Toronto?

[Lord David]

If it was selected as the official logo, I'm sure the bid committee will modify it to look more like the CN Tower. Where the idea of an Olympic cauldron/torch is only an afterthought.

[dave199]

Intoronto, I'm starting to doubt the legitimacy of this. Some members have brought up some solid points about IOC rules.

On the other hand why is a 3rd party design firm creating these? Hmmm.

[mistercorporate]

It's a leaked very preliminary design, I haven't seen this advertised anywhere publicly so the value of this post is the information that there are professional design organizations working on concepts. Intoronto is very well informed about panam and olympic matters locally so I should take this as a good sign that there is a team and resources working actively on this alongside the Pan Am games (the people who will most likely push forward the 2024 bid).

I have a feeling intoronto may be an insider either within the PanAm/Olympics circles, he keeps leaking juicy info and renders

I'm also glad they went with a maple leaf design, the 1976 Olympics was a beaver design. The Maple Leaf has a coast to coast symbolism and positions this as a national bid. It's important to get the whole country behind this.

[Durban Sandshark]

The base of the very preliminary logo does resembles a bit like the CN Tower to begin with. But because of that cauldron-like look it has along with the Olympic rings no-no rules regarding candidate cities, it will be called upon and force the committee to redesign the logo. The maple leaf is important for national support. Perhaps the design of the leaf with its many colors here is intended for the multiculturalism Toronto is justly famous for. I do believe the CN Tower will become more prominent in the redesign and maybe get more of the Toronto skyline involved in a stylized way in the new logo.

Montreal 1976's logo seems more like the Montreal Expos' M for Montreal in a different way rather than a beaver to me. But looking at it now, I could see the beaver.

[yoshi]

It looks like something our own afiqnadzir would come up with, is there any clue as to where this came from?

[intoronto]

This is just one of potentially many designs that were paid by a informal bid committee (because the bid isn't official). Those points about the IOC are valid and I would assume the bid committee isn't aware of the rule (lol). There are other designs and this is just one and probably might be cut.

Like I said is there any point to paying someone to design something like this for fun? Probably not so it is a sign a bid is being studied.

It looks like something our own afiqnadzir would come up with, is there any clue as to where this came from?

Its in the post!

I love the colour - but another maple leaf?

Aside from using an image of a flame/torch which isn't allowed, they should be careful about using the Olympic rings - it is the intellectual property of the IOC - they don't even allow applicant cities to use it. Very strange oversight/unprofessional for such a high profile city.

Designer not city lol

[Athensfan]

It's a cauldron, so it's already an non-starter for a bid logo.

My thoughts exactly.

[intoronto]

Jon Bon Jovi, MLSE give Toronto inside track on Buffalo Bills: Kelly

When rock star Jon Bon Jovi was made the first member of the ACC’s Wall of Fame a month ago, the city cocked its head and said, “They made who what now?”

Bon Jovi acted as if we were all old friends.

“Since 1984, Canada and especially Toronto have been there for the band and myself,” the New Jersey-based rock star said. “We have had so many memories together and look forward to many more.”

At the time, that sounded polite (and a bit weird). Now it’s starting to sound like a promise.

Bon Jovi emerged Sunday as the leading contender to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

But rich as he is, Bon Jovi’s not going to be able to do so alone. He needs friends. He suddenly has a lot of them in Canada.

All of those friends want to help Jon Bon Jovi bring the NFL to Toronto.

The Bills will not be sold until their current owner, 95-year-old Ralph Wilson, dies. The purchase price could reach as high as $1 billion (U.S.). Whoever buys the team will need to build a new NFL-specific stadium, likely doubling the sunk cost.

This is where Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and CEO Tim Leiweke come in.

“Jon and I are very good friends,” Leiweke said Sunday. “We talk weekly about his NFL ambitions. And so we’re actively engaged, but I think it’s still a work in progress.”

What’s MLSE’s role in all this?

“We can’t own a team (per NFL rules), but we do have more expertise on how to build (stadiums) than anyone,” Leiweke said. “MLSE can play a role. We’re not the lead here. Our job is to augment whatever group may come together.”

