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Just thought its interesting to look back on how people perceived the future... feel free to post any article you might find interesting!

 

D.C., BALTIMORE MAY SEEK AN OLYMPIC RING IN 2008

 

By Thomas Heath February 11, 1997 Email the author

The friendly rivalry between Washington and Baltimore is about to become more intense as both cities prepare to make runs at hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.

Representatives from each city will attend a seminar in Philadelphia Wednesday sponsored by the U.S. Olympic Committee for organizations considering a bid on the Olympics or an Olympic-related event.

Seven people from the Washington D.C. Exploratory Committee and three from the state of Maryland will be among the 83 people from 38 sports and development organizations attending the session.

The competition will be intense and Washington's financial and crime problems will not help. Nevertheless, who would have believed Atlanta would have won the right to host the 1996 Olympics? New York, Seattle and Boston are among other U.S. cities interested.

Both Washington and Baltimore groups said $600 million in current stadium construction as well as billions in airport improvements, rail links, highways and the region's proximity to rivers makes Washington-Baltimore an attractive host for an Olympics.

"The area is uniquely situated to do this," said Elizabeth Ganzi-Ejjam, who helped form the D.C. committee two weeks ago. Ganzi is president of Ganzi Productions, a Washington-based event marketing company that worked on the Atlanta Olympics and has helped manage sports marketing for Coca-Cola.

Ganzi said she envisions a Washington-based regional Olympics that would raise money by charging corporations sponsorships fees in return for using the Olympic logo in their company promotions. The method was used successfully in Los Angeles in 1984 and with more limited success last summer in Atlanta.

The D.C. committee said it has the endorsement of Mayor Marion Barry and the District's Office of Economic Development. The group includes Paul Klepper, director of the command center at the Atlanta Games; Brad Dockser, who helped write D.C.'s bid for last summer's Olympic soccer matches held at RFK Stadium; and Michael Pitts, director of transportation for the Atlanta Games.

The Olympic soccer matches last summer were considered a huge success and set attendance records at RFK Stadium.

Baltimore is sending three people to the Philadelphia meeting, including Maryland Stadium Authority Chairman John Moag and two attorneys, Paul Levy of Montgomery County and Keith Rosenberg, a Baltimore resident who practices law in D.C.

Members of the Maryland group, which doesn't have a name yet, said they have discussed the proposal with Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening and will report to the governor when they return.

"This is obviously in its infancy stage," said Levy, who also plans to pay for the Olympics with corporate sponsorship.

Both groups have of lots of time. The International Olympic Committee will not name a host city for the 2008 Games until late 2001 or early 2002, according to the USOC. Eight cities, including New York, Seattle and Boston, are pursuing the USOC's nod as the American entry.

The USOC Board of Directors likely will vote on a resolution at its meeting in Philadelphia on whether the USOC will offer the IOC a formal bid for 2008.

The road may be uphill. The United States will have hosted four Olympics since 1980 by that time: Lake Placid in 1980, Los Angeles in 1984, Atlanta in 1996 and Salt Lake City in 2002. "There is some feeling that the IOC would like to go to South America, China or South Africa," said Mike Moran, USOC director of public relations.

Moran also said there is also uncertainty over the IOC's feelings toward another U.S. Games following Atlanta, which some IOC members thought were overcommercialized and in bad taste.

The 2000 Games will be held in Sydney; 11 cities are still in the running for the 2004 Games, which will be awarded this September.

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Interesting news piece of London failing against Manchester to secure the bidding rights for 2000. Interesting decision, and one of the more interesting 'what if' scenarios to speculate upon. I think London probably would have won 2000. It then leads me to wonder if Australia would have ever got its second Olympics against the likes of Athens, Beijing, Paris or Rio in later years...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0gpdPAIseg

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Good find, video worth embedding I think.

Interesting it mentions early on in that report that London lost because of a lack of central city authority. 1991 would've been 5 years after the Greater London Council was dissolved and 9 years before its replacement, the Greater London Authority (with a new Mayor of London) was established. It seems hardly surprising London couldn't get nominated ahead of Manchester given that context. London basically didn't exist as a unified political entity between the years 1986 and 2000.

 

Edited by Rob.
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Understandable too, because without strong governance structures the Olympics are a big risk. 

Also interesting London bidded for 1996 - another fact I wasn't aware of. Also think it would have probably pipped Atlanta. Any ideas of how a mid-90s London Olympics might have been staged? I understand Docklands - but would we have had a new Olympic Stadium? A rebuilt Wembley seems more likely. Anyone have any bid material?

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