USA 2024

[Athensfan]

Believe it or not, not only do you not get to tell people what they can't talk about, you don't get to tell them what they must talk about.

I simply invited a response and an explanation. I didn't demand one. You're free to decline.

[Athensfan]

None of their followers have quite the condescending "our way or the hellway" attitude that Christians and Jesus Christ have.

I'm sorry to hear that's been your experience.

Incidentally, I think you'll find several million Muslims who feel quite ardently that it is "their way or the hellway" -- to use your turn of phrase.

There are also those who say that anyone who refuses to accept all religions as equally truthful is a small-minded, petty human being. That's its own version of "my way or the hellway."

A little respect for others and a pinch of common courtesy never hurt anyone and it has always made co-existence much more pleasant. That's all I'm asking for.

[PotatoChips]

Many people are posting cities that they think should host the games, most people that post something along those lines aren't getting the response they think they should get. Although Vegas, Tulsa, Cincinnati, and Louisville may be nice cities they are not in the same category of Paris, London, Tokyo, Rio, and Sydney. There is one American city that is with those cities and a few that could be up for debate. Bottom line is just because a city has a few hundred thousand people, a few sports venues, and looks beautiful in the summer, does not mean it qualifies to host the olympics.

[Athensfan]

We usually come back to the same 4:

Chicago

LA

NYC

San Francisco

With the same back-ups:

Philadelphia

Dallas

I totally understand the appeal of thinking outside the box and pipe dreaming, but the reality is that it's pretty unlikely any other city could land the Summer Games.

[wbyeager]

1.) It lacks the reputation of a world-class city and internationally desirable travel destination. It is not on a par with London, Tokyo, Rio, Beijing, Sydney, Athens. Therefore, even if Louisville were able to assemble all the necessary technical components, the IOC would not elect them host. I drove through Louisville years ago and that's my sole experience of the city, so I certainly can't call myself an expert, but my impression was that it was not even close to being on a par with the world's great metropolises.

I'll give you that we're not on the same plane as New York, London, Beijing, etc. - I don't have exact statistics readily available, but I know the Kentucky Derby draws a fair number of international visitors. Louisville will also host the 2013 UCI Cyclocross Elite World Championships.

2.) Host cities need deep pockets and large corporations based locally. To my knowledge, Louisville lacks these.

UPS and General Electric, both existing IOC sponsors, have rather large installations in Louisville (interesting trivia: Louisville moved to the Eastern Time Zone to land GE). Humana (Fortune 100), Kindred Healthcare (Fortune 500), Yum! Brands (Fortune 500), PharMerica (Fortune 1000), and Brown-Forman (Fortune 1000) are all based in Louisville. Yum! may be a non-factor if McDonald's remains an IOC sponsor.

3.) Host cities require extensive infrastructure, large numbers of world-class venues (and use for them, post-Games) as well as large numbers of hotel rooms. To my knowledge, Louisville lacks these as well.

Because of the University of Louisville and the Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville would only need to build a handful of venues: an Athletics Stadium (which I currently have in the western parking lot of the KEC), two temporary arenas (which I have for Handball and Indoor Volleyball), and a velodrome. Louisville doesn't have a large lake nearby, so while I tentatively have rowing and sailing shipped out to Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, I have an alternate site in Southern Indiana immediately across the Ohio River from Louisville that could serve as a rowing venue. Louisville already hosts a number of BMX competitions and an Ironman Triathlon, so we are covered there. I would expand the University of Louisville's Natatorium, so there would be a definite legacy use there. The AVP has previously held an event at Waterfront Park, which is why I chose that as the site for Beach Volleyball.

Mass transit would also need serious improvement-there are rail lines running near many of the proposed venues, but those typically carry freight-divert that traffic, and Louisville in theory, could have an amazing passenger rail system connecting the many of the venues and the airport (across the street from the Kentucky Exposition Center) to Downtown and the East End.

The most expensive undertaking for Louisville would likely be the Athletes' Village, followed by the International Broadcast Center-both would dramatically increase the supply of residential and commercial real estate, although it certainly would make it easier to lure another large corporation (or two) to town.

The hotel rooms would be a serious weakness, as there would only be about 15,000 within 10 km of the Athletes' Vilalge.

4.) Louisville has no NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS or NHL teams. The fact that Louisville is not home to a single major league sports team is evidence that Louisville is not a major sports market and lacks the venues, corporate backing, physical venues and spectator base to host an event like the Olympic Games. It also shows that even if Louisville were able to land the Games, VAST amounts of construction would be required and there would be no use for the venues after the Games.

Yes, we currently do not have one of the "Big Five" sports teams, although we now have a two-year old NBA-caliber arena that is home to the University of Louisville's basketball teams. One of the biggest headaches from the games might be where to park the Cincinnati Reds AAA affiliate, the Louisville Bats, during the roughly 3 weeks that Slugger Field would be unavailable before and during the Olympics. Lexington, Bowling Green, and Indianapolis already have minor league baseball teams of their own.

