Washington DC 2024

[LatinXTC]

This venue plan is car-centric. The city itself has a pretty nice metro system, but it will be pointless with a venue plan this sh**ty.

Just for those unfamiliar with DC's metro here is a map I found on Transit Maps (Tumblr)

Ah yes I get what y'all mean. Reminds me of the Toronto venue plan for the Pan American games. They have a good subway system, but there's only like 4 routes and including the opening ceremony stadium, only 4 venues are accessible using the subway alone. Everything else will rely on streetcars and buses, which can prove to be a nightmare with the rest of the the Toronto traffic. And the venues are pretty spread out.

[woohooitsme83]

Here's a map of the DC Metro, surrounding commuter rail (probably doesn't include a lot seeing how some of the system maps were a pain to crop out), and the proposed venue possibilities. Probably not very accurate, but it's a rough representation.

Feel free to suggest anything that I didn't add (I know I didn't add Maryland's system)

[BTHarner]

I look at that map and my mind flashes back to my last day in Atlanta back in 1996. It went like this..

2 hour drive from the hotel ACOG booked me in Greenville, SC to the park and ride in Norcross.

30 minute bus ride from park and ride in Norcross to drop off near the Georgia Dome.

45 minute ride on MARTA train from Five Points Station to Indian Creek Station.

45 minute bus ride from Indian Creek Station to Georgia International Horse Park.

Other than making sure I stay a lot closer to the city, the rest of the itinerary to attend equestrian over in Virginia might entail a similar sort of plan.

As I stated earlier Washington is not bereft of perfectly adequate venues within DC. A few sports could be held outside the district, but certainly not marquee sports such as swimming or gymnastics. But I get the feeling the success of this bid hangs on factors other than any venue plan and I am not optimistic.

[mr.bernham]

Feel free to suggest anything that I didn't add (I know I didn't add Maryland's system)

Did you add in the silver-line? If so I can not see it much, but other then that the map gives an accurate idea of just how bad this venue plan is. Good job! BTW what software do you use?

[mr.bernham]

I look at that map and my mind flashes back to my last day in Atlanta back in 1996. It went like this..

2 hour drive from the hotel ACOG booked me in Greenville, SC to the park and ride in Norcross.

30 minute bus ride from park and ride in Norcross to drop off near the Georgia Dome.

45 minute ride on MARTA train from Five Points Station to Indian Creek Station.

45 minute bus ride from Indian Creek Station to Georgia International Horse Park.

Other than making sure I stay a lot closer to the city, the rest of the itinerary to attend equestrian over in Virginia might entail a similar sort of plan.

As I stated earlier Washington is not bereft of perfectly adequate venues within DC. A few sports could be held outside the district, but certainly not marquee sports such as swimming or gymnastics. But I get the feeling the success of this bid hangs on factors other than any venue plan and I am not optimistic.

Despite the lack of quality venues within the city they could still have a lot more venues (even if they would be temporary) by the main stadium. Their 2012 plan did.

[woohooitsme83]

Did you add in the silver-line? If so I can not see it much, but other then that the map gives an accurate idea of just how bad this venue plan is. Good job! BTW what software do you use?

Ack. Sorry, I must have accidentally cut it off. I use Photoshop. ^.^

[mr.bernham]

Ack. Sorry, I must have accidentally cut it off. I use Photoshop. ^.^

Okay, looks better. The distance is not too bad, just the big events are too far out.

[zekekelso]

If the US gets 2024, why don't they give the three losers from the domestic race a soccer venue. That way everyone wins

Boston, Washington and SF all have their NFL stadium out in boonyville with poor tranporation links. None would be a great option for Olympic football

[aquaman617]

Boston, Washington and SF all have their NFL stadium out in boonyville with poor tranporation links. None would be a great option for Olympic football

Can't speak for the other cities, but there is a rail line to Gillette that runs on game days. World Cup matches were played in Foxboro. I don't see why it would be insufficient for early round Olympic matches.

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\ Am not defending the new location of the 49ers stadium, but it's at the confluence of 3 freeways -- and they could probably run shuttle buses from a BART station or say, downtown San Jose of some giant shopping mall.

[Quaker2001]

Can't speak for the other cities, but there is a rail line to Gillette that runs on game days. World Cup matches were played in Foxboro. I don't see why it would be insufficient for early round Olympic matches.

1994 World Cup matches were played in New York East Rutherford, Boston Foxborough, San Francisco Stanford, Detroit Pontiac, and Los Angeles Pasadena which hosted the final. Who knows what would happen for these potential Olympic bidders, but especially if it's LA or San Fran, no need to go that far outside of California. Ditto for Boston or DC to go far outside the Northeast Corridor.

