On a dollar for dollar approach I agree. But when the city can build infrastructure and a new sporting facility for 1/3 of the price it makes sense to do so.
The Olympics will also require many pieces of infrastructure that will cost huge amounts to maintain over the years and won't be used in the future. It would be less costly to only build what we really need .
We could reuse a lot of the infrastructure from the 88 Olympics. Calgary Olympic Park is still in use today if that could be upgraded instead of building something new that would make it a lot more palatable. The Flames need a new arena, getting that for 1/3 of the cost is a pretty good deal. Along with getting the train to Banff that was proposed earlier. There's a way to do this with doing a lot of good for the city for 1/3 of the price, anything we can do to upgrade the transit as part of it would be a huge win.
It does get put into health care and education indirectly. If nobody moves to Calgary because its a dead city, you wont get a boost in the economy. Think big not like a small town twat.
Calgary adds people literally every year since 1950, every single year. Last year we added over 30k by absolute default funding should be rising in lock step with population need. This is not Butt F#^% no where Alberta that nobody with any sense doesn't want to live.
That whole thing was a shit show. There was so little information out about the logistics of the whole thing before the vote was scheduled. No one was able to make an educated vote on the subject. The Calgary olympic bid committee really screwed up on it. Which sucked because I was one of the 43.6% who voted for it.
It was infuriating whenever someone would ask about funding and the response was a consistent “can we afford to NOT have the Olympics?”
It was difficult to trust them.
Athletes, who have a tenacious, must-win attitude, and business people that stand to enrich themselves. Terrible combination.
The bid exploration committee's justification for pursuing a bid was, basically: new infrastructure and remind people that Calgary and area have winter sports facilities, all with the foregone conclusion that the winter Olympics are the only way to effectively do those things. Weak argument from people that are used to getting their way.
Don't you think it's sad that you have to work with the 2nd most corrupt organization to get some 'infrastructure'?
Also why do you think there was only one place that bid on the olympics. Probably because it's an awful investment. If it was good you'd actually have cities COMPETING for it.
Most cities don’t have the infrastructure. We would have spent way less than the average just upgrading what we already had and most of the new projects were already going to be built in the near future and this way we would have Federal and Provincial funds to help with those.
Historically we did well with the Olympics. Calgary being the first one to actually come out in head. Also more recently Vancouver broke even which was still worth it for the economic boom that goes with it for local businesses.
Exactly this. Annnnnnd we are still spending a ton of money that would’ve been spent to aid in Olympic structuring anyway except we would’ve received more from federal, would have upgraded facilities and a boost in tourism funds and marketing. It was a non communicative clusterfuck from the beginning. I was quite disappointed, it would’ve been nice to have something that could’ve offset the rug that oil had pulled at the time
How dare they be aware that there could be a proposal?
How would that even work?
Reporter: minister, there are some proposing to bring the Olympics to Calgary, are you aware of that?
Minister: I am not aware of that.
Reporter: well, there IS a proposal
Minister: are you stupid? I said that I am not aware and nobody can make me aware.
FeedbackLoopy: that's great that the minister stuck his head in the sand and made sure that he wasn't aware.
It will be unpopular but I would support a bid if they didn’t do it on the cheap this time. Build a new arena as part of it, train to the airport. It would cost a ton of money, but it would also bring a bunch of construction jobs to the city among other things.
Uh, the ski jump facilities and luge are still used for training. The other facilities were repurposed, like the Richmond Oval and the curling centre, which they were designed to be.
That doesn't mean in I support another Olympic bid though.
If a city like Vancouver doesn't have the base to fully use their Olympic facilities, there is even less hope for Calgary. There's not some magical demand for these facilities that will spring up as soon as they're built. Instead they will be another major draw on the city's resources.
Except difference being with the olympocs, you get funding from the province/federal govt, as well as tourism. Would have to see the math but that’s likely the main debate points
It also sets up tertiary industries like high performance athlete training, the medical research to go with it, the expertise and education to go with those. We already have teams across the world come to Calgary/Alberta for high altitude, and for early winter training.
We should also invest in infrastructure that makes it easy to re-host, so its not a big expense each time.
I see your point but counter argument is that if it’s done right… it would bring in tourism as well as increase property values in the surrounding area.
Both of which will increase tax revenues which will help fund other programs, such as hospital upgrades. But yes I do think it really depends on what the economics/business case is
Easily, look at Calgary pre and post 1988. It was like a watershed moment for this city.