As is his wont, especially when navigating such fraught territory, Leiweke was speaking very carefully. He must serve many masters here (and is, in a very real sense, a master himself).

But the upshot of his comments — We’re not picking sides, because we don’t have to. We’re pals with all of them.

As first reported by CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora, Bon Jovi has created a small team designed to win him the Bills. A key member of that team is Leiweke’s daughter, Francesca. Bon Jovi was a guest at her August wedding to Maple Leaf Troy Bodie.

These are the two key points of local contact. Tim Leiweke — who’s gone through much of this process during his attempt to bring an NFL team back to L.A. when he ran AEG — plays the role of rabbi. Francesca Leiweke is the go-between for all the main players.

Rogers may still have some say in this, though they cannot be lead buyers. The NFL stipulates that a private individual must head every ownership group, holding at least a 30 per cent stake in the team.

Logically, who has that sort of ready cash in Toronto, as well as a deep history in the local sports landscape? MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum leaps to mind. Depending on your valuation, Tanenbaum’s 25 per cent ownership of MLSE is worth north of $500 million. Good news — Bon Jovi and Tanenbaum are old friends.

The speculation runs like this. Bon Jovi works his relationships within the NFL — among his other go-to golf buddies are Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — to get the inside track on the Bills. He elicits sympathy (and perhaps even a small discount) by promising to keep the team within its traditional boundary — upstate New York and southwestern Ontario.

Once Ralph Wilson dies, what other NFL owners will fear most is some rogue billionaire making an agreement with the Wilson family, then trying to leverage the value of an NFL franchise for stadium concessions in a current owner’s backyard.

While the league may badly want to expand overseas, no one wants the current balance upset in the United States. Thus, no one wants the Bills to move (far). Bon Jovi can promise that.

He’ll need help with the asking price — Tanenbaum can help with that. He’ll need help building and financing a state-of-the-art stadium — Leiweke and MLSE can help with that.

Tanenbaum, Leiweke and MLSE need someone with the red-white-and-blue bonafides to steer the team over the border — Bon Jovi can, in turn, help with that.

It’s an almost perfect circle.

One obvious wrinkle — and a poignant one considering the day the story broke — is the CFL and the Argos. There’s also a plan for that: move that team to BMO Field.

“(BMO) is a city facility. If the city and/or the CFL want to have a conversation about a renovation, we’ll be there,” Leiweke said. “But the only way we’ll be a part of that conversation is if the current environment for soccer gets better. We won’t go backwards.”

Again, you have to parse the meaning, but it’s clear and getting clearer — the CFL in Toronto can live on our terms, or die on their own.

When the NFL was some distant horizon, people felt the need to put a comforting arm around the CFL’s shoulders every time the subject came up. It’s a measure of how close things suddenly are that no one cares about hurt feelings any more.

Nonetheless, this all has a familiar feel. We’ve talked about it for years. Here’s what’s changed.

Plenty of Torontonians wanted a team. A few of them had the money. None had the relationships.

That’s the difference — relationships. Making this happen is a matter of moving in the continent’s most rarefied social circle, where the top ends of American business and entertainment meet. God bless them, but the Paul Godfreys of the world don’t qualify.

In Bon Jovi and Leiweke, Toronto now has two members of that small club.

It’s far too early to say that Toronto is getting an NFL franchise, but it can now be fairly said that Toronto has the inside track on one.

And though Leiweke will never put it this bluntly, this was a large part of the reason he came in the first place.

Source

Though I am not a supporter of the NFL, this would bring in the stadium needed.

[dave199]

I always had a feeling that it wasn't a matter if the NFL was gonna come to Toronto, it was more so when it will happen. From the sounds of this article from The Toronto Star, it seems like getting an NFL franchise in Toronto within the next 10 years is quite foreseable. This will give Toronto the stadium it needs for it's 2024 Olympic bid or any future Olympic bid it makes. Things are definitely looking good for the Tdot minus that sloppy pig of a mayor we have.

