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The next European host


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I always felt the London 2012 plan should have focused a bit more than it did on the potential of a further bid in the not too distant future, though always thought that would be the 2040s rather than 2030s.   Personally I think 2036 is a bit too soon given there is only one other European host in between, but get the points made earlier that it might be more viable post pandemic than it would be usually.

 

Agree too that Brisbane should bring cities like Manchester back into the equation, although I think politically it would be a tough sell to build new Olympic venues up north with those in London being relatively new, and perhaps goes against the Agenda 2020 plans too.   Stadium wise though with the ceremonial stadium not necessarily being the athletics stadium could the option of using either Old Trafford or The Etihad for the Ceremonies (and probably rugby 7s and the football finals) and a smaller venue for the athletics be a possibility - possibly upgrading the Old Trafford Cricket Ground to increase capacity (currently 26k). 

 

I'd quite like to see Rome get them to be honest.  I think we can rule out Berlin and probably any German city for 2036 as I don't think they'll want the reference back to 1936 - this is why it's so frustrating there wasn't even proper dialogue, never mind an open and fair bidding process, for 2032, as by denying Germany a bid there has probably ruled them out until the late 2040s at the earliest now.

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There is an athletics stadium next door to the Etihad - thing is it's REALLY tiny. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Regional_Arena

I don't know if it actually abuts the Etihad, if not maybe it could be flattened, stuff 40k temporary seats around it, have the ceremonies next door (the roof at Old Trafford is leaking in places anyway, Olympic ceremony rigging would probably pull the thing down), restore it back to how it is now at the end - job done. As long as there's space around it to do that, it could work. Much as I loved 2012, and it'd be great to see the North or Midlands or Scotland get a chance, it'd still be better for 36 to go somewhere that's waited longer than 24 years. Have the Dutch mentioned anything about 36 off the back of their remarkable Tokyo performance?

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18 hours ago, yoshi said:

There is an athletics stadium next door to the Etihad - thing is it's REALLY tiny. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Regional_Arena

I don't know if it actually abuts the Etihad, if not maybe it could be flattened, stuff 40k temporary seats around it, have the ceremonies next door (the roof at Old Trafford is leaking in places anyway, Olympic ceremony rigging would probably pull the thing down), restore it back to how it is now at the end - job done. As long as there's space around it to do that, it could work. Much as I loved 2012, and it'd be great to see the North or Midlands or Scotland get a chance, it'd still be better for 36 to go somewhere that's waited longer than 24 years. Have the Dutch mentioned anything about 36 off the back of their remarkable Tokyo performance?

Unfortunately the Manchester Regional Arena is directly adjacent to Etihad Stadium so an expansio  even with temporary seats isn't an option. Doubt the sheiks would even go for that anyway. It would make a good field hockey venue though. I'd really like to see the Dutch give a country-wide bid a go but as I've said before is the government willing to do so.

In terms of Germany,well, there's two sides to the story regarding the regional bid from 2032. I don't think thw IOC did themselves any favors with their response to the DOSB with their response. Frankly I still think the real underlying issue as to why it did not get more attention from the IOC is due the threat of a referendum. The prospect of awarding the Olympics to a city then having a public referendum that rejects them would be a PR nightmare for the IOC

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God I would hate Madrid's undoing to be a lack of a Track and Field stadium.  I hope there are some smart city planners who have more foresight than me to figure that out. 

Otherwise, yeah, a city like St Petersburg or Istanbul who can snap their fingers without any objection from the populace will probably be a more appealing avenue for the IOC

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I think it'd be very very naive to think there aren't sounding out discussions between the IOC and Russia (whatever it is comes before 'targeted dialogue') going on now about 2036. If a bid from anywhere else like a Madrid comes along, they'd probably do the same for them and may even give them the preferred status when the time comes, whenever that would be in this system, but right now it's Russia, then Istanbul if they make any more progress, then a very big gap, then everyone else led by Madrid. If Madrid get serious and solve the stadium problem, everything changes though. 

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4 hours ago, yoshi said:

I think it'd be very very naive to think there aren't sounding out discussions between the IOC and Russia (whatever it is comes before 'targeted dialogue') going on now about 2036. If a bid from anywhere else like a Madrid comes along, they'd probably do the same for them and may even give them the preferred status when the time comes, whenever that would be in this system, but right now it's Russia, then Istanbul if they make any more progress, then a very big gap, then everyone else led by Madrid. If Madrid get serious and solve the stadium problem, everything changes though. 

I think I am in agreement there.  I am keeping fingers crossed Spain sorts it out, but if not, St Pete and Istanbul will be more than happy to pick up the slack.