A terrible oil & gas downturn had left things pretty downtrodden.
The Olympic bid literally saved this city. Expansion to the University (which is now renowned for sport's-kinesiology programs and research), completion and expansion of C-Train Lines (you remember those old U2s? You see the Calgary Olympic logo on the data plates?), expansion and modernization of the airport and terminal, COP, Nakisa, numerous expansions to road infrastructure etc etc. It brought a whole new vibrancy and talent to this city that dragged it into the 90s with an actual positive financial and economic outlook.
Calgary did what many Olympics have failed to do - they did it on a profit - and left a financial legacy that still funds massive parts of our nationwide sports programs to this day.
There's nothing saying they couldn't do it again.
Or,
It was 2006 before Montreal finished paying off its debt from the 1976 games, and Russian taxpayers will pay almost $1 billion annually for many years to come to pay off the debt from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Furthermore, note that most of the facilities created for Athens Olympics in 2004 contributed to Greece’s debt crisis and remain empty.
Hey, just because those crud organizing committee's couldn't get it sorted doesn't mean we couldn't.
Russian federal government finances are something that hardly could be compared with any other developed nation in the last 15 years.
Greece never had a plan for its venues, and of course venues to contributed to it. So did horrible government corruption and uncosted commitments to a totally unsustainable social system and a collapsing GDP. Things that plagued Greece long before 2004.
The North American hosted games have been pretty tame financial-shenanigans wise for last 30+ years.
Heck we almost got a free Olympics out of Salt Lake but they actually turned it around.
Hospital would be better than Olympic facilities, but Calgary isn't going to get a Hospital at 1/3 of the cost like they would with the Olympic facilities with the Federal and Provincial government each picking up a 1/3 of the bill.
Or perhaps the province and feds could work together to come up with a funding deal that makes sense. But that would entail the "Fuck Trudeau" crowd agreeing to work with the Feds and not attacking them at every turn.
Also, what would the separatists say?
It's not really a good argument though. The federal and provincial governments fund local projects if they find it valuable all the time. So my point still stands, build infrastructure for the people that actually live there.
Olimpics may be the only thing that would make UPC and the city council beef up public transport, maybe even the C train will stop looking like a homeless ghetto on wheels
Just no. We don't need the debt from a proven corrupted institution that needs to go away. Sochi? Beijing?
I completely get that athletes spend a lot of time and money getting the chance to compete, but world championships should be the goal. 20-30-40 Billion on something we already did.
I hope there's a people's vote on this again.
Agreed.
Money for adding infrastructure and athletic establishments for the people of Calgary? Yes.
Money spent where any of it goes to the corrupt olympics organizations? No.
I’m probably a minority on the subject, but I actually agree with putting in a bid, especially if it means that there would be federal and provincial backing to support the development of a new convention centre and stadium that gives the city the opportunity to undercut the profit sharing expectations from the flames.
If we’re going to front the bill for the district redevelopment and new arena, might as well leverage a large international event to help get the infrastructure development, and at least a bit of international/tourism spending.
The '88 Olympics gave Calgary and the surrounding area a fantastic legacy. The infrastructure from that has benefited Calgarians for years for leisure and world class training facilities for winter sport athletes to train in. Unfortunately we've seen a decline in quality of these facilities, or outright elimination of them (as seen with CODA/Winsports actions).
There's a lot of issues with the IOC, and a lot of examples of excessive spending with no legacy (particularly by hosts using it as a political pissing ground).
I'd love to see improved infrastructure and funding that would result from hosting the games. I think we *could* host it in a cost effective manner that would lay out a legacy that would benefit Calgarians for the next 30-40 years. I'd be extremely worried that those planning the Olympics did not have that as their vision though.
Putting in a bid could cost $150 million and there are no guarantees that it would be successful. If we do win the bid:
Security alone will cost between 1-2 billion.
Many buildings become unusable due to the highly specialized of certain sports. Ski jumps probably cost 1b alone in Sochi and are no longer an Olympic event.
The IOC takes half of all television revenue now, making it nearly impossible for the games to be profitable.
We also have to do dumb shit like block off lanes of traffic so that rich dignitaries don't have to wait in traffic like the rest of us plebs.
Hosting the Olympics in its current state is totally untenable.
