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Baron, I agree with you about Madrid's appeal. I would most want to travel to Madrid for the Olympics. My parents just returned from Istanbul and confirmed that it is absolutely a traffic nightmare and that the two bridges are nowhere near enough to handle the population. They couldn't imagine an influx of millions of foreigners for the life of them and my dad was involved with LA '84 so he knows whereof he speaks.

That leaves Tokyo and Madrid. Madrid's problem is the economy. That's what's gonna get 'em. The unemployment. The perception of the Games as a luxury event for the very rich. Spain's inability to pay its bills. It looks horribly wrong. Id much rather go to Madrid than Tokyo, but it just isn't going to happen.

Tokyo should win. Maybe the Japanese will learn how to spice things up a little. I sure hope so.

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Baron, I agree with you about Madrid's appeal. I would most want to travel to Madrid for the Olympics. My parents just returned from Istanbul and confirmed that it is absolutely a traffic nightmare and that the two bridges are nowhere near enough to handle the population.

Thanks. Supposedly Istanbul has promised a 3rd bridge over the Bosphorus and they are adding a subway tunnel between the Euro and Asia sides. But those 2 conduits are NOT going to be enough to handle the crowds and the official parties. The only way I see Istanbul working as an Olympics host city w/o getting into gridlock is to have 2 villages... one on each side; and then split the various national delegations to place those competing in the Asian venues in the Asian village; and those in the Euro village to play on the Euro side venues. So, it'll only be the press & visitors who need to travel over the Bosphorus.

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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Thanks. Supposedly Istanbul has promised a 3rd bridge over the Bosphorus and they are adding a subway tunnel between the Euro and Asia sides. But those 2 conduits are NOT going to be enough to handle the crowds and the official parties. The only way I see Istanbul working as an Olympics host city w/o getting into gridlock is to have 2 villages... one on each side; and then split the various national delegations to place those competing in the Asian venues in the Asian village; and those in the Euro village to play on the Euro side venues. So, it'll only be the press & visitors who need to travel over the Bosphorus.

Yeah. I'm aware of the added bridge and tunnel. My parents agree that it's nowhere near enough. It can take 40 minutes to go a mile. Istanbul is a great idea, but it's just not workable logistically.

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Welcome to madrid. Many people on this forum should visit madrid and see. Madrid's Olympic Village athletes can walk to the Olympic Stadium and is the size perfect city for a the games. Tokyo is too big and cold but I think is the biggest competitor of Madrid. Istanbul, the idea is good but has many problems, a possible war with Syria? Infrastructures. Human rights. Islam. etc...

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Welcome back Baron... CMIIW, every city that supported by you is always lost :(, so please don't support Madrid :)... just kidding sir, welcome back to the board :)

Uhmmm...excuse me. I sided with Chicago because I am a loyal American; but really didn't think it was going to win. PyeongChang was an easy win. I've switched to Madrid not because I love it but because I see HUGE problems for Istanbul and I like Tokyo even less. So my backing whichever city has nothing to do with its actual chances.

Thanks for the welcome back. ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Honestly, if the Olympics are going to return to the Iberian peninsula in the next 20 years, I'd rather it be a Lisbon Olympics than a Madrid. It's on the ocean, and it's a new country.

Much as I love Lisbon, both the city and Portugal are too small to host, plus really NOT important enuf in the overall sports world,

Lisbon's good for a YOGs or an IOC Session.

Edited by baron-pierreIV
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  • 2 weeks later...

Madrid 2020 have appointed London-based M-IS Plc as its intrnational creative and communications agency to support its bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics, they have announced.

The company will work closely with the Madrid 2020 bid team to develop the strategy and planning for their international campaign and events up to and inclusive of the final presentation in Buenos Aires on September 7 next year.

"We are delighted to have M as part of our team," said Victor Sanchez, the chief executive of Madrid 2020.

"We are excited by the opportunity to develop our international communication plan together, spreading our enthusiasm and compelling story for our project across the globe reflecting the true benefits that Madrid 2020's bid offers to the Olympic Movement, the world and the people of Madrid and Spain."

...

http://www.insidethe...tional-campaign

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What benefits does the Madrid bid offer the Olympic movement that the others don't? Austerity measures?

For both athletes and tourists the dry, proud heat of Madrid will be more bearable than the 'mushiatsui' humidity of the Tokyo summer, and Istanbul can almost be as bad, although the breeze can help.

