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Posted

Yea, that's probably not happening. The Blue Jays continued to play during the Pan American games and I don't envision them staying away from the stadium for too long for the Olympics either. They'll have to probably play away from home for the entire month depending on how long it would actually take to set up the stadium to be split in half for two events, if the IOC is even ok with such an outdated idea. The Blue Jays wouldn't go for it, and their fans would probably be furious at the decision.

Point being if Rogers ends up supporting the games I don't see why moving the Jays for an extra series will cause too much problems.

There's also the little matter of them potentially changing the field surface at Rogers Centre. So that could make it a tough sell to use in an unusual configuration. To ask the Blue Jays to give up the building for 2 1/2 to 3 weeks would be understandably necessary. But if there are any serious modifications that need to be made there that makes that road trip even longer could be too much to ask for.

Posted

The Liberals are currently projected to win almost every riding in Toronto and the 905, of course they are going to promise support.

Are they? Don't they risk pissing off the people against the Games?

And this will be my first election where I'm old enough to vote. I've been struggling to make a decision for sure, but this is one big reason to vote Liberal now!

Posted

Don Peat ‏@reporterdonpeat 17m17 minutes ago

John Tory announcement on Sunday? "Mayor Tory will make an announcement at Toronto City Hall's 50th anniversary celebration" #TOpoli

Let's see if this is true. Coming for a SunMedia reporter

Posted

Why Toronto should say Yes to 2024 Olympics: Hepburn

Toronto Mayor John Tory is a cautious man by nature, which explains why he is taking so much time deciding whether the city should bid for the 2024 Olympics.

At this stage it’s a 50-50 bet on which way he’ll go. We’ll know the answer on Tuesday when the Toronto mayor must inform the International Olympic Committee on whether the city wants to be in or out of the running.

The decision should be easy because the case in favour of hosting the Olympics is so persuasive — tens of thousands of jobs over a seven-year period, an improved economy, major transit and infrastructure improvements, more affordable housing and a legacy of arts, cultural and sporting facilities.

But Tory also has been bombarded in recent days by a noisy gaggle of near-professional Olympic critics and Toronto bashers who have been dominating airwaves and newspaper opinion pages.

For them, the Olympics are a waste of money, too expensive, too corrupt, filled with traffic chaos, security threats and overfed, pompous bureaucrats.

Rather than seeming to want a great city, these critics appear to want Toronto to be an unambitious city, expressing a negative mentality that holds that Toronto won’t be able to get it right when it comes to staging a successful Games.

Just because Montreal, Athens and some other cities that have hosted the Summer Olympics have screwed up doesn’t mean Toronto will.

In fact, Toronto can get it spectacularly right on the Olympics.

We did it with the Pan Am Games this summer. There’s no reason to believe we won’t be able to do it with the 2024 Olympics.

As the successful Pan Am Games have proven, the city can stage a major international event — and can destroy all the naysayers’ arguments about deficits, gridlock and public apathy.

According to some unofficial estimates from Pan Am officials, the Games came in some $57 million under budget in capital spending and millions under on the operating side. Overall, the Games will actually show an operating surplus when all the bills are paid.

There wasn’t a single significant screw-up on security or technology and critics’ predictions of a transit nightmare were completely overblown.

The Games created thousands of construction jobs, boosted the economy, business activity and tourism and left a legacy of sports facilities from Hamilton to Welland, Scarborough, Markham, Ajax and beyond.

They also kick-started a wave of transit improvements, including the new rail link between Union Station and Pearson airport and expanding Go train service, that seemed forever stalled. In addition, the Games resulted in hundreds of affordable housing units in what was the athletes’ village.

Many of these projects would not have gotten off the ground, or would have been mired in bureaucratic graveyards for years and decades, if it had not been for the city winning the Pan Am Games.

In the final hours leading up to his decision, Tory should heed some advice from Toronto Pan Am Games chair and former premier David Peterson.

First, do it only if you believe passionately in a vision of what the Games can do for Toronto. As Peterson said this week, that’s because “there will be critics. There will be tough times. The vision pulls you through. It keeps you on track.”

Second, don’t look at an Olympics as an end in itself. It’s a means to an end. Transit will be improved, roads will be paved, potholes filled, children will have more places to play. The Games will make the city a better place to live, work and play.

Third, don’t go it alone. An Olympic bid will need the co-operation of the city, the province, the federal government — and especially the private sector.

Fourth, don’t build a permanent 90,000-seat stadium. Instead, build a stadium with temporary seating and only 45,000-50,000 permanent seats. After the Games, the stadium could be converted into a new home for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team.

It will be a tough fight to win the 2024 Olympics. Stiff competition will come from Los Angeles, Paris, Budapest, Hamburg and Rome. The IOC will choose the host city in 2017.

It will take real courage on Tory’s part to go ahead with an Olympic bid.

But, as Peterson says, Toronto has proven we can plan, build and execute on ambitious dreams and bold ideas. It’s time to say Yes.

Posted (edited)

The decision should be easy because the case in favour of hosting the Olympics is so persuasive — tens of thousands of jobs over a seven-year period, an improved economy, major transit and infrastructure improvements, more affordable housing and a legacy of arts, cultural and sporting facilities.

This is an argument that drives me flipping crazy.

1) This is the same argument as saying that you have "saved" 25% by buying a thingummy at a price of 75 instead of 100. You have not gained anything, you have lost less. You have only saved money if you see the thingummy as an unavoidable cost.

By diverting public dollars to build stadiums instead of spending it on teachers, police officers, etc Toronto would not gain jobs. It would add some construction and concessions jobs and lose even more public employee jobs as the city's budget copes with increased overhead costs, a loss of tax revenue from a lot of the capital going to foreign multinationals and debt servicing because of the Olympics.

2) There's nothing stopping Toronto from building transit and infrastructure now without an Olympic bid.

There are a lot of positives in hosting the Olympics, but the argument that it is an efficient way to boost your economy and provide infrastructure has repeatedly been proven wrong over the past 50 years. Just look at what happened in Montreal FFS. Hosting the Olympics in Toronto would make Canadians very happy, help unify the country and give Canada a prestige boost. It won't help the Canadian or Ontarian (?) economy.

Edited by Nacre
Posted

BREAKING: Announcement to be made by John Tory at a press conference at Nathan Phillips Square tomorrow morning at 9:30. Looks like it's all systems go for an Olympic bid.

  • Like 1
Posted

BREAKING: Announcement to be made by John Tory at a press conference at Nathan Phillips Square tomorrow morning at 9:30. Looks like it's all systems go for an Olympic bid.

A source to the Toronto Star is saying the answer will be a no.

Posted

"Instead, Mr. Henderson has already begun lobbying for a 2026 Winter Olympics bid, saying the downhill skiing events could be co-hosted by an American town, such as Lake Placid."

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