[PyroKinesis]

There are also those who say that anyone who refuses to accept all religions as equally truthful is a small-minded, petty human being. That's its own version of "my way or the hellway."

What truth is there? So there was a guy named Jesus Christ. So there was a guy named Budda. So there was a guy named Mohhammed. That's about as far as these truths go.

[PotatoChips]

I'll give you that we're not on the same plane as New York, London, Beijing, etc. - I don't have exact statistics readily available, but I know the Kentucky Derby draws a fair number of international visitors. Louisville will also host the 2013 UCI Cyclocross Elite World Championships.

UPS and General Electric, both existing IOC sponsors, have rather large installations in Louisville (interesting trivia: Louisville moved to the Eastern Time Zone to land GE). Humana (Fortune 100), Kindred Healthcare (Fortune 500), Yum! Brands (Fortune 500), PharMerica (Fortune 1000), and Brown-Forman (Fortune 1000) are all based in Louisville. Yum! may be a non-factor if McDonald's remains an IOC sponsor.

Because of the University of Louisville and the Kentucky Exposition Center, Louisville would only need to build a handful of venues: an Athletics Stadium (which I currently have in the western parking lot of the KEC), two temporary arenas (which I have for Handball and Indoor Volleyball), and a velodrome. Louisville doesn't have a large lake nearby, so while I tentatively have rowing and sailing shipped out to Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley, I have an alternate site in Southern Indiana immediately across the Ohio River from Louisville that could serve as a rowing venue. Louisville already hosts a number of BMX competitions and an Ironman Triathlon, so we are covered there. I would expand the University of Louisville's Natatorium, so there would be a definite legacy use there. The AVP has previously held an event at Waterfront Park, which is why I chose that as the site for Beach Volleyball.

Mass transit would also need serious improvement-there are rail lines running near many of the proposed venues, but those typically carry freight-divert that traffic, and Louisville in theory, could have an amazing passenger rail system connecting the many of the venues and the airport (across the street from the Kentucky Exposition Center) to Downtown and the East End.

The most expensive undertaking for Louisville would likely be the Athletes' Village, followed by the International Broadcast Center-both would dramatically increase the supply of residential and commercial real estate, although it certainly would make it easier to lure another large corporation (or two) to town.

The hotel rooms would be a serious weakness, as there would only be about 15,000 within 10 km of the Athletes' Vilalge.

Yes, we currently do not have one of the "Big Five" sports teams, although we now have a two-year old NBA-caliber arena that is home to the University of Louisville's basketball teams. One of the biggest headaches from the games might be where to park the Cincinnati Reds AAA affiliate, the Louisville Bats, during the roughly 3 weeks that Slugger Field would be unavailable before and during the Olympics. Lexington, Bowling Green, and Indianapolis already have minor league baseball teams of their own.

The 3 questions I want you to answer are these;

1. Why Louisville over NYC, LA, SanFran, or Chicago?

2. Why Louisville over Paris, Tokyo, Durban, or Melbourne?

3. Could Louisville actually host the olympics?

[Athensfan]

wbyeager, I think there are many cities in the US that could eventually elevate themselves to the point where they have the technical capacity to host the Games. Perhaps Louisville could someday make that list.

However, we can't forget that this is a competition. It's not just a question of whether a city can find any kind of workable plan (and I seriously doubt Louisville can) -- it's a question of whether that plan can compete and win on an international stage. The real issue is whether or not a city is electable by the IOC. Without that glamorous, internationally appealing "x factor", the technical considerations are irrelevant.

Lack of any major league sports teams is a HUGELY significant piece of information. It means no one in pro-sports currently believes that Louisville is worth the investment. If that's the case with pro-sports, how can Louisville hope to attract the IOC? Until Louisville lands a minimum of 2 pro sports teams, it can't demonstrate enough muscle to warrant consideration. There are too many other American cities that are too far ahead.

What truth is there? So there was a guy named Jesus Christ. So there was a guy named Budda. So there was a guy named Mohhammed. That's about as far as these truths go.

In your opinion. Which is fine. It's also fine for others to disagree and to ask you to politely co-exist with them.

[PyroKinesis]

For the record, I do believe there was a Jesus Christ, which is why I celebrate Christmas, but not everything written about him is true, which is why I don't pray, never go to church, and don't follow the rules of this religion. See, that's all religion is. A bunch of nonsense rules designed to make your life miserable. Then when things go good you pray and thank god and peanut butter christ and who knows who else and so on and so forth until you die a miserable prick.

[PotatoChips]

Could everyone stop arguing over religion on this thread...................SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!

[PyroKinesis]

Could everyone stop arguing over religion on this thread...................SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!

Why? Religion has just as much merit in this discussion as politics.

[PotatoChips]

Why? Religion has just as much merit in this discussion as politics.

These are your words

"For the record, I do believe there was a Jesus Christ, which is why I celebrate Christmas, but not everything written about him is true, which is why I don't pray, never go to church, and don't follow the rules of this religion. See, that's all religion is. A bunch of nonsense rules designed to make your life miserable. Then when things go good you pray and thank god and peanut butter christ and who knows who else and so on and so forth until you die a miserable prick."

