IOC President Bach Open To Bids From Cities Where Venues Are Separated By Thousands of Miles

[GBModerator]

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach said the organization is now willing to consider bids from cities where the venues may be separated by thousands of miles or even international borders. In an effort to reduce costs and increase the number of potential cities that could host the Winter Games, Bach said the IOC […]

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[baron-pierreIV]

Indoor ice events in Abuja or Doha; slope events in North Korea or the Andes???

[JO2024]

Well, maybe in a couple of decades, with that kind of decisions, the Olympic Games won't be awarded to a city but rather a country, just like the World Cup. Many cities would be able to host events. Though I'm really not sure what to think of this idea....

[baron-pierreIV]

Well, maybe in a couple of decades, with that kind of decisions, the Olympic Games won't be awarded to a city but rather a country, just like the World Cup. Many cities would be able to host events. Though I'm really not sure what to think of this idea....

Well, if they scale it down to 17 events (& rotate some), some medium-to-large-sized cities can host it, without breaking the bank. THe Winters will always be problematic because of the need for slopes.

[WarpedReality]

Boston + Killington, VT anyone?

[Quaker2001]

Boston + Killington, VT anyone?

After the fiasco they just had, no chance Boston touches the Olympics for a long time to come, not even the Winter.

If they're going to relax the rules on distances (and I'll believe it when I see it because some of those rules are of the unwritten variety), then advantage Denver. Let them use the sliding venue in Park City and/or any of their mountain venues, plus they have several of their own. And they have a good amount of the indoor venues they need in place. I know you're going to tell me they have hurdles to climb - no $**** they do, just like everyone else - but if distances are de-emphasized, that gives them a better chance of making it work.

[munichfan]

Stockholm anyone? They might relocate more sports to Are or even Östersund for possible future bids. Talks with Sweden might actually be the reason for this statement.

[TorchbearerSydney]

Makes sense for bobsleigh/luge/skeleton....Beijing for example could hold it in Pyeonchang, it is only 1.5hrs away by plane...I know it won't!

[zekekelso]

The man really wants lots of bids doesn't he?

The question isn't whether the IOC is open to bids with far separated venues. Are they open to actually selecting such a bid?

PS - Boston to Killington is a traffic nightmare.

[LatinXTC]

Makes sense for bobsleigh/luge/skeleton....Beijing for example could hold it in Pyeonchang, it is only 1.5hrs away by plane...I know it won't!

OR Beijing can scrap their Zhanjiakou and Yanping (I know those are spelled wrong) clusters and have those events moved to Harbin area, since they actually have ski resorts already existing there. And they have natural snow there as well.

And I don't have a problem believing that he and the IOC are ok with a very spread-out bid plan, but that's not the same as actually voting for that bid to be the winning one. There will always be a bid with a better and more reasonably distant venue plan than something outrageous like a Quebec City/Lake Placid/Calgary/Whistler plan.

But I agree this benefits Denver greatly, considering the distance between Denver and Vail is not as convenient as past winning bids. But I also think this is great for another French WOG bid. A Lyon bid would surely be more favorable than another failed Annecy bid.

[Lord David]

Quebec is a little non issue now. Le Massif only needs a mere 30 or so meters to meet the 800 vertical, then it's a matter of re-configuring the piste. Unless Quebec really wants to save costs and have Men's Downhill, the Ski Jumps and the Sliding track all in one region and team up with Lake Placid... but I doubt that would happen. Quebec would indeed go ahead and build these venues and see what happens, even if they fail to make a lasting legacy and need to be closed down.

[StefanMUC]

I'm sure this is a nod to the likes of Stockholm or Helsinki in an attempt to get Europe back on board for the WOG.

But still, accepting such bids doesn't mean selecting them if they are faced with a "classic" bid as competition.

[zekekelso]

No David, you cannot reconfigure the trail and get 30m of vertical. Math doesn't work that way. You are never going to get 800m of quality skiing from a "mountain" that tops out 800m above the river.

Quebec could get the IOC to abandon the 800m requirement, but you've still got the question of why you are building sledding tracks and whatnot, when you've got perfectly good options (and much better skiing) in Calgary and Vancouver

[Quaker2001]

No David, you cannot reconfigure the trail and get 30m of vertical. Math doesn't work that way. You are never going to get 800m of quality skiing from a "mountain" that tops out 800m above the river.

Quebec could get the IOC to abandon the 800m requirement, but you've still got the question of why you are building sledding tracks and whatnot, when you've got perfectly good options (and much better skiing) in Calgary and Vancouver

This. Too many times here, the thinking is "how could we make city X work for the Olympics?" Usually this is done by bending the rules (albeit ones that maybe should be bent a little) or by thinking a little too far outside the box and disconnecting with reality.

It's one thing for Sweden to bid Stockholm and somewhat out of necessity propose to use Are. Ditto with Krakow adding Jasna, even though that's a stretch. But if Quebec isn't destined to happen in a country that already has Calgary and Vancouver, then so be it.

