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USA 2024


Athensfan

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Again, aside from all the intangibles working against them, I think Dallas could offer a decent technical plan centered around Fair Park and the Cotton Bowl. The fact that they've already hit the ground running is certainly a help and I think the USOC will definitely want to listen to them, even if in the end it's not quite the bid they're looking for.

Seriously again, though; where is this "hit the ground running" coming from. Other than this group being a grassroots organization, what other elements of substance is there? Are they being backed-up by corporate sponsors? Are they part of an "Exploratory Committee" backed by city & state leaders like we've recently seen with Denver, Reno & SLC?

Anyone can draw up "plans" as to how an Olympics in any given city can look like. Just look at Lord David on these boards. He does it all the time (the most recent, was your little disagreeing discussion with him about Lake Placid). But without the number of crucial foundations in place, plans & blueprints mean absolutely nothing in the end. There's even a Texan on these boards that keeps saying that a Dallas bid would never take off bcuz of all the local political bickering that would take place.

Unless I start to see political/corporate action working alongside with this Woods guy & Co, I ain't giving it much thought, no matter how many times that you admittedly like to bring it up. Again, it's not that much different than the likes of what Vegas & Tulsa did the last time around. And it's also what a group of business leaders did in Minneapolis a few years back, until the Minnesota Legislature finally said, 'thanks, but not thanks'.

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Let's be honest, the bid isn't going to be the only thing that affects the outcome of voting. If Dallas has the "best bid ever" and Paris has a sub-pare bid. Paris would probably win, because it's Paris.

I don't doubt that for a second. Dallas may be able to pull off a better technical plan than other cities. But again, it's still Dallas. Not Los Angeles or New York. So in that respect, it definitely makes them a longshot to win, especially if there's any sort of decent competition.

Seriously again, though; where is this "hit the ground running" coming from. Other than this group being a grassroots organization, what other elements of substance is there? Are they being backed-up by corporate sponsors? Are they part of an "Exploratory Committee" backed by city & state leaders like we've recently seen with Denver, Reno & SLC?

Anyone can draw up "plans" as to how an Olympics in any given city can look like. Just look at Lord David on these boards. He does it all the time (the most recent, was your little disagreeing discussion with him about Lake Placid). But without the number of crucial foundations in place, plans & blueprints mean absolutely nothing in the end. There's even a Texan on these boards that keeps saying that a Dallas bid would never take off bcuz of all the local political bickering that would take place.

Unless I start to see political/corporate action working alongside with this Woods guy & Co, I ain't giving it much thought, no matter how many times that you admittedly like to bring it up. Again, it's not that much different than the likes of what Vegas & Tulsa did the last time around. And it's also what a group of business leaders did in Minneapolis a few years back, until the Minnesota Legislature finally said, 'thanks, but not thanks'.

Darn, I think I owe Athens an apology. Now I know where he thinks that the Summer cities should act more like the Winter hopefuls.

I think this is a little more than a grassroots organization though. I'm more interested in their efforts than that of 2 delusional businessmen in Tulsa who convinced their city council to go along with their plan, probably to grab some headlines. Or Las Vegas who basically said screw the IOC, we'll do this on our own. With all due respect to Lord David, this isn't some random guy on a website spewing out ideas. I could do that for New York but it's not going to get them closer to an Olympic bid. What this guy is doing is definitely furthering their Olympic chances. And maybe a Dallas bid won't get off the ground due to political bickering, although that's going to be a problem in almost any city. To me, this feels a little like the beginnings of what Dan Doctoroff put together in New York. Yes, Doctoroff integrated himself with city government early on, Certainly it may never get that far, let alone to be chosen by the USOC, but there's still a figurehead attempting to run the show here. That's more than we're seeing from other cities, so yes, there's at least the start of something in Dallas.

Remember also though.. this is still a city that bid for the 2012 Olympics. And Matt Wood was involved, so there is some prior experience in there. As I understand it, he's been involved since 2009 and I'm seeing plenty of articles with his name on it leading up to when the USOC officially passed on 2020. So again, I don't know what sort of backing, government or financial, he has or doesn't have (there are a couple of articles that mention he's worked with a Dallas architectural firm to look at potential renovations to the Cotton Bowl), but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that this is something more substantial than most other cities we haven't heard a word out of.

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One thing is for certain:

- Any North American bid for 2024 will not have a "white elephant" for a stadium after the Olympic games.

