Another brilliant Olympic ?: which UK city will be next after London

[baron-pierreIV]

Quick!! I need the answer now!!

[Triffle]

I'd say London, for a fourth time, in the later part of the century. No other British city has a chance of winning an Olympic bid except maybe Hong Kong.

[FYI]

Hong Kong doesn't belong to the British anymore.

But I'd have to agree that it'd be London again. The IOC wasn't interested in the least in Birmingham nor Manchester, N don't think that'd change unless both of those cities underwent dramatic, glamourous changes in the next 50+ years.

[Rob2012]

Gibraltar

[baron-pierreIV]

Gibraltar

More like it.

Of course, I was being facetious.

There is this rash of "what US, Chinese or Indian city is next" threads...migod...when we've been discussing the cities since time immemorial or the heat has barely left the body??

Jeez, goiks!!...

[Sir Rols]

More like it.

Of course, I was being facetious.

There is this rash of "what US, Chinese or Indian city is next" threads...migod...when we've been discussing the cities since time immemorial or the heat has barely left the body??

Jeez, goiks!!...

Hmmmmm. We haven't had a "Pick your Host Cities for the next 100 years" thread for a while ....

[Triffle]

Hong Kong doesn't belong to the British anymore.

But I'd have to agree that it'd be London again. The IOC wasn't interested in the least in Birmingham nor Manchester, N don't think that'd change unless both of those cities underwent dramatic, glamourous changes in the next 50+ years.

ahhh but your taking the assumption that Hong Kong will remain part of China. Who's to say China's bubble economy won't burst; which would lead to China leasing Hong Kong to the UK once more in a desperate grab for cash; therefore making HKG "British" once more!

[Triffle]

Hmmmmm. We haven't had a "Pick your Host Cities for the next 100 years" thread for a while ....

Brilliant idea!

[CanisMinor]

Another brilliant Olympic ?: which UK city will be next after London. Quick!! I need the answer now!!

Paris, of course.

Prepare the troops! For King Charles and Country, Paris will be ours!

[Detroit]

It would have to be London. Though a few others capable- Cardiff(WALES REALLY!?!?!?!) Glasgow(They are on a river but not the cost, they have some built because of Commonwealth Games, just have to expand Hampden from 53,000 to 80,000) Manchester(Think 2002),Liverpool(possibly), Or even Dublin(Yes they are Ireland, but it is logistically possible if the idiots give up Croke Park for 2 months)

[Lord David]

I'd like to see the UK think differently when it wants another Olympics. Why not try for a Winter Games?

Nevis Range supposedly claims 1130 m of vertical drop, whilst Glencoe has 802 m of real vertical drop, so the mountain isn't an issue.

Simply have all the major Scottish ski resorts involved in hosting snow events, whilst anchoring the bid in two major centers, the town of Fort William, and Inverness, both already accessible via rail. Inverness will host most of the ice events and could possibly have an "Olympic Park" which has the ski jumps, sliding centre and biathlon/cross country trails nearby.

I know a fantasy bid has been done here before with Aviemore, but we got to look realistic here.

Will a UK Winter Games ever happen?

[LuigiVercotti]

Will a UK Winter Games ever happen?

No...

[Lord David]

And why not?

[FYI]

Simply have all the major Scottish ski resorts involved in hosting snow events, whilst anchoring the bid in two major centers, the town of Fort William, and Inverness, both already accessible via rail. Inverness will host most of the ice events and could possibly have an "Olympic Park" which has the ski jumps, sliding centre and biathlon/cross country trails nearby.

Ummm, Inverness is too small & far away from the rest of the U.K. What's wrong with Glasgow instead. Glasgow would make much more sense for the size of the Winter Olympics of these days.

[Lord David]

Glasgow is too far away from the major ski resorts? Ok so it's around 120km or so, where Inverness would be around 90km...

Inverness would keep in mind the idea of a Highland Olympics?

You'd end up having people come from air anyways, I just put Inverness as an idea of a city that could anchor the Games.