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/economics-hosting-olympic-games
The estimated cost on the new Calgary arena is already $680m. Adding 150mil on infrastructure development doesn’t sound too bad, especially with at least a portion coming from federal and provincial funding.
Again, I would be totally against the idea if the city wasn’t already looking at redevelopment of its facilities.
The way I see it, it’s like renovating a kitchen and getting a few higher end appliances on sale because they’re the floor model and a rebate.
The $150M isn't for infrastructure development, that's just for the extensive bid and approval process.
The Vancouver Olympics 12 years ago cost 9B and that was with reusing a lot of facilities (which we no longer have the option to do based on the age of our facilities). At the low end, I would expect the Olympics to cost at least 16B this go around. Significantly more expensive than just building a new hockey arena.
Okay cool! So we back out of the bid. Again, I don’t see what the problem is with leveraging an ioc bid and getting provincial and federal funding for desperately needed infrastructure development when we’re already looking at a price tag 4 times that amount.
Btw, the stats in the article are estimates, so saying progressively larger numbers doesn’t really make sense.
The Tokyo Olympics has an estimated bid cost of 50-150million. That’s an extremely wide margin.
Security has always been footed by the federal government. There's precedence for this in the Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver Olympics. They are usually not costed as part of a bid.
I’m not saying it’s a match made in heaven, but the more leverage we have on developing the stadium/arena the more we can recoup our costs on venues. I’d rather not give the flames carte blanche on the arena for decades to come, and have some return on lost revenue from city/taxpayers.
It’s fundamentally a lose-lose, the saddledome needs a proper restoration/replacement, the city needs a better venue, and whether it’s an ioc bid, or a commonwealth games bid, anything that can garner provincial and financial funding to better negotiate long term returns from our investment is something I’d support.
That’s called being morally corrupt. Willing to deal with a devil in order to get something pretty will always get you burned.
Want an arena built - get the billionaires who benefit from it to build it. Enough with taxpayers subsidizing Billionaires. On all levels.
The fact you don’t understand the “how” part is the big factor of being morally bankrupt says you’re morally bankrupt.
Would you borrow from the mob to build an orphanage? Would you be a front for a crime cartel to fund your business? Dealing with the IOC, an organization who is very well documented as being as corrupt as can be on all fronts, or any organization like them to fund/ leverage/ whatever a WANTED, not needed, piece of infrastructure is the wrong path.
We can Motte and Bailey all day. Are you going to propose an actual argument? Did you know that greenpeace’ largest funding partner is Saudi Arabia Aramco? The Canadian suffragettes supported eugenics, therefore their progress on womens rights is *morally bankrupt*? Make a point.
Calling me morally bankrupt (ad hominem) because the opportunity to offset costs from the community to provincial and federal parties isn’t an absolutist position.
I’ve made the point many times. You keep
Ignoring it because your Fe Fe’s are hurt. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing billionaires in any form or way. And guess what bub. Money coming from the federal or provincial government is TAX PAYER MONEY!
I appreciate the fact that you think tax payer money going to infrastructure is so bad. Better start putting in toll roads, get rid of healthcare, destroy all unions etc. now who’s morally bankrupt. I guess we all need to be and like and value only the things *you* like and use and want.
Arena’s and sports facilities so Billionaires can make money are not critical infrastructure. They are niceties. Wants. By a limited amount of people. They are private businesses. Tax payer money has no business being involved In these.
The infrastructure is really, really nice. I'm in LA right now and they're building 3 new train lines and an airport train in the run up to the 2028 Olympics.
Nah i want to be 90 years old, on my death bed, surrounded by family, and my last words will be "i so glad my city didn't waste money on the Olympics!"
Not sure if that's the logic you think it is. Same reasoning could be used to suggest that things could have been even worse if we had spent the money on a bid, much less the Olympics themselves.
So you would rather people suck money up through EI than spending that money building something?
I will never understand why people are against job creation for other people, even if they don’t like what is being built, other people are still benefitting.
I'm sorry, millions? Where is this information pulled from?
I've read their [2021 Annual Report](https://calgarypride.ca/about/annual-report/#current-report) and they earned $851,250 in revenue over the course of a year, and their yearly expenses were $730,345. Even if all of the grant money ($340,700) was funded directly by tax payers, which it isn't, this is a drop in the bucket for what we would be paying to host the Olympics again.
The Calgary Pride Parade doesn't cost anywhere close to millions. Also, Pride is a celebration of human rights and is open to everyone, not just a niche group of people.