[ofan]

Hold on a second about the stadium bring used for an Olympic bid. It's most likely that this stadium will be designed to maximize capacity and will not be designed to accommodate a 400m track like many NFL stadiums today. That being said, this is likely going to be a process that takes about 10-15 years. Coincidentally, an Olympic bid shares a similar timeline. If Toronto goes through with a bid for 2024 or beyond, then one stadium for both the NFL and the Olympics would make sense (a la Tokyo 2020 for the RWC or Madrid 2020 for some soccer team). Otherwise, I don't see this being a stadium used for anything other than Soccer during a Toronto Olympics.

[dave199]

Hold on a second about the stadium bring used for an Olympic bid. It's most likely that this stadium will be designed to maximize capacity and will not be designed to accommodate a 400m track like many NFL stadiums today. That being said, this is likely going to be a process that takes about 10-15 years. Coincidentally, an Olympic bid shares a similar timeline. If Toronto goes through with a bid for 2024 or beyond, then one stadium for both the NFL and the Olympics would make sense (a la Tokyo 2020 for the RWC or Madrid 2020 for some soccer team). Otherwise, I don't see this being a stadium used for anything other than Soccer during a Toronto Olympics.

If Toronto is going to build a 80,000+ seater stadium, the planners better take into account what other uses this stadium will serve for the city and that includes the Olympics. It's no secret Toronto really wants to host the Olympics in the near future so it only makes sense to have this stadium work. With the crazy amount of money need to build such a big stadium, it better be capable to have a 400m track installed in it.

[ofan]

If Toronto is going to build a 80,000+ seater stadium, the planners better take into account what other uses this stadium will serve for the city and that includes the Olympics. It's no secret Toronto really wants to host the Olympics in the near future so it only makes sense to have this stadium work. With the crazy amount of money need to build such a big stadium, it better be capable to have a 400m track installed in it.

Or it shouldn't have a 400m track to reduce costs. Toronto isn't going to build this stadium to accommodate the Olympics if they're not going to bid. Besides, there is always the option of building a second 80,000+ seater for the Olympics and downsizing it to 30,000 after the games for the Argos. (Or more like 5,000 cause that's how many people go to Argos games)

[Lord David]

Or why bother with 2 stadiums when you can have one? Just build this 80,000+ stadium with the ability to add an athletics track for an Olympics by removing some ground level seating. Perhaps even expandable to the 2008 proposal of 100,000 seats, even with the ground seating removed.

Or just go with the Paris approach and add retractable seating.

Spend more now to save money later. Any new large capacity stadium for Toronto is no doubt going to be in an Olympic Park potential location and I doubt peeps would want to spend upwards to 1 billion for a 3rd major stadium in the city, even if it is downsized to 30,000 or becomes Toronto's premier athletics facility like London's Olympic Stadium.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Lord David

[yoshi]

Surely the Argos would fold within a year or 2 if NFL came to town. Anyway, if they're gonna build this huge stadium, they'd better make CERTAIN that it has track capability.

[ofan]

No they would not make certain it has track capability. Athletics isn't a major sport in Canada. There would be no need for a track unless Toronto was going to bid for the Olympics.

[zekekelso]

It's going to be a really tough call. Toronto will have their best and brightest to help with the stadium decision

[Quaker2001]

I always had a feeling that it wasn't a matter if the NFL was gonna come to Toronto, it was more so when it will happen. From the sounds of this article from The Toronto Star, it seems like getting an NFL franchise in Toronto within the next 10 years is quite foreseable. This will give Toronto the stadium it needs for it's 2024 Olympic bid or any future Olympic bid it makes. Things are definitely looking good for the Tdot minus that sloppy pig of a mayor we have.

Easier said than done. The NFL has been talking about getting a franchise in L.A. for years now. They're hinting about wanting to put something permanent in London. There hasn't been a franchise relocation in the NFL since before the turn of the century. Let's not jump to conclusions from this 1 article that an NFL franchise in Toronto is on the horizon, let alone the implications it might have on an Olympic bid for the city.

[intoronto]

"Hunter is now in charge of two things – redesigning BMO Field to accommodate both Toronto FC, MLSE’s soccer team, and the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL, who would be most affected by Hunter’s second project. And that task is to design an NFL-style stadium to accommodate the Bills. So far, we’re told, there is a design for a stadium that would cost $600-million but our informants say that won’t get much these days and the final number will be closer to $1-billion plus another $1-billion (U.S.) or so to buy the Bills, making this a $2-billion play."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/football/livin-on-a-prayer-buying-bills-building-new-toronto-stadium-would-be-a-2-billion-play/article15581107/

[Lord David]

No they would not make certain it has track capability. Athletics isn't a major sport in Canada. There would be no need for a track unless Toronto was going to bid for the Olympics.