[FYI]

Vancouver was much farther than Glasgow would be to the resorts. Glasgow just makes much more sense in the areas of infrastructure, accommodation & transportation, etc. Plus, it has the pizazz & bonus of being Scotland's premier city.

This is all hypothetical of course if the U.K. were to ever consider a Winter bid, but you did say "but we got to look 'realistic' here", but that ain't Inverness.

[Lord David]

I suppose, but considering that some ski resorts are near Inverness, I'd suppose a joint Glasgow-Inverness regional Olympics might work.

The alternative would just be Glasgow and the Fort William area.

[LuigiVercotti]

And why not?

1. Lack of a FIS Sanctioned downhill course with appropriate height

2. Lack of international experience in running and hosting world cup or world championships in events such as ski jumping, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, sled sports etc

3. Minimal interest in winter sports across UK (unlike competing winter sports nations such as Norway, Germany, US, Canada, Sweden, Italy etc etc etc)

4. Lack of OWG heritage outside individual sports at various times (e.g. Robin Cousins and Torvill and Dean in ice skating), again contrasted with competing nations

5. Identification of Great Britain as a SOG powerhouse amongst IOC and IF members, not as an influential winter sports nation

6. Domestic expense in building the full panoply of venues for a UK (i.e. Scottish) OWG would be seen as non-viable considering continental European venues are already in place and do not require subsidies from a UK government which has already demonstrated a willingness to cut London 2012's operational budget

It's an admirable wish but only 1 step away from an Australian attempt at hosting a OWG; very unrealistic.

[Lord David]

Glencoe has a genuine 802 m vertical, surely that resort could just be upgraded?

It would be an opportunity to expand interest in winter sports.

Give Scotland some Olympic glory.

Provide dedicated winter sports venue for post use as both tourist and training sites for the UK Olympic team.

If Inverness were involved, I'd expect them to get a new arena out of hosting the games (assuming Glasgow is the anchor city).

Just look at Sarajevo 1984. It came from a country that wasn't considered a powerhouse in the Winter Olympics back then and purposely built like almost all of the venues for the Olympics (minus of course it's already existing arena and athletic stadium, which were upgraded).

[LuigiVercotti]

Glencoe has a genuine 802 m vertical, surely that resort could just be upgraded?

It would be an opportunity to expand interest in winter sports.

Give Scotland some Olympic glory.

Provide dedicated winter sports venue for post use as both tourist and training sites for the UK Olympic team.

If Inverness were involved, I'd expect them to get a new arena out of hosting the games (assuming Glasgow is the anchor city).

Just look at Sarajevo 1984. It came from a country that wasn't considered a powerhouse in the Winter Olympics back then and purposely built like almost all of the venues for the Olympics (minus of course it's already existing arena and athletic stadium, which were upgraded).

Two big differences between Inverness and Sarajevo.

1. Sarajevo was bidding at a time when there was far less interest in hosting any form of Olympics than there is now

2. Sarajevo was part of then Communist Yugoslavia which like all Eastern European/Communist states used sport and the (eventually) unsupportable financing of their extensive Olympic campaigns as part of both foreign and domestic policy.

Inverness, Glasgow or any other Scottish potential OWG bid city would be deficient in comparative political and financial support plus the quality and quantity of competing bids would be far higher.

And don't forget height is not strictly the issue; you need to have the active consent and experienced relationship with each of the winter IFs. Whilst the ISU, FIBT and WCF can point to profitable investment by British athletes in skating, sliding sports and curling they have not seen the pre-positioning of major facilities in the UK for their sports. Then you have the bodies representing skiing, freestyle winter sports and hockey for example who have minimal relations with the UK.

[FYI]

Like Dick Pound said in his book "inside the Olympics"; the majority of IOC members don't give a hoot about the Winter Olympics anyway, since they come from non-winter sporting countries to begin with & could cast their vote for whomever.

And besides, what kind of experienced realtionship do countries like Japan & South Korea have with skiing, hockey, etc besides minimal as well.