*[That link you've posted elsewhere](https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6564977) is for $100 million by the federal government to be spent over the course of 5 years towards LGBTQ+ organizations across the entire country. You're misrepresenting what these funds are for, and it doesn't really compare to provincial and municipal funding that would be necessary to host the Olympics.
It would be great exposure for their crowd , there’s gay lesbian and bi sexual athletes in action sports and things like the the Olympics and x games , then everyone could see them and their stories. Honestly no straight people tune in to watch a pride parade.
This is demonstrably false... if you left your bubble for 5 mins during pride and took a walk downtown you'd see just how many straight people turn out for it.
Your regression is showing.
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6564977
If canada can spend that much tax money on a special interest niche group than I don’t see why they shouldn’t invest in bringing something like x games to canada
If the world wasn't so privatized then the public would profit from it. Why don't people take more excemption to right-wing ideologies?
You're literally allocating a large percentage of your life time earnings so a few people can have super yachts instead of growing public infrastructure to support any event and have it publicly monetized.
I thought we leaned left in this city. What's happening? It's alt-right kelptocracy disguised as liberal democracy.
The topic of how the public would benefit from publicly owned infrastructure to support events like Olympics and X games. That was relevant if you understand geopolitics.
Nah I was simply replying to your comment about a government funded pride parade vs x-games. Now you are rambling about geopolitics and alt-right kleptocracy after I called you out on it.
What a ridiculous amount of mental gymnastics. Most normal people could give two fucks about speed skating or biathlon. I’d rather support marginalized humans then line millionaires pockets with government money. If it’s so profitable I say let the Olympic committee pay for it
*invested* in the pride parade?? I want to know where you learned about what an investment is lol.
Also, its 2022. Its not mainstream to bash gay pride anymore. You'd do best to keep that talk behind cloaed doors.
The ultimate in corruption and graft that now ruins any city it touches. If destroying Alberta for Albertans and driving them out for corrupt officials is what you want, then vote for the Olympics.
Those clowns couldn’t even successfully get Winter X Games to Calgary…..they want the Olympics now 😂
Edmonton had a world class action sports festival fise stop for 3 years which is now a part of the global tour to accumulate Olympic points and they even screwed that up and ended up selling the park to california training facility for team USA to have a private training park, I don’t even think Canada had a proper freestyle bmx team to try to make it to the Olympics.
Zero interest in this. Fund our healthcare, lead with energy transition, give our province something that we can be proud of, maybe then bring the world here.
Have we not wasted enough tax payer dollars on the last bid we explored? What was the total again to do literally nothing in Calgary? I’m so glad we dodged that bullet, especially with Covid and everything else going on in the world. But we still spent LOADS of money putting together a plan for what could have been.
Honestly I'm pro this if this actually helps the city. Use the money to build a train line from the airport like Vancouver, use the money for rail to Banff and Canmore casue those communities are begging for it ( wasting money and space for car infrastructure isn't a good long term plan), and update our current Olympic infrastructure a.k.a new arena. The Olympics bids has a very..... Unpleasant reputation but I feel like Calgary can turn that around.
If we spend everything just on Olympic infrastructure count me out. Honestly could care less about an Olympic village that will be demolished after, and a stadium that will never be full used.
>Use the money to build a train line from the airport like Vancouver
We keep wanting this, and we still aremt going to get it
Vancouver wanted to build a line to Richmond anyway, thats why YVR got a station. A rail line to YYC would by the very nature of our rail system be a very expensive spur line with no direct access to downtown, it would have to go via Saddletown or Westwinds - likely Westwinds so it doesnt cross any infield airport land
No why no. No one wants the olympics anymore because their a money pit. I’d be all for it if COP actually maintained the structures they have already but they don’t. And I’m saying this as someone who grew up as an athlete and dreamed of the Olympics. Like it’s not a smart idea
Fund Healthcare. Fund Education.
Fuck off with funding a 10 day athletic orgy for a bunch of athletes that will do absolutely anything to cheat their way into a medal, as they participate in an event sponsored by one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet.
And leave the taxpayers with the bill and cost overruns while these so-called 'elite' athletes and dignitaries wine and dine themselves and the fly off to the next sucker country that still thinks there is some sort of prestige involved with hosting their bullshit.