[ofan]

Quebec City is a non-starter. End of story.

[Ikarus360]

This is good news for Stockholm/Are for 2026. Also i guess it was made in a way to justify picking Beijing for 2022. I'm still not fan of this idea, though.

[WarpedReality]

So does this mean that there will be no more Winter Olympics in the eastern half of North Americar?

[LatinXTC]

So does this mean that there will be no more Winter Olympics in the eastern half of North Americar?

Well this isn't saying another one will or won't happen, it just means that WO bids that involve the outdoor events being held at a great distance from the indoor events will be accepted. It's up to the IOC voters to determine whether another eastern NA WOG will happen, and I think most of us here believe that the IOC would never give it to a bid like Quebec City/Lake Placid if there are single country bids with less of a distance issue.

[LatinXTC]

Although, if the US/Canada ever get together to do a joint bid of some sort, Canada should tell Quebec City to sod off and get Montreal interested in doing a joint bid with the US's Lake Placid. Sure crossing borders would pose as an issue, but the distance between them is less than 120 miles.

Or perhaps an Albany/Lake Placid bid could happen if the US doesn't want to do anything with Canada. Albany just a few miles further from Lake Placid, but you don't have to go through border patrol.

[Nacre]

The issue with a Quebec or Toronto winter games is not so much the IOC, but Canada. Why would Canada propose a winter games with the skiing in the USA when Calgary could host an all-Canadian games at half the cost?

[FYI]

Or perhaps an Albany/Lake Placid bid could happen if the US doesn't want to do anything with Canada. Albany just a few miles further from Lake Placid, but you don't have to go through border patrol.

I have suggested this in the past, & was virtually always met with "oh, but the distance. The distance!" Especially when a particularly person on this board (which most of us know who that is) was always boasting about another Lake Placid run. But obviously "distance" is not that much of an issue going into future (winter) bids it looks like. As long as the distance is feasible, it would work. And most of us know now that Lake Placid is way too small to host a 21st century Winter Olympics all on its own, & if they ever were to consider it again, they would have to co-host with someone else much bigger. And this is where I would always bring up Albany. It's not that much smaller than Quebec City or Salt Lake City, relatively speaking.

It's also not that much further to Lake Placid from there than from Montreal, & then yeah, you wouldn't have to do a cross-border venue. And then you get another "new" winter host outta the deal, by anchoring it to Albany, with Lake Placid as the outdoor venues. Outta those three options, an Albany/Lake Placid deal makes the most sense all the way around than anything else that can be tied with Lake Placid, especially anything tied with Canada.

[LatinXTC]

I have suggested this in the past, & was virtually always met with "oh, but the distance. The distance!" Especially when a particularly person on this board (which most of us know who that is) was always boasting about another Lake Placid run. But obviously "distance" is not that much of an issue going into future (winter) bids it looks like. As long as the distance is feasible, it would work. And most of us know now that Lake Placid is way too small to host a 21st century Winter Olympics all on its own, & if they ever were to consider it again, they would have to co-host with someone else much bigger. And this is where I would always bring up Albany. It's not that much smaller than Quebec City or Salt Lake City, relatively speaking.

It's also not that much further to Lake Placid from there than from Montreal, & then yeah, you wouldn't have to do a cross-border venue. And then you get another "new" winter host outta the deal, by anchoring it to Albany, with Lake Placid as the outdoor venues. Outta those three options, an Albany/Lake Placid deal makes the most sense all the way around than anything else that can be tied with Lake Placid, especially anything tied with Canada.

Well the distance between Albany and Lake Placid is only 140 miles, that's not terribly far it is reasonable. It's odd that distance isn't an issue people bring up very often in a Denver bid, when venues in Aspen and Steamboat Springs would be about 20 miles farther than the distance between Lake Placid and Albany.

The main issue with an Albany bid that should be discussed is what use the city will get out of an OC venue, new hockey center, new figure skating venue, and/or a new short and long-track speed skating venue.

[zekekelso]

Another big problem with Albany is that it's Albany. No IOC voter is going to want to throw their big party there.

[LatinXTC]

Another big problem with Albany is that it's Albany. No IOC voter is going to want to throw their big party there.

Well it's not barren like Albertville and Lillehammer were, and what Pyeongchang might be, so I highly doubt that would be much of a factor.

Oh and let's not forget the numerous reports from reporters, athletes, visitors, etc. about how little there was to do in Sochi. But this is for the Olympics, there have been stories that the majority of people who even go to the Olympics as a spectator often don't actually go do any of the touristy things in that city.

[baron-pierreIV]

The idea of an Albany-Lake Placid team-up sounds good to me.

Actually, Boston/Killington might get a second view this winter when Boston hosts the 2016 World Figure Skating Championships. I am sure there are a few boosters there who might sell the idea that a WOG makes more sense for Boston than a SOGs.