Why Los Angeles 1984 used venues in the Boston area and in Annapolis (which is a solid 45 minutes outside DC, a lot more if using public transportation) is a mystery to me. No reason why they would need to repeat that instead of doing something a little more regional like Atlanta did in 1996.

[Nacre]

Can't speak for the other cities, but there is a rail line to Gillette that runs on game days. World Cup matches were played in Foxboro. I don't see why it would be insufficient for early round Olympic matches.

Yes, and it sucked for foreign fans. A study showed that over 95% of fans at Foxboro use cars to get to the stadium. The rail line is low capacity and basically a fig leaf to say that you can use mass transit to get to the games.

However I think the Olympics are more defensible for a suburban stadium than the World Cup. For the World Cup 55% of tickets go to foreign fans. For the Olympics it's far less than half of that. If 10% of fans for an Olympic football match are sold to foreign fans, then Foxboro's transportation links should be able to handle it.

For the record I think Seattle, New Orleans and Indianapolis would be great choices for football if the USA hosts the World Cup again. There's a reason people loved the Indianapolis Super Bowl. All have great downtown stadiums with a bar scene within walking distance. Indy's airport is small, but I suppose people could connect in the USA instead of flying direct from Europe or Asia. Once Minneapolis gets their new stadium it would be a great choice too.

[paul]

/\/\ Am not defending the new location of the 49ers stadium, but it's at the confluence of 3 freeways -- and they could probably run shuttle buses from a BART station or say, downtown San Jose of some giant shopping mall.

dont forget caltrain

caltrain - mountain view vta - levis

Caltrain provides extra service for major events, including 49ers games. To get to the stadium, transfer to VTA ight rail at the Mountain View Transit Center.

[baron-pierreIV]

For the record I think Seattle, New Orleans and Indianapolis would be great choices for football if the USA hosts the World Cup again. There's a reason people loved the Indianapolis Super Bowl. All have great downtown stadiums with a bar scene within walking distance. Indy's airport is small, but I suppose people could connect in the USA instead of flying direct from Europe or Asia. Once Minneapolis gets their new stadium it would be a great choice too.

For Atlanta, and because they were competing with the WC 1994 sites, ACOG put out an RFP for bids for the football satellite cities; and I imagine they picked the 4/5 best. @Quaker, the DC site for both 1984 and 1996 is that because both OCOGs had offices in DC; and so they felt it important to put a venue there, so they could give comps to all the gov't agencies working for LAOOC and ACOG; and it was nice to have the diplomatic community something to fuss about.

[mr.bernham]

New DC Video - Together

I think it is a nice little thing, hopefully whoever the candidate is can do a better job than Chicago and New York at making their bid a more national bid. I felt like those bids were more concerned with getting support from the business community then getting support from not only the city, but the whole nation.

[mr.bernham]

For the record I think Seattle, New Orleans and Indianapolis would be great choices for football if the USA hosts the World Cup again. There's a reason people loved the Indianapolis Super Bowl. All have great downtown stadiums with a bar scene within walking distance. Indy's airport is small, but I suppose people could connect in the USA instead of flying direct from Europe or Asia. Once Minneapolis gets their new stadium it would be a great choice too.

The site around the Superdome in New Orleans is total sh*t. It is one of the more dangerous parts of town and most people are in and out. The stadium itself is on the edge of the CBD and somewhat close to the French Quarter, but I would not want to walk their at all. Though it is worth noting that the cities train station is down there. As for the airport, NOLA has quite a big one with direct connections to Europe, Oz, and Asia not to mention the city itself could handle Olympic or World Cup sized crowds. I mean the city shuts itself down for like two months a year during the Mardi-Gras season.

Keep in mind though that New Orleans really is sh*t and while it would be cool to have an Olympic event or a World Cup event there I can not help but feel that many visitors would be appalled at how run down the city is. Downtown NOLA has rebuilt itself very well, but the areas outside and by the airport are horrible. Then again those were the areas hit hardest by Katrina so not many people want to live or rebuild there. Hosting any event for the Olympics or World Cup would require significant public and private investment in infrastructure, urban renewal, and transportation. This is something I can't see happening given the state already has a budget deficit, is completely controlled by Republicans, and the population views New Orleans as a very disconnected city. New Orleans is just not what it used to be and now the economic, political, educational, research, and in some ways cultural center of the state is shifting to the Baton Rouge Capital Region. But hey, why not let New Orleans go out with a big party? It's still a damn good party town!

