baron-pierreIV

How about Las Malvinas? The Seychelles? The Vatican? The Chateau d'If? 😶

Did a schmuck say something--stupid or otherwise??

No word means the ISU is not happy with that small Garnier hall offered to them -- and so COJO is scrambling to find an alternative: either (1) build even a temporary new hall in Lyon (like the basketball venue in London 2012); (2) think of Bercy or La Chapelle again in Paris; or (3) give Figure/Short Track Skating to Grenoble and renovate the Palais des Sports there. And build a new mini-Village or find a good hotel that can accommodate 500 figure skaters, short-track skaters, officials and staff. (#3 would be the most logical choice -- but with the way 2030 is being organized, who knows what those crazy French are thinking??)

Nah. That's the only thing I'm willing to spend minimum $$ on. I mean I am offended by the high prices -- and, for the most part, been there, done that. And it's not like, the best view is, of course, on TV, when I pay to see it via my cable bill.

Eh!! No DIVING tix in first hour!!

yeay (small "yeay.") Got my time slot on the 12th and will see if I can get El Cheapo Synchro Diving Finals (either gender is fine). If I am lucky enough to get any, I hope my 82-yr old* cousin in Pasadena will still be alive and even be interested for me to take her to the event as I am hoping she could put me up for a few days. This will be one of those "if it's meant to be, it's meant to be" moments. *- OMG, she will be 84 then and El Cheapo seats will mean way up high in the Bleachers -- so this might mean Rebecca will pass and maybe I can make a small profit instead. He he.

We'll see. (#1) Does he actively pursue it? (#2) Is he still physically able to conduct, say--whatever the Opening Theme Music will be or the Olympic Hymn? (#3) Since it would be his 4th time -- it might not line up with, I think. the evening's underlying theme: LA28 is the 3rd time's a charm -- both for LA and as the 3rd 3-peat Olympic City. (Or they will have him conduct his Bugler's Theme from 1984?)

/\/\ Indeed. And with John Williams making the first of his record 3 Olympic Opening Ceremony conducting jobs. No other man or woman in history has held that honor.

OK, but still no word on where Figure Skating will be staged and/or if ISU has accepted what Alpes 30 has offered???

Uhmmm . . . I don't think the divers will appreciate the beautiful backdrop when they drop into the water and emerge from it. Also, I hope the judges will not be distracted by the beautiful San Gabriel mountains. 🤪 OK, thinking about it now my previous post above, I think they will move the Diving Platform, excavate a deeper depth in the new location -- and that is why they are shutting it down for 15 months prior. Now that they have seen the demand for tickets, they will actually build a very good stadium for Diving and probably go up for 5,000 seats. I estimate the cost to convert the place would be $2.75 million est.; but they can probably make at least $7 million in ticket sales, So for Diving alone, LA28 will at least have a gross surplus of $4.25 mil -- not counting sales from merch and concessions at the venue.

Wow. A 15-month lead time to prep the site for competition. If they're not moving the Diving platform to another location, they're going to have to build over the adjoining pool for more bleacher stands. Moving the Diving Platform to a more central location would also mean having to break the pool floor there for a greater depth in that area. I guess that's going to be ultra-expensive (and I would think just keep the alteration post-Games use).

So, is this the other project sucking/diverting monies for Alpes 2030?

Above all, I am happiest that this will be a FAILED project for the Kushners (and Twamp)!!

My understanding in this is that as the recently concluded WC has proven, even one sport-globally--can be very lucrative. So, far, FIFA, like the IOC has been a not-for-profit enterprise. Whatever $$ they net, they supposedly pass it on to the poorer members of the Federation to grow the sport. Sports and the Club side of things are all for profit. Well, the ultra-success of WC2026, with FIFA getting away with charging the MOST EXORBITANT ticket prices for a sporting event in history--and grossing at least $9 billion, pushed Infantino & cabal into this direction. So, with that, what's he's saying is that we are going to privatize FIFA to a certain degree and make more oodles of $$ while not completely abandoning the task of helping grow the sport among the poorer countries. They're trying to do what NFL and all the clubs are doing--but on a scale as big as the World Cup. So, in other words NFL + UEFA = the new FIFA subsidiary (or whatever they want to call it). In other words, Yoshi -- the BOTTOM LINE!

Bring back Leipzig!! 🤪 Munich & Berlin have all that tragic baggage! Koln-Rhine-Ruhr has a brilliant, green plan that, were I an IOC member, I would vote for them over Ahmedabad's bid. I like it!!