On that note, Istanbul......  Someone educate me on this please.  Ive heard the knock on Istanbul is its too compact and no room for any new venues.  Where are the likely places Mr. Erdogan is going to want to bulldoze.......I mean "rezone".......in order to make Istanbul happen?

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On 8/14/2021 at 8:10 PM, iceman530 said:

I think I am in agreement there.  I am keeping fingers crossed Spain sorts it out, but if not, St Pete and Istanbul will be more than happy to pick up the slack.

On that note, Istanbul......  Someone educate me on this please.  Ive heard the knock on Istanbul is its too compact and no room for any new venues.  Where are the likely places Mr. Erdogan is going to want to bulldoze.......I mean "rezone".......in order to make Istanbul happen?

I think the space issue in Istanbul is a bit overblown. Yes it would be a compact Olympics but most of the venues are already in place. As for rezoning, the land where the now closed Ataturk Airport is would make a good spot for an Olympic Village and park.

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2 hours ago, stryker said:

I think the space issue in Istanbul is a bit overblown. Yes it would be a compact Olympics but most of the venues are already in place. As for rezoning, the land where the now closed Ataturk Airport is would make a good spot for an Olympic Village and park.

 

Oh hell yeah it would, completely forgot about that.  That would actually fit like a glove.  That solves that rhetorical problem immediately.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 8/13/2021 at 4:46 PM, Brekkie Boy said:

 

I'd quite like to see Rome get them to be honest.  I think we can rule out Berlin and probably any German city for 2036 as I don't think they'll want the reference back to 1936 - this is why it's so frustrating there wasn't even proper dialogue, never mind an open and fair bidding process, for 2032, as by denying Germany a bid there has probably ruled them out until the late 2040s at the earliest now.

I'd like to see Rome give it another shot as well. They have much of the required venues and infrastructure already in place so it fits the IOC's New Norm and Agenda 2020. The question I have is is the political will there for it? Perhaps if Milan Cortina goes well, then maybe the Italians put forth Rome again.

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On 8/17/2021 at 11:27 AM, stryker said:

I think the space issue in Istanbul is a bit overblown. Yes it would be a compact Olympics but most of the venues are already in place. As for rezoning, the land where the now closed Ataturk Airport is would make a good spot for an Olympic Village and park.

No, it would NOT be a compact Olympics.  The Olympic Stadium and where there might be a little land for a small village is like 2 hours on surface from downtown Istanbul.  Remember, Erdogan is also pushing through the Istanbul Canal -- so that is going to displace many homes and businesses, and hopefully, those would have to relocated somewhere close to where they were.  Old, downtown Istanbul is simply too built up.  There might be room for one or 2 more major stadia in the heart of the city, unless the land for the old Ataturk Airport is being set aside for sports purposes, they will have to build new venues in Ankara which, if memory serves right, is about 3 hours away by surface.  

Aside from the coming Canal, the two halves of Istanbul are only connected by 2 major bridges.  It is NOT easy to get around Istanbul -- let alone having 100,000 people around for an Olympic Games.  

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13 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

No, it would NOT be a compact Olympics.  The Olympic Stadium and where there might be a little land for a small village is like 2 hours on surface from downtown Istanbul.  Remember, Erdogan is also pushing through the Istanbul Canal -- so that is going to displace many homes and businesses, and hopefully, those would have to relocated somewhere close to where they were.  Old, downtown Istanbul is simply too built up.  There might be room for one or 2 more major stadia in the heart of the city, unless the land for the old Ataturk Airport is being set aside for sports purposes, they will have to build new venues in Ankara which, if memory serves right, is about 3 hours away by surface.  

Aside from the coming Canal, the two halves of Istanbul are only connected by 2 major bridges.  It is NOT easy to get around Istanbul -- let alone having 100,000 people around for an Olympic Games.  

I think the key is in your paragraph:  old Ataturk airport.  It is the PERFECT project for utilization of that land.  It is a very, very sizable chunk of land in an area that does not have much available.  With the Metro, which is very efficient from what I remember, it was just over an hour from the old airport to Taskim.  Is it the perfect location?  No, but it is absolutely not terrible.  It would absolutely do the job, and you could fit a lot of construction on that land, such as the Olympic village and a couple stadiums.  The highway and roads have the carrying capacity intended for a busy airport, so yeah, it would work for the games for a couple weeks.  If its gonna happen, old Ataturk Airport is the way it happens.

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  • 4 months later...

