think we are that broke? We would have 25% of unemployment but the 75% of the population have a job and spend their money. You just have to see that soccer stadiums are full every weekend, with basketball the same and with so many other sports we we have world class championships. To be honest, I think that although we have a good bid, the games might go to Istambul as they went to Brazil or China. To have a good bid doesnt guarantee anything and I guess that if Turkey doesnt get the games is for some reason such as the war at Syria getting worse and affecting Turkey or something like that. I think each country of the three bidding has their own problems and we all know that the reason a country gets the games sometimes are not based on the best technical bid. Having said that, I just wanted to streess the fact that Spain is one of the largest economies in the world (yes, in the middle of a crisis), but you just have to come to Madrid to see that the development of the country and the city itself, its infrastructure, etc. means that the investment we would have to do is less than other cities such as Istambul or Rio. Anyway, lets see what happens! Hope I can contribute with more posts in the future...