[LuigiVercotti]

Like Dick Pound said in his book "inside the Olympics"; the majority of IOC members don't give a hoot about the Winter Olympics anyway, since they come from non-winter sporting countries to begin with & could cast their vote for whomever.

And besides, what kind of experienced realtionship do countries like Japan & South Korea have with skiing, hockey, etc besides minimal as well.

Well Japan has competed in OWG hockey tournaments for several games (both men's and womens) plus have won gold medals in skiing sports such as combined team ski jumping, moguls and has other medals in speed/track skating, figure skating and of course has the real experience of hosting two OWGs. Therefore it has a far more substantial history of working with the IOC and the winter sports IFs than Britain.

South Korea of course does not have as much a history and hence this is an issue with PC 2018. Having said that Samsung's relationship as a key bid sponsor, an IOC TOP sponsor and the position of Lee Kun-hee plus the increasing power of South Korea as a sporting nation means it will have perhaps an undue element of support to its 2018 bid. The combination of aggressively expansionist local and national governments when it comes to sporting policy (as reflected in their 2022 WC bid plus the previous PC bids) with also a regional sense of obligation (Aside from Japan no Asian nation has hosted an OWGs, unlike Britain's rivalry in Europe with other potential OWG candidates) boost their bid substantially.

Yes, IOC members may be far less rigorous about the process of voting for an OWG bid than they are an SOGs however again the first step is a British bid must establish enough domestic support and credentials of working with the winter IFs to be taken seriously. Especially when you could have the likes of Reno, Sion, Quebec City, Poprad Tatry, Tromso, Jaca, Grenoble, Salzburg, Harbin and literally dozens of other candidate cities which are located in countries with a far more developed winter sports industry than Britain maintains bidding in future cycles. And if you seriously took the proposition of an Inverness or Glasgow OWG to the BOC and the British government you'd get the same reaction as if you were to take a SOG bid proposal for Tulsa, Hobart or San Juan to their respective governments and NOCs.

The likes of Manchester or Birmingham or even perhaps Glasgow as SOG hosts in the next century are logically far more likely than a Scottish OWG.

[Sir Rols]

I suppose, but considering that some ski resorts are near Inverness, I'd suppose a joint Glasgow-Inverness regional Olympics might work.

The alternative would just be Glasgow and the Fort William area.

Ah, memories of my Highlands Honeymoon!

I didn't get as far as Inverness, but Fort Williams? You've gotta be kidding. It's basically three streets, about a dozen pubs, two horrid curry restaurants, another half-dozen souvenir stores, a supermarket and a manor house. Not to mention the "highway" from Glasgee to Inverness is a single lane each way at its best (usually we were having to drive onto the grass verge when a truck passed the other way). Even if massive investment in road transport and winter sports industry infrastructure took place, you'd still be looking at four-five hours from Glasgow to FW.

And, okay, maybe conceptually Nevis or Glencoe could hold a ski finals - but then let them develop that and bid and stage an FIS championship or two and then maybe that might sound more convincing.

Unfortunately the UK is just one of those countries with a decent winter games record, like Holland or Finland (or even, just lately and modestly, Oz), who are geographically severely handicapped in winter hosting chances.

Now a summer games in Scotland??? Hmmmm. That's long been a bit of a fantasy hobbyhorse in my musings. A games officially anchored in either Glasgow (for size) or Edinburgh (for profile), but with events spread over both cities, just could be viable in the far future. And could be one of the few locations the UK has outside of London with the cachet and glamor to maybe land a bid. But, hey, that's just fantasy speculation and dreaming at best.

[Lord David]

I'm sure Fort William would anchor the 2 major ski resorts that are nearby.

[Sir Rols]

I'm sure Fort William would anchor the 2 major ski resorts that are nearby.

It's still incredibly tiny. Maybe it might be comparable to Whistler (?), but it doesn't have the advantage that Whistler had of being only an hour or two from the main anchor city, nor is it equipped as a an international class ski resort centre. Compared to other small town Winter Olympic contenders or satellite ski centres that I've been too, it's dwarfed by he likes of Garmisch, Ostersund, Nagano etc - it could fit into a car park at any of those.