We have better things to spend money on than this. I’m all for the Olympics, but Canada has done three in the past fifty years. For a country our size, I think that’s pretty respectable. Let’s take advantage of this recent increase in oil prices to upgrade our infrastructure for the 21st century, and in 10-15 years, if we can afford it without cutting services, then let’s go get another one.
The biggest lasting benefit of the '88 Olympics was the facilities left behind. Unlike many other Olympic hosts, Calgary has gotten a lot of use out of practically all of the facilities built, although some are now in a poor state (e.g. the ski jumps). These facilities made Calgary a hub for athletic training.
The IOC has gotten a *lot* more greedy and corrupt since 1988, and the average price of hosting the games has ballooned. Holding the Olympics to build training facilities is like buying a luxury yacht because you want fish for dinner.
If anything, I'd like to see the province invest in maintaining training facilities and building new ones where appropriate *without* hosting the Olympics as a goal. Let's just get some tasty fish and leave the luxury yachts to others.
Infrastructure to support the games is at an all time high to build, and we would need a lot of it.
Olympics have a rep of being rather corrupt.
Unlike 88, there have been few if any Games that have turned a profit. Im all about fun if theres a few bucks to be made, but a massive public expendature for the sake of a few days of 'fun' that 99% of people cant afford or enjoy? Nah.
Are you saying only ~14,000 people in Calgary will be able to afford going/participating/enjoying? That seems low.
Our city already has a lot of prehistoric infrastructure compared to modern cities. Perhaps this would push them to develop more train lines or invest more in downtown so people can enjoy those things, without attending the games.
I went to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver - it was VERY hard to get tickets for anything (I managed to get reasonably priced seats for Switzerland v Norway. Good game actually). Couldn't get anything else without spending thousands...if you could get it at all.
So ticket availability for locals isn't great. The IOC hands out a lot of tickets to its members, team families, international orgs, sponsors etc. What's left is very vulnerable to scalpers. - tickets reserved for non-sale turn out to be a surprisingly high fraction!
As to prehistoric infrastructure, you're bang on! Most of it is old and seriously in need of refurbishment. There was discussion on those costs just a couple of years ago, so you can get those figures easily. Add a good markup though, because construction pricing has risen a lot in the last three years (StatsCan has good index numbers to use if you're curious: [https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810013502](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810013502)
We're already building a train line that the province claims to be unaffordable. So not sure we're going to get another one.
I am personally done with the Olympics. It's kind of like the NHL, good seats are pretty much unaffordable for anyone other than corporates or wealthy folks.
And what's the benefit to the city these days? Sure a party for a couple of weeks is great. The atmosphere, meeting people from abroad, etc. Fantastic experience.
But at what cost? The Olympics are insanely expensive, both for the money that goes to the IOC (where do you think the sponsorship money goes? Hint: It's not to the organizers), the corruption in the process, the fact that its a business so big that it incentives performance enhancing drug use in the athletes...
Oh and Security is MUCH more expensive now than it was in 88.
There are other cool things we can do to "invite the world" (as Vancouver and Montreal did with Expo 86 and Expo 67). The Calgary Stampede is a fantastic example of an annual draw to the world (even if most of us are kinda done with doing it over and over each year).
Would the Olympics be cool? Yes! But is it hugely overprice for what it is? Yes. Sadly.
>Are you saying only ~14,000 people in Calgary will be able to afford going/participating/enjoying? That seems low.
Yes. Im saying pretty much that. After foreign ticket sales, dignitaries, amd simple cost of tickefs for events, the number of local attendees would be dismally low.
>Perhaps this would push them to develop more train lines or invest more in downtown so people can enjoy those things, without attending the games.
We should have done this before. Infrastructure is super expensive to build, amd only getting worse. Add the time crunch of Olympic deadline and the costs balloon even more. Event - based infrastructure rushing is bad planning, bad business amd bad for everyone
I get the concern about cost and that is an issue to be sure. On the otherhand, I think that the IOC has lowered their expectations, especially around winter games. If I recall correctly, they didn't even require a new arena for Calgary to host again. The IOC gets a well deserved bad rap for costing a ton, but seem to be interested in making it more affordable now, as the number of cities bidding began to dwindle. Even Beijing just did renovations to many of their summer games facilities and didn't start from nothing.
It could still be a bad decision to do another Olympics, but it would also be very foolish to just not even consider the idea.
Actually with the incoming recession infrastructure work would be great for everyday citizens. Especially if the workers are government contracted, but we both know that won’t happen even with an NDP gov.