I've visited all three a few times and all have great things about them. Tokyo thrills me the most, for many reasons, but I hate the Japanese summer, at least anywhere south of Iwate Prefecture.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Madrid’s Olympic bid: third time lucky?

After two failed bids, the Spanish capital hopes to bag the 2020 summer games. But it’s hard to make the numbers add up.

On February 14 this year, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti pulled the plug on Rome’s bid for the 2020 Olympics. “The government doesn’t feel that it would be a responsible gesture, taking into consideration Italy’s current financial state”, he said. “If we find ourselves today in such a difficult financial position it is because similar decisions were made by previous governments without having considered the resulting impact in the following years.”

But despite Spain’s dire economic problems, Madrid has pushed ahead with its own bid.

According to La Razón, Madrid’s bid for the 2012 Olympics cost €60 million. The bid for the 2016 games cost €44 million. This time the process will cost an estimated €31 million, 62 percent of which will be provided by private sector partners.

At the time of drafting the initial proposal, submitted to the IOC in February 2012, the only private sector partner on board was Bankia. The proposal carries the promise that the press centre and pavilions for Madrid 2020 will be financed by “the Madrid City Council, the Region of Madrid, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the banking group Bankia.”

As the Wall Street Journal notes of this group of backers, “Madrid is among the most indebted cities in Spain. Ratings firm Fitch recently downgraded Madrid’s regional government, predicting its debt could more than triple — to €23.7 billion ($29 billion) — in 2014 from 2010”. Bankia’s total debts are unknown, but in May the group requested a €19-billion bailout from the government.

Understandably keen for other private sector partners, the Madrid 2020 team, led by city Mayor Ana Botella, made an appeal for more sponsors in July. The result was disappointing, raising only €7 million of the required €20 million to finance the candidacy, despite a tax deduction of 90 cents on the euro offered by the Spanish government to support an “event of exceptional public interest”. Companies such as Telefónica, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and La Caixa have expressed their support, but it is unknown how much, if at all, they have contributed.

So what will the 2020 Summer Olympics bring to Spain in terms of costs and benefits? The Madrid 2020 games proposal will have a total estimated cost of $2.4 billion, compared to the $17.5 billion cost for this year’s London Games. Monti, as he cancelled the Rome bid, estimated the cost at $12.5 billion.

How will the Madrid Olympics manage to cost five times less than the projected Rome 2020 Games, and seven times less than the actual cost of the London Games in 2012? According to the Madrid organisation, 78 percent of the proposed installations are already in existence, including Las Ventas bullring, which will temporarily become the basketball venue at a cost of only €8 to €10 million.

And the benefits? As we might expect, in a country with a youth unemployment rate of 52 percent, jobs are the main rallying cry and many, many jobs will be promised. The CEO of Madrid 2020, Víctor Sánchez, admits that since most of the installations are built, “it’s difficult to give an exact number of jobs to be created. Some 300,000 to 350,000 come from earlier studies. 320,000 would be the average.”

Perhaps we should take London as an example. In the case of the London Olympics the real employment benefits are highly disappointing. London Mayor Boris Johnson committed 20 million pounds, separate from the actual cost of the games, toward the creation of a more realistic target of 1,400 long-term jobs.

Even so, a spokesperson for the mayor said the 2012 project had got only 300 people into jobs. Mary Coneely of the London mayor’s office put a brave face on their disappointment. “No other Games set targets like London has, and I am sure that eventually London will have a good story to tell,” she said.

Apparently she didn’t know of Madrid’s target to create a thousand times more jobs than London by spending a seventh of the money. Now that’s ambition.

Iberosphere

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Yep, the disconnect between job creation and budget is awkward for Madrid. But that's something that can be argued about within Spain. It oughtn't concern the IOC because it doesn't affect deliverability.

What is most concerning for Madrid from that article isn't the hyperbole over the job creation opportunities, but the problems the bid has had raising private sponsorship. I've been saying this for a while now; Madrid has a very low-risk plan in terms of venues and infrastructure, but a high-risk one in terms of delivering the Games and getting on board all the domestic sponsors the IOC woulld expect.

It's the weirdest Olympic bid ever in that sense. The things that are normally a worry for potential hosts (venues) really aren't a problem for Madrid, but the bread and butter of raising sponsorship and selling merchandise may well be. Very, very odd situation for Madrid 2020 to find itself in.