Tulsa could use the Olympic stadium as a new football stadium for the University of Tulsa. Los Angeles could use their Olympic stadium either to lure the NFL back (if the proposed Farmers Field by AEG doesn't happen) or a new stadium for USC or UCLA or even a new stadium for MLS Chivas USA. Dallas would probably turn their Olympic Stadium (unless it's the Cotton Bowl or Cowboys Stadium) into another high school football stadium. In Canada, Toronto could easily use their Olympic Stadium for three things: remove the track and use the stadium to bring an NFL team north of the Border, convert it to a new baseball stadium for the Blue Jays or downgrade the seating and make it the home of the Toronto Argonauts.

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One thing is for certain:

- Any North American bid for 2024 will not have a "white elephant" for a stadium after the Olympic games.

Tulsa could use the Olympic stadium as a new football stadium for the University of Tulsa. Los Angeles could use their Olympic stadium either to lure the NFL back (if the proposed Farmers Field by AEG doesn't happen) or a new stadium for USC or UCLA or even a new stadium for MLS Chivas USA. Dallas would probably turn their Olympic Stadium (unless it's the Cotton Bowl or Cowboys Stadium) into another high school football stadium. In Canada, Toronto could easily use their Olympic Stadium for three things: remove the track and use the stadium to bring an NFL team north of the Border, convert it to a new baseball stadium for the Blue Jays or downgrade the seating and make it the home of the Toronto Argonauts.

New York could use it for a future MLS team.

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Let's be honest for a minute. No city in the US needs a 80,000 seat Track and Field stadium. None of them.

I'm surprised at the suggestions such a stadium could be used for soccer. MLS teams draw a fraction of that, and the seats are too far from the pitch in a T&F design.

The best you can hope for is that an Olympic stadium could be build in such a way that you don't have to throw away too much of it, and you don't have to spent vast fortunes to transform it into something useful.

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Let's be honest for a minute. No city in the US needs a 80,000 seat Track and Field stadium. None of them.

I'm surprised at the suggestions such a stadium could be used for soccer. MLS teams draw a fraction of that, and the seats are too far from the pitch in a T&F design.

The best you can hope for is that an Olympic stadium could be build in such a way that you don't have to throw away too much of it, and you don't have to spent vast fortunes to transform it into something useful.

Right now MLS wants to build a 25k-35k seat stadium in Flushing, Queens. If NYC wanted to bid my idea would be build an olympic stadium on that site and after the games renovate and downsize the stadium to what MLS wants.

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I wonder how much you actually "save" by downsizing a 80k T&F stadium into a 25k soccer stadium, and how many compromises you have to make for each. I know the IOC lovers the ideas of sustainability, etc. But at what point are you better off building a temporary stadium for the Olympics, and building a dedicated stadium designed for soccer from the group up, rather than trying to make one building serve both?

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I wonder how much you actually "save" by downsizing a 80k T&F stadium into a 25k soccer stadium, and how many compromises you have to make for each. I know the IOC lovers the ideas of sustainability, etc. But at what point are you better off building a temporary stadium for the Olympics, and building a dedicated stadium designed for soccer from the group up, rather than trying to make one building serve both?

It's also a matter of timing. If MLS wants a 2nd team in the New York area, they're not going to wait for an Olympic bid to decide on their plans for that. For all the faults of the NYC 2012 bid, at least it came at a time where the Jets and Giants were both looking for a new stadium. Even when that failed, you still had the Mets in need of a new stadium. Plus since 2005, we've seen the construction of 2 new baseball stadiums (even though they probably wouldn't have been too useful for an Olympics), Red Bull Arena, the Prudential Center, the Barclays Center, not to mention an extensive renovation to Madison Square Garden. And all of this occurred anyway without New York even getting the Olympics.

The ideal plan for almost any city would be to build the stadium and then re-configure it for NFL. It's a shame that wasn't going to be an option in Chicago because I think a remodeled Soldier Field would have made for a great Olympic Stadium. Sadly, it was not to be. That's why the Dallas plan intrigues me a lot. Pretend for a sec that it doesn't matter that it's Dallas and their odds of competing with the big boys are slim at best. The fact there's another full scale football stadium in town means they don't have to be overly concerned what happens at the Cotton Bowl. So maybe that would be an opportunity to finally have a large scale stadium in the United States capable of hosting major track & field events. Sure, you're sacrificing sightlines and fan-friendliness for football, but somehow I doubt fans would stop coming for the annual Texas-Oklahoma game.