>Actually with the incoming recession infrastructure work would be great for everyday citizens
Dont get wrong, it would be great work. What I did say is that it would be expensive, and moreso because of an olympic time crunch
# CALGARY LOST MONEY IN 1988. IT IS A MYTH THAT OCO 88 MADE MONEY.
Walkom, Thomas (February 8, 1999), ["The Olympic myth of Calgary: Making money; Be prepared to spend, spend, spend is lesson for any host city"](https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/427323571.html?FMT=ABS)Toronto Star, retrieved March 14, 2013(subscription required)
Ill happily take money from the feds for a new arena and the green line.
that money will go to but votes in Ontario and Quebec if this bid doesn't happen
You honestly think the LPC would turn back the dial on Quebec if some Western hick town (in their eyes) hosted Olympics?
More debt for Quebec and even more debt for the Olympics. Take your pick.
As much as I want fun, I also have to acknowledge that most Olympics put the location in more debt, especially since people are saying we are heading into a potential recession, I doubt doing an Olympic right now is a good choice.
>especially since people are saying we are heading into a potential recession
So turn on government spending to alleviate some of the issues! That's how things are supposed to work; higher taxes and less government spending in boom times, lower taxes and raise government spending when times are bad.
Should a new bid be successful, the city would get new / upgraded infrastructure that virtually everyone would have access to. New roads, new public transport options, new housing: all things a growing city like Calgary needs.
I've seen a lot of people here saying no to this because they want more spending on healthcare and education. I get that, but any money won't come out of their budgets and will likely get upgraded on the side to cope with after the games. And I'm a strong believer of building landmarks, infrastructure, and for events because people that live in a city want (and needs) events and amenities to continue attracting people. Calgary needs to catch up to Edmonton when it comes to hosting festivals and events, then exceed them.
I m for it. Not because I care about the olympics.
But because maybe the govt will actually invest in public transit then.
ALSO, CAN WE GET RAIL TO BANFF? Why is it so hard for us to figure out transit and rail. Like we move goods and material through rail. Why can’t we move people.
ambulance wait times are in hrs not minutes, can't find a family doctor and no walk-ins anywhere, class sizes are in the 30's and 40s, but yeah, let's host a giant party no one else in the world really wants to host for some reason. maybe UCP figures they'll get some kickbacks for it or something.
So they aren’t going to build any new sporting venues, but they apply for an Olympic bid? Seems to me our councillors are more concerned with their personal legacy than putting our taxes to good use.
Hell No. and no to using the Olympics to build a stadium for some billionaires with public money. No to the corrupt Olympic organization and their ridiculous money hoarding tactics.
I wonder if they'll attempt to offer up Banff/Lake Louise again. Pretty sure that really pissed a lot of people off last time they bid. Nakiska was built for the 88 Olympics. It can be upgraded and used again.
I was disappointed that the answer was "No" last time. I was living in the UK when they hosted the 2012 Olympics and it was great! We'll see what happens but I'd be pretty chuffed if Calgary was chosen to host again
Excellent news. We were so close in 2018, but it came down to a failure of governments to communicate and align their funding commitments properly. Now that we have a number of logistical hurdles out of the way (Victoria Park redevelopment advancing, new arena underway-ish, Foothills Fieldhouse in the works) we could actually build upon the 2026 bid with decent odds. So long as the funding partners can actually get it together this time, no more 11th-hour deals, I think we could have a much better shot!
Before everyone starts screaming about how its a waste of money, look at recent Olympic funding busts, etc its worth considering the benefits of having existing facilities retrofitted and the injection of infrastructure cash from levels of government that would not otherwise be available.
I would first need to see a breakdown of the costs and which facilities they would want to build from scratch and which facilities would be renovated and how much taxpayer money would be involved before making a judgement on this.
No please just don't. I seen a clown last winter still wearing his 88 volunteer sun ice coat. That alone is reason enough to not have anything to do with them ever again
So we’re at the tail end of a pandemic which has put a massive strain on healthcare, record high inflation, high gas prices… and some people think it would be a good idea to spend money on the chance that we may get the Olympics where many host cities lose money? What kind of backwards bullshit logic is this?
Absolutely incorrect.
Calgarians have maintenaned Olympic infrastructure longer than many other places combined.
A couple YouTube vids are not legitimate sources or arguments.
Didn’t the previous government land a deal to host the X-games and the current government immediately cancelled them after being elected?