What exactly does that have to do with the 2024 olympics?

[PyroKinesis]

These are your words

"For the record, I do believe there was a Jesus Christ, which is why I celebrate Christmas, but not everything written about him is true, which is why I don't pray, never go to church, and don't follow the rules of this religion. See, that's all religion is. A bunch of nonsense rules designed to make your life miserable. Then when things go good you pray and thank god and peanut butter christ and who knows who else and so on and so forth until you die a miserable prick."

What exactly does that have to do with the 2024 olympics?

This is allegedly a Christian country. Religion always takes place during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Prayers. Blowjobs. ETC.

[Sir Rols]

Okay, here's an idea for Louisville. Mention it to me, and the first thing I think of is horses (just before Bourbon). There's the Kentucky Derby, and didn't it host the World Equestrian Championships recently?

Well, make a virtue of the horse connection. Offer up to any keen and likely east coast US SOG bidder coming up the opportunity to use Louisville for equestrian. The IOC's not THAT stuck on having everything in one Olympic Park. It's given Beijing the nod to put equestrian in Hong Kong. For an iconic location, it's given the likes of Athens the nod to have shot put in Olympia. It's always gotta accommodate sailing and football. And Louisville could be iconic enough to be a good positive selling point to the horsey set. And it's not too far out of the range of the usual suspects line-up of potential East Coast bidders.

Other than that - try to get and host lots of international individual sports championships, slowly build up some profile and sporting infrastructure. Hope your city booms in coming decades, and wait for your opportune time.

As to religion. We discuss it here in various threads now and then. It's fair to say there's a big diversity of beliefs here. If we let it get in the way of discussion here, we'd never talk about anything. No-one likes proselytising here, but we also try and avoid humanist inquisitions.

[PotatoChips]

This is allegedly a Christian country. Religion always takes place during the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Prayers. Blowjobs. ETC.

What are the prayers said?

[Athensfan]

Thanks, Rols.

Using Louisville for Equestrian events only is an interesting idea and -- as you've mentioned -- not without precedent.

As for religion -- I don't see these boards as the place for it. However, I do think politeness towards all is in order.

[PyroKinesis]

However, I do think politeness towards all is in order.

Nothing I've said is impolite. You just got your panties in a bunch because I said christ on a stick.

[wbyeager]

Actually, the Kentucky Horse Park, which hosted the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games, is in Lexington, about 70 miles east of downtown Louisville - although there's no doubt Churchill Downs and/or Freedom Hall (which has designed to host the Kentucky State Fair World Championship Horse Show) could host it. The only downside is that if the Olympics winds up on the East Coast, Equestrian would just as likely be at Preakness in Baltimore, Maryland or Belmont in Elmont, New York. Chicago might be the best bet for Louisville or Lexington should Equestrian be outsourced.

I'm not sure what Cincinnati had proposed using as a venue for 2012-Lexington and Louisville are each about the same distance from Cincinnati, and there may be some options locally as well.

[PotatoChips]

Nothing I've said is impolite. You just got your panties in a bunch because I said christ on a stick.

"See, that's all religion is. A bunch of nonsense rules designed to make your life miserable. Then when things go good you pray and thank god and peanut butter christ and who knows who else and so on and so forth until you die a miserable prick."

This is impolite.

[PyroKinesis]

No, it's the hard truth.

[PotatoChips]

No, it's the hard truth.

Save that for another website. In case you didn't realize this is called gamesbid.com. Not share your views on religion.

[PyroKinesis]

Save that for another website. In case you didn't realize this is called gamesbid.com. Not share your views on religion.

Please be quiet. You give me a headache.

[Athensfan]

No, it's the hard truth.

In your opinion. Can we move on?

[PyroKinesis]

In your opinion. Can we move on?

Gladly. Just as soon as the condescending attitude around here stops. The mere suggestion of any city that isn't "major" gets frowned upon.

[wbyeager]

What exactly does that have to do with the 2024 olympics?

Changing an arena into a church/temple/mosque/synagogue would not be completely without precedent (Lakewood Church in Houston uses the former home of the NBA's Houston Rockets), although in the context of the Olympics, it would likely be a novel approach to finding a post-Games use for a venue.

In the case of Louisville, perhaps if Southeast Christian Church moves from its main campus, that would free up the 9,000 seat sanctuary to be converted into a 6,000 seat arena (possibly more if the video screen behind the platform is removed). I doubt though Southeast would move in the next 12 years given it now has built 3 satellite campuses (I should disclose that I am a member). If Southeast ever does move, it would probably be to split into 2-3 smaller facilities simply because there isn't enough vacant land left in Louisville to build something similar to the church's current facilities on Blankenbaker Parkway. Evangel World Prayer Center, St. Stephen Church, and Northeast Christian Church would probably also at least take a look at new facilities by 2024, even if it's just for a satellite campus.