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In the 2020's, when economies have recovered and Europe starts to stabilise (I hope), I think Rome's withdrawal could actually be reflected upon as a positive thing, if it steps up when the economy is better. It shows that the Italian Govt of the time understands the complexity and requirements of the Olympic Games and had the self discipline to abstain from the circus... compared to Madrid's, which is like a single mother who is on welfare payments, trying to get a bank loan to fund a revitalising Caribbean booze cruise!! :wacko:

Edited by greenandblue
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I've given Spain the benifit of the doubt more than many here on the basis of their strong venue plan, hosting experience, and decent showing in previous IOC votes, but I think things are looking pretty bad now...

Spain's financial crisis could force the International Cycling Union (UCI) to take away the 2014 World Road Cycling Championships from Ponferrada, which could have serious repercussions for Madrid's bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.

The UCI have granted the historic city in north-western Spain 30 days to "meet contractual commitments, after which time if these had not been met the event would be withdrawn from them".

It is understood that Spanish officials are struggling to raise the €5 million (£4 million/$6.5 million) necessary to underwrite the event, the biggest and most prestigious competition in the UCI's portfolio of championships, which has a total budget of €15 million (£12 million/$19.5 million).

http://www.insidethegames.biz/sports/summer/cycling/1010968-qspains-creditability-is-at-stakeq-admits-mayor-as-doubts-raised-over-2014-world-cycling-championships

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Oh, the lovely city of Ponferrada... You should all visit it. There's a gamesbidder who was born there, did you know? :D

30 days. That's the time our politicians have to betray us. Ponferrada has already warned the government of the possible effects of this withdrawal, but they don't want to listen. When Ponferrada bid for the 2013 and 2014 UCI World Championships, we had full support of all the political institutions concerned. It is all written and signed! How can they now be so cheeky to say there's no money to host anything and yet keep bidding for something much more expensive that we'll probably not get, especially after this? There are many more World Championships Spain is expected to host this decade: handball 2013, aquatics 2013 in Barcelona, basketball 2014, shooting 2014 in Granada and sailing 2014 in Santander, plus the 2015 Winter Universiade in Granada and the 2017 Mediterranean Games in Tarragona. Are we going to withdraw from them all too? Why did we bid for so many events, then?

The Ponferrada city council has done a great job with these cycling Worlds. They have managed to excite us all with it. Public support is enormous! I would have never imagined my home town could ever be hosting such an important event and we're taking it very seriously. We may not be a large city, but we have won the right to host this; and it's incredibly annoying that those who supported us from the very beginning are the same who want to strip us of it now.

30 days. That's the time after which I'll probably be definitely tired of our politicians, always saying one thing and doing another. They're ruining everything! It's them and only them who are hurting Madrid 2020, it's them who are criticizing Rio and Qatar for hosting tournaments, and it's also them who are proving that these "new frontiers" are far more capable than us! :angry:

We're losing our way, Spain! What's going on? :(

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Give it to London. That sexy velodrome needs another international spin, sooner rather than later!

We're losing our way, Spain! What's going on? :(

You're bidding for expensive international sporting events while your country is in a deep financial crisis. The public sector can't afford it, and the private sector isn't willing to sponsor. Spain ought to get its priorities right. Focus on getting the countries finances back on track, then have a crack at an Olympics in 20 years... after all, it's not like the IOC has neglected Spain in any way in recent memory... *que Freddy Mercury "BARCELONA!"*

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You're bidding for expensive international sporting events while your country is in a deep financial crisis. The public sector can't afford it, and the private sector isn't willing to sponsor. Spain ought to get its priorities right. Focus on getting the countries finances back on track, then have a crack at an Olympics in 20 years... after all, it's not like the IOC has neglected Spain in any way in recent memory... *que Freddy Mercury "BARCELONA!"*

Well, there are actually many people, in which I'm included, who think that there's more money than what they want to make us believe, but that it's going where it shouldn't. Anyway, what worries me most about these things is not just the crisis, but that Spain is losing its credibility. If we can't afford it, why the heck did (and still do) our government support each and every bid? If they had said no from the very beginning, at least they would have shown some seriousness and responsibility, but once they've committed themselves to do something, they must go with it until the end. And if at least they explained that there's no money, that we've done something wrong, that this is more expensive than they ever thought... but no, they just wash their hands and blame others, as if it never had anything to do with them. And it's really exasperating because we may just be talking about sport events here, but it can be applied to any other thing in this country. Everything works the same way in Spain. We're becoming a real joke... -_-

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