But Toronto is certain they'll host the Olympics someday. Maybe not 2024, but perhaps by the 2030's. So you design a stadium which could have ground level seating removed, to accommodate a track.

[George_D]

any proposal for the location of that "in discussion" stadium?

[dave199]

any proposal for the location of that "in discussion" stadium?

Portlands, Downsview or Woodbine.

Jon Bon Jovi has told ESPN he is not going to pursue the Bills.

Edited November 26, 2013 by dave199

[intoronto]

Toronto bid for 2024 Olympics eyed

TORONTO - Former International Olympic Committee member and Toronto 1996 bid chief Paul Henderson believes a possible Toronto bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics — which is gaining momentum — should be switched to 2028.

Both Henderson and Bob Richardson, who was the chief operating officer for Toronto’s failed 2008 bid, were approached recently by the professional services firm Ernst & Young on behalf of the city to get their thoughts on Toronto bidding for the 2024 Games. A report is to be submitted to council’s economic development committee.

And while Henderson supports a bid for the 2024 Games, he believes Toronto would have a better chance of winning the 2028 Olympics based on the fact that the IOC recently granted Tokyo the 2020 Games. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is hosting in 2016.

“The way IOC does it, the games go to Europe, the Americas and then somewhere else,” Henderson said Tuesday. “And what most people don’t realize is that the IOC considers North and South America the same continent. Now there are always funny things once in a while that change that, but normally that’s the thought process.

“If the IOC had gone to Istanbul or Madrid instead of Tokyo (for 2020), then I think Toronto would have a much better chance for 2024. Now I predict 2024 will go to Europe,” he added.

The winning bid for the 2024 Games will be selected by the IOC in 2017. Henderson and Richardson said they’re all for Toronto bidding for another Olympics if it’s done properly.

Henderson, a former president of the International Sailing Federation, said Toronto would have to let the IOC know if it wants to bid for the 2024 Games by next fall, with the formal bidding process beginning in 2015.

Richardson, president of the Toronto public and government relations firm Devon Group, said there are huge positives in bidding for major events.

“I think all you have to do is look at Vancouver as an example of that with Expo 86 and 2010 Olympics,” he said. “There’s always some downside risks. You have to manage the infrastructure well and make sure your costs work out and that there are good agreements between governments.

“But my view has always been projects (like these) are major benefits to cities and we ought to take a look at them.”

Richardson said just bidding for an Olympics can be beneficial to a city, adding that the 2008 bid was helpful in Toronto winning the 2015 Pan Am Games and resulted in the federal and provincial governments pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to the waterfront development.

Though the 1996 and 2008 Toronto bids were unsuccessful, both were considered among the best technical bids for those games, which went to Atlanta and Beijing respectfully. In June 2012, Toronto city council voted in favour of putting together a report on the feasibility of hosting a Olympics in 2024 and a World’s Fair.

Source

I don't disagree with Henderson.

[yoshi]

So he's saying Tokyo, Paris (or anywhere else in Europe), Toronto, (presumably) Durban. It all depends on Durban though, assuming Europe 24, it'll surely be N America v Durban for 28, then the loser v Asia (Shanghai?) for 32. No matter what, Toronto will face a big challenge from either Durban or the US or both.

[dave199]

2024 and 2028 will have a stiff competitor or two. I wouldn't say 2028 would be easier for Toronto to win. 2024 you'll have very stiff competition from Paris, the USA and South Africa. Then you'll face the losers from this batch again in 2028. I think it'll be the same. You won't know unless you enter and from the sounds of it the City of Toronto is still seriously interested in bidding for 2024.

[mistercorporate]

Exactly. He was asked for his opinion as were many others but ultimately it's upto city council, the Pan Am 2015 committee and the provincial government to decide. So far all indications are suggesting a bid is very much in the works.