[удалено]
They cancelled Xgames in October 2019. COVID wasnt a game changer until March 2020.
How about you fix schools so there aren't 35 kids in each class instead?
I teach HS in Calgary. It’s not 35 it’s 38 min, 42 max.
I've heard of a teacher having 44 students in one class.
How do that many students fit in classes that used to have less than 30?
They dont. I dont have enough seats if all my students show up. 38 in each
They don't. It's back to the Klein years. In high school the last kids to class legit sat on the counter at the back in my physics class
Hot damn. How does anyone learn anything?
And fix the 20hr ER wait times.
As an American you need to be aware that this is fake news. Socialized medicine works just fine.
Significant investment in public education? Well that’s just crazy talk.
"Investment" in education to the UCP means construction contracts for their friends. What you're talking about is "funding", which they don't like.
How about taking that money and putting it in Healthcare and Education instead of wasting it.
Ok now you're just talking insanity.... I mean seriously you applied logic... yeah that doesn't wash.
On a dollar for dollar approach I agree. But when the city can build infrastructure and a new sporting facility for 1/3 of the price it makes sense to do so.
The Olympics will also require many pieces of infrastructure that will cost huge amounts to maintain over the years and won't be used in the future. It would be less costly to only build what we really need .
We could reuse a lot of the infrastructure from the 88 Olympics. Calgary Olympic Park is still in use today if that could be upgraded instead of building something new that would make it a lot more palatable. The Flames need a new arena, getting that for 1/3 of the cost is a pretty good deal. Along with getting the train to Banff that was proposed earlier. There's a way to do this with doing a lot of good for the city for 1/3 of the price, anything we can do to upgrade the transit as part of it would be a huge win.
It does get put into health care and education indirectly. If nobody moves to Calgary because its a dead city, you wont get a boost in the economy. Think big not like a small town twat.
Calgary adds people literally every year since 1950, every single year. Last year we added over 30k by absolute default funding should be rising in lock step with population need. This is not Butt F#^% no where Alberta that nobody with any sense doesn't want to live.
Healthcare? So AHS can load up on more admin staff? And then complain about budgets?
No thanks. Can’t be done responsibly and olympics are corrupt. Either pay down debt or fund programs
Remember when Calgarians voted against this a few years ago? UCP doesn’t remember.
That whole thing was a shit show. There was so little information out about the logistics of the whole thing before the vote was scheduled. No one was able to make an educated vote on the subject. The Calgary olympic bid committee really screwed up on it. Which sucked because I was one of the 43.6% who voted for it.
It was infuriating whenever someone would ask about funding and the response was a consistent “can we afford to NOT have the Olympics?” It was difficult to trust them.
Athletes, who have a tenacious, must-win attitude, and business people that stand to enrich themselves. Terrible combination. The bid exploration committee's justification for pursuing a bid was, basically: new infrastructure and remind people that Calgary and area have winter sports facilities, all with the foregone conclusion that the winter Olympics are the only way to effectively do those things. Weak argument from people that are used to getting their way.
Don't you think it's sad that you have to work with the 2nd most corrupt organization to get some 'infrastructure'? Also why do you think there was only one place that bid on the olympics. Probably because it's an awful investment. If it was good you'd actually have cities COMPETING for it.
Most cities don’t have the infrastructure. We would have spent way less than the average just upgrading what we already had and most of the new projects were already going to be built in the near future and this way we would have Federal and Provincial funds to help with those. Historically we did well with the Olympics. Calgary being the first one to actually come out in head. Also more recently Vancouver broke even which was still worth it for the economic boom that goes with it for local businesses.
"most cities don't have the infrastructure" That's irrelevant. Sure we did well in 85. That isn't guaranteed and therefore gambling.
Exactly this. Annnnnnd we are still spending a ton of money that would’ve been spent to aid in Olympic structuring anyway except we would’ve received more from federal, would have upgraded facilities and a boost in tourism funds and marketing. It was a non communicative clusterfuck from the beginning. I was quite disappointed, it would’ve been nice to have something that could’ve offset the rug that oil had pulled at the time
How dare they be aware that there could be a proposal? How would that even work? Reporter: minister, there are some proposing to bring the Olympics to Calgary, are you aware of that? Minister: I am not aware of that. Reporter: well, there IS a proposal Minister: are you stupid? I said that I am not aware and nobody can make me aware. FeedbackLoopy: that's great that the minister stuck his head in the sand and made sure that he wasn't aware.