I've said plenty of times before I'm not a fan of temporary stadiums. As much as some folks hate that Centennial Olympic Stadium only existed in its original form for less than a year, at least it's still a sports venue. I feel like that's still an easier sell than to build something and then downsize it down into a 10,000 seat nothing after the games end

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It's also a matter of timing. If MLS wants a 2nd team in the New York area, they're not going to wait for an Olympic bid to decide on their plans for that. For all the faults of the NYC 2012 bid, at least it came at a time where the Jets and Giants were both looking for a new stadium. Even when that failed, you still had the Mets in need of a new stadium. Plus since 2005, we've seen the construction of 2 new baseball stadiums (even though they probably wouldn't have been too useful for an Olympics), Red Bull Arena, the Prudential Center, the Barclays Center, not to mention an extensive renovation to Madison Square Garden. And all of this occurred anyway without New York even getting the Olympics.

The ideal plan for almost any city would be to build the stadium and then re-configure it for NFL. It's a shame that wasn't going to be an option in Chicago because I think a remodeled Soldier Field would have made for a great Olympic Stadium. Sadly, it was not to be. That's why the Dallas plan intrigues me a lot. Pretend for a sec that it doesn't matter that it's Dallas and their odds of competing with the big boys are slim at best. The fact there's another full scale football stadium in town means they don't have to be overly concerned what happens at the Cotton Bowl. So maybe that would be an opportunity to finally have a large scale stadium in the United States capable of hosting major track & field events. Sure, you're sacrificing sightlines and fan-friendliness for football, but somehow I doubt fans would stop coming for the annual Texas-Oklahoma game.

I've said plenty of times before I'm not a fan of temporary stadiums. As much as some folks hate that Centennial Olympic Stadium only existed in its original form for less than a year, at least it's still a sports venue. I feel like that's still an easier sell than to build something and then downsize it down into a 10,000 seat nothing after the games end

The Texas-Oklahoma series at the Cotton Bowl expires after the 2015 season. At that time, it could either move to Cowboys Stadium or become a home and home series (Austin and Norman) so that would not be a concern in 2024.

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Who wants to go to Texas? :blink: I mean even the USOC has never held ANY of their meetings in Texas in its 90 or so years' existence...let alone the IOC. It's really such foolish talk.

And how many meetings had they held in Georgia before 1990? Or really before 1986 or so if we're talking the same timeline here.

I know Dallas is a longshot, but who else should we talk about? I mean, should we shut this thread down just because Durban and Paris are lurking in the shadows? For all the time we've wasted acknowledging the T-word (I won't even say the city's name, they don't deserve it), there are more foolish options out there than Dallas.

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And how many meetings had they held in Georgia before 1990? Or really before 1986 or so if we're talking the same timeline here.

I know Dallas is a longshot, but who else should we talk about? I mean, should we shut this thread down just because Durban and Paris are lurking in the shadows? For all the time we've wasted acknowledging the T-word (I won't even say the city's name, they don't deserve it), there are more foolish options out there than Dallas.

We could go back to MSP...............

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We could go back to MSP...............

I'd take a longer look at Dallas before Minneapolis. Part of the problem with Minneapolis is that they're about to spend a good deal of time and money building a replacement for the Metrodome. Pretty sure that stadium will be incompatible with track & field. If they could turn that part of downtown into their Olympic park, I'd take them a little more seriously. Probably not much they can do with TCF Bank Stadium either, so I don't know what they'd do for a main stadium. So not sure how'd they be able to present a viable plan.

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I'd take a longer look at Dallas before Minneapolis. Part of the problem with Minneapolis is that they're about to spend a good deal of time and money building a replacement for the Metrodome. Pretty sure that stadium will be incompatible with track & field. If they could turn that part of downtown into their Olympic park, I'd take them a little more seriously. Probably not much they can do with TCF Bank Stadium either, so I don't know what they'd do for a main stadium. So not sure how'd they be able to present a viable plan.

lol. I was joking........

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Well, Georgia has never been a major, top 3 state like Texas. I mean Georgia, ex-penal colony, actually set the stage for that other penal colony, Australia, to host the 2000 SOGs.

Actually, that's a historical mis-conception (although I do love the effort in trying to make that connection with Australia). Georgia was intended as a penal colony, but most of the convicts they planned on sending there wound up in Virginia and Maryland instead.

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I'd take a longer look at Dallas before Minneapolis. Part of the problem with Minneapolis is that they're about to spend a good deal of time and money building a replacement for the Metrodome. Pretty sure that stadium will be incompatible with track & field. If they could turn that part of downtown into their Olympic park, I'd take them a little more seriously. Probably not much they can do with TCF Bank Stadium either, so I don't know what they'd do for a main stadium. So not sure how'd they be able to present a viable plan.

They would use the Olympic Stadium in all likelyhood to try to lure an MLS team to the area post Olympics.

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