As much as I love Madrid (and am perplexed at their enthusiasm in bidding for years that they stood little chance - but bowed out when they probably would have had strong chance for 2024/28/32)... could a second Barcelona Summer Olympics be possible? From my understanding there are still many venues in place so it could be in a strong position to host many events - with perhaps more participation from other Spanish cities  than there were in 1992 (potentially Valencia and Zaragoza...) Thoughts on a second BCN Games?

 

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On 1/29/2022 at 3:19 PM, Scotguy II said:

Would love St. Petersburg to host. A mixture of east meets west, old meets modern. The opening ceremony would be pretty cool especially if the were to use the Neva.

Great city but after 2022 I doubt that the IOC would be willing to get into bed with another authoritarian state. Post Putin (whatever that looks like) it could be possible. 

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49 minutes ago, Australian Kiwi said:

As much as I love Madrid (and am perplexed at their enthusiasm in bidding for years that they stood little chance - but bowed out when they probably would have had strong chance for 2024/28/32)... could a second Barcelona Summer Olympics be possible? 

Considering that Paris was a very strong favorite for 2024, & both 2028 & 2032 were literally just given to their respective host cities on a silver-platter, IDK where the idea comes from that Madrid would've had a strong chance in any of those cycles.

As far as second Barcelona Summer Games is concerned, considering there's still a looming referendum over their pending 2030 winter bid, a summer bid is probably not even on their radar ATM. Not to mention, Madrid would probably have a COW if Barcelona went after a second summer Games when they haven't even had their first.

53 minutes ago, Australian Kiwi said:

Great city but after 2022 I doubt that the IOC would be willing to get into bed with another authoritarian state. Post Putin (whatever that looks like) it could be possible. 

Well, it's not like Beijing was the IOC's first choice for 2022. It's like the saying goes; beggars can't be choosers. And if all the IOC has on the viable table is Putinville for a subsequent summer Games, then that's where they'll go.

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1 hour ago, Australian Kiwi said:

Great city but after 2022 I doubt that the IOC would be willing to get into bed with another authoritarian state. Post Putin (whatever that looks like) it could be possible. 

Don't rule it out. if other cities can't get their **** together with finances, public support etc and don't bid then the IOC would be stupid to not entertain bids from Russia.

whatever you think about their political goings on, there is no doubt that they can easily put on a successful games.

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2024 through 2032 (perhaps even 2034) will see a series of super-safe, mostly impeccable, and developed countries host. I wouldn't rule out the IOC might feel confident enough to go on another authoritarian adventure by the late 20'ies when the next summer host will be rubber-stamped chosen.

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1 hour ago, munichfan said:

2024 through 2032 (perhaps even 2034) will see a series of super-safe, mostly impeccable, and developed countries host. I wouldn't rule out the IOC might feel confident enough to go on another authoritarian adventure by the late 20'ies when the next summer host will be rubber-stamped chosen.

Absolutely. They‘ll just close their eyes with Beijing and then quickly move on to the safe hosts, claiming all is fine. While in the background, Putin, Qatar and Shanghai are probably already having talks.

Though safe host…things can go very wrong if Zemmour/Le Pen/Trump get their chance (again), not to mention the regular Italian government crisis, even though right now it‘s pretty stable for a while already.

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10 hours ago, StefanMUC said:

Though safe host…things can go very wrong if Zemmour/Le Pen/**Trump** get their chance (again), not to mention the regular Italian government crisis, even though right now it‘s pretty stable for a while already.

Exactly. I've mentioned that before, but I just cringe even at the mere plausibility. But can you just imagine (heaven forbid) DT opening up LA28?! 

"Welcome to 'MY' Olympics Games of LA28. These Olympics will the greatest Olympics like no other Olympics before them. They will be yyuuugggeeee!! Nobody does Olympic Games as good as I do, believe me. And no other Olympic Games after them will ever compare to the greatness that MY Olympic Games will be. The IOC has also already congratulated me of how good my Olympic Games will be, believe me".

:blink:

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Thankfully heads of state are restricted to briskly declaring open the games. Trump will be able to read one sentence from the teleprompter, I suppose.

BTW, President Biden will be 85 by the LA games, so still a few months younger then when the Queen opened the London games. I do not expect him to stay in office for that long. Or any democrat.

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If that were to be the case, as atrocious as that sounds, I wonder how many diplomatic boycotts there could be (besides China, of course. They're going to do it no matter who's in office, as a tit-for-tat for 2022). 

But for the sake of this country (& perhaps even the world), I sure hope & pray that you're absolutely wrong.

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29 minutes ago, munichfan said:

Thankfully heads of state are restricted to briskly declaring open the games. Trump will be able to read one sentence from the teleprompter, I suppose.

That's the thing, though, with narcissistic, despot wannabes. They don't really play by the rule book.

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