FlaBadger

Tokyo, at least, had the luxury of going at this with a clean slate, and the ability to do so after they had already won the games. Going forward, bid cities are going to have to make - and defend - their "local option" sports proposals much earlier in the process.

Exactly. While this letter is getting a lot of attention, looking behind it, there seems no independent research or analysis whatsoever. Rather, what you seem to have is an attention-grabbing Ottawa associate professor making hysterical claims and demands, under a mantra of "speaking truth to power," who then tries to back up his unreasoned and unreasonable position by getting random other persons-of-letters to sign on, petition-style, soliciting signatories, most likely unvetted, via Twitter: https://twitter.com/profamirattaran?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor. Of course, the media buys into this hook-line-and-sinker, as the signatories all have degrees in something or other, so they, therefore, must be "experts."

October 2016 ?

It's hard to imagine that, at this late date, it would even be possible to cut $500 million from a $1.8 billion operating budget - let alone that cuts of that magnitude would have little apparent impact. The elimination of TVs in the athletes village, reduction in temporary seating around a few venues, and move from reserved to general admission seating in some others won't make even a dent in the budget. Even the reduction in the number of official volunteers isn't of such a magnitude that the savings will be any more than slight. Have more significant cuts been announced?

Likely less an objection to college dorms in and of themselves than concern that, almost invariably, the use of student housing results in significant disparities in the housing arrangements among delegations.

"Rio 2016 have scrapped plans for a 4,000-seater floating grandstand at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas rowing and canoe sprint venue ahead of this summer's Olympic and Paralympic Games, organisers have confirmed. Seating has also been reduced by a undisclosed amount at the beach volleyball venue on Copacabana Bay. Abandoning the floating grandstand will save BRL R$2 billion (£351 million/$500 million/(€459 million) from the budget, it is hoped." (from Insidethegames) $500 million for a 4,000 seat venue?

Why is "No Boston Olympics" taking a position as to whether or not Hamburg should bid for the 2024 Games? Indeed, why does that group continue to exist? Supposedly, their mission was to kill the Boston bid because they felt Boston and Massachusetts had higher priorities, not some larger opposition to the Olympics generally. Is it now their goal to support all Games opponents, anytime, anywhere? Judging from their Twitter feed, apparently so.

What about the occasional mentions about Dresden 2026? Neither Munich 2022 nor Hamburg 2024 would seem to have been such resounding defeats as to discourage a future bid from another interested German city.

Are these renderings supposed to represent a summer day in Kiel? Folks seems awfully bundled up.

"Tuesday Tory said “recognizing that letter is not just some piece of paper, it’s an important letter indicating your intention to bid, and that the IOC takes that very seriously, and I confirmed that with them when I talked to them a number of times over the last few weeks – then the councilors will quite rightly ask ‘what are all the details of the bid?'” I get that the IOC wants to avoid half-hearted bids and, above all, bid withdrawals. But, wasn't Agenda 2020 supposed to make it easier to bid without initially preparing a fully developed plan? There was supposed to be this collaborative process which results, over time, in a plan that works for both the IOC and the City. The IOC has to recognize that one possible outcome of such a process is a failure to conclude agreement on a mutually acceptable plan. At the same time, the suggestion that, once a bid is submitted, a City is expected to stay in the race to conclusion will only heighten the scrutiny of local officials before approving a bid in the first instance, afraid that, without at least having a settled initial plan on which to fall back, they may be bound by whatever IOC proposes later.

One would expect that in his press conference tomorrow the mayor will hold open the prospect of a 2028 bid, citing both the strong 2024 field and the lack of time to fully consider a bid as reasons for not bidding for 2024. Unfortunately, Toronto's prospects for 2028 would have been stronger had they bid first for 2024.

Olympic dreaming: Could Detroit ever host the games? - By JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press 9:56 a.m. EDT August 18, 2015 http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2015/08/17/detroit-budget-olympics-bid-technically-possible/31462493/ "Maybe it's time for a joint Detroit-Windsor bid to host the Summer Olympics." As a thought exercise, the Free Press devised a potential event and venue map showing how Detroit and Windsor might pull off a 2024 Summer Olympics. The map reflects some actual proposals from Detroit's official bid for the 1968 Olympics, as well as guidance from Boston's now-cancelled plan for 2024."

Is Baseball-Softball proposing to add both men's and women's baseball and men's and women's softball, as in the Pan Am Games? Or just men's baseball and women's softball, consistent with the past Olympic program?

Heiden is not a person who seeks out accolades, but he's well aware of the significance of his accomplishments. It was less a matter of his being upset over not being selected to light the torch, than disinterest in participating in a production that would put him in other than his proper place.

Actually, rather than pushing the US to bid for 2024, Bach, were he thinking ahead, should be asking the US to ready a bid for 2026. The 2024 race will be strong enough. What he really needs to ensure is a viable western bid for 2026, so we don't get a battle between Almaty and Lviv. However, so long as the US has to stand behind the LA bid, they won't be able to engage in any public discussion about 2026, and they may end up short of time to do so.