[dchang11]

Here's a map of the DC Metro, surrounding commuter rail (probably doesn't include a lot seeing how some of the system maps were a pain to crop out), and the proposed venue possibilities. Probably not very accurate, but it's a rough representation.

Feel free to suggest anything that I didn't add (I know I didn't add Maryland's system)

You forgot the campuses of the University of Maryland, American University, and George Mason University. American has a 4,500 seat arena that can host an small event or two. Maryland has five large sports venues (basketball arena could host basketball prelims) but some require temporary expansion of seating such as the baseball and soccer stadium. George Mason has a 10,000 seat arena. These campuses are Metro accessible.

[dchang11]

Washington DC is a great city. However, most people do not know is the local government is plagued with corruption. The Metro is efficient, but the infrastructure is horrible. The stations are a cold, colorless underground bunkers. Since the venues are spread out, improving public transportation is vital in order for DC to be successful in this bid. That's not going to be a reality unless the city corruption is eradicated.

[mr.bernham]

Washington DC is a great city. However, most people do not know is the local government is plagued with corruption. The Metro is efficient, but the infrastructure is horrible. The stations are a cold, colorless underground bunkers. Since the venues are spread out, improving public transportation is vital in order for DC to be successful in this bid. That's not going to be a reality unless the city corruption is eradicated.

Chicago was our bid city six years ago and have you looked at the IOC? Nobody in the Olympic world cares about corruption.

[zekekelso]

The site around the Superdome in New Orleans is total sh*t. It is one of the more dangerous parts of town

Actually, the area around the Superdome is fine. People walk there all the time for big events (Sugarbowl, occational Superbowl, etc.)

Meanwhile, the airport is "international" in that it has exactly one schedule filght to Canada, and one to Mexico. None outside of North America.

[mr.bernham]

Actually, the area around the Superdome is fine. People walk there all the time for big events (Sugarbowl, occational Superbowl, etc.)

Meanwhile, the airport is "international" in that it has exactly one schedule filght to Canada, and one to Mexico. None outside of North America.

Well given I live in Louisiana I can assure you that the Superdome area is horrible. Larger events are better because there is security and live sites, but on any normal day it is bad. The aesthetics for the area also could use some work if we were to host an Olympic event.

The airport still has multiple connections to LA, SF, Boston, and DC and lat year the mayor announced an expansion that will introduce more international connections by 2018, here is the article: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/01/design_of_louis_armstrong_airp.html

[Anthony]

Yeah, okay. That's nice. Why isn't it Olympic sized (60,000+) and then have a plan to make it smaller for the future? I don't get the logic sometimes. If a team wants a stadium and the DC Oly Com needs a T&F stadium, why don't they work together? I don't get that vibe from this video even though I found it on the DC 2024 FB page.

[mr.bernham]

Yeah, okay. That's nice. Why isn't it Olympic sized (60,000+) and then have a plan to make it smaller for the future? I don't get the logic sometimes. If a team wants a stadium and the DC Oly Com needs a T&F stadium, why don't they work together? I don't get that vibe from this video even though I found it on the DC 2024 FB page.

Ugh...well bye DC, it was nice while it lasted.

[Anthony]

Ugh...well bye DC, it was nice while it lasted.

A part of the video said it wasn't a stadium announcement and it was on the DC2024 FB page so maaaaaybe, something could come out of this. It's a stretch though.

[Quaker2001]

Yeah, okay. That's nice. Why isn't it Olympic sized (60,000+) and then have a plan to make it smaller for the future? I don't get the logic sometimes. If a team wants a stadium and the DC Oly Com needs a T&F stadium, why don't they work together? I don't get that vibe from this video even though I found it on the DC 2024 FB page.

A part of the video said it wasn't a stadium announcement and it was on the DC2024 FB page so maaaaaybe, something could come out of this. It's a stretch though.

Sometimes their interests don't necessarily align with each other. Easy for us to talk about that from afar. Is this the team's stadium or does it belong to the city? Does it help or hurt DC United's cause for this to be the Olympic Stadium? A soccer stadium for DC United is something that will be useful to them now and for a long time to come. A 60,000 seat T&F field (probably needs to be a lot bigger than that) MIGHT be useful one time about 10 years from now. Tough to make that justification. Now considering this seems like there's a preliminary plan, maybe there's something to it. And maybe if DC gets selected, there's some legs to it. But still, the vote for 2024 is still nearly 3 years ago, so does DC United want to wait that long for this to play out. They may not want to.