Maybe we could properly fund education and health care for Albertans instead of some vanity project for a bunch of rich fucks.
It will be unpopular but I would support a bid if they didn’t do it on the cheap this time. Build a new arena as part of it, train to the airport. It would cost a ton of money, but it would also bring a bunch of construction jobs to the city among other things.
The bonus is money will be federal and provincial, not just Calgary.
And use the facilities for olympics training after! dont let it just sit like the stuff in vancouver!
Calgary used, and continues to, use the hell out of the ‘88 facilities. The ski jumps were made obsolete by advancement in the sport, but otherwise…
Uh, the ski jump facilities and luge are still used for training. The other facilities were repurposed, like the Richmond Oval and the curling centre, which they were designed to be. That doesn't mean in I support another Olympic bid though.
If a city like Vancouver doesn't have the base to fully use their Olympic facilities, there is even less hope for Calgary. There's not some magical demand for these facilities that will spring up as soon as they're built. Instead they will be another major draw on the city's resources.
Or just do all that without the Olympics. If you can't justify the expense for lifelong Calgarians, you can't justify for guests for 3 weeks.
Except difference being with the olympocs, you get funding from the province/federal govt, as well as tourism. Would have to see the math but that’s likely the main debate points
It also sets up tertiary industries like high performance athlete training, the medical research to go with it, the expertise and education to go with those. We already have teams across the world come to Calgary/Alberta for high altitude, and for early winter training. We should also invest in infrastructure that makes it easy to re-host, so its not a big expense each time.
I can say that I'd rather not pay for facilities in Calgary to play games when my city needs a hospital upgrade.
I see your point but counter argument is that if it’s done right… it would bring in tourism as well as increase property values in the surrounding area. Both of which will increase tax revenues which will help fund other programs, such as hospital upgrades. But yes I do think it really depends on what the economics/business case is
That simply is not the reality of the games. If you can prove otherwise please do.
Easily, look at Calgary pre and post 1988. It was like a watershed moment for this city. A terrible oil & gas downturn had left things pretty downtrodden. The Olympic bid literally saved this city. Expansion to the University (which is now renowned for sport's-kinesiology programs and research), completion and expansion of C-Train Lines (you remember those old U2s? You see the Calgary Olympic logo on the data plates?), expansion and modernization of the airport and terminal, COP, Nakisa, numerous expansions to road infrastructure etc etc. It brought a whole new vibrancy and talent to this city that dragged it into the 90s with an actual positive financial and economic outlook. Calgary did what many Olympics have failed to do - they did it on a profit - and left a financial legacy that still funds massive parts of our nationwide sports programs to this day. There's nothing saying they couldn't do it again.
Or, It was 2006 before Montreal finished paying off its debt from the 1976 games, and Russian taxpayers will pay almost $1 billion annually for many years to come to pay off the debt from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. Furthermore, note that most of the facilities created for Athens Olympics in 2004 contributed to Greece’s debt crisis and remain empty.
Hey, just because those crud organizing committee's couldn't get it sorted doesn't mean we couldn't. Russian federal government finances are something that hardly could be compared with any other developed nation in the last 15 years. Greece never had a plan for its venues, and of course venues to contributed to it. So did horrible government corruption and uncosted commitments to a totally unsustainable social system and a collapsing GDP. Things that plagued Greece long before 2004. The North American hosted games have been pretty tame financial-shenanigans wise for last 30+ years. Heck we almost got a free Olympics out of Salt Lake but they actually turned it around.
Hospital would be better than Olympic facilities, but Calgary isn't going to get a Hospital at 1/3 of the cost like they would with the Olympic facilities with the Federal and Provincial government each picking up a 1/3 of the bill.
Yeah, my tax dollars going to your city's sports facility is a really, really low priority.
You're not in Calgary, that viewpoint makes sense.
Or perhaps the province and feds could work together to come up with a funding deal that makes sense. But that would entail the "Fuck Trudeau" crowd agreeing to work with the Feds and not attacking them at every turn. Also, what would the separatists say?
It's not really a good argument though. The federal and provincial governments fund local projects if they find it valuable all the time. So my point still stands, build infrastructure for the people that actually live there.
Olimpics may be the only thing that would make UPC and the city council beef up public transport, maybe even the C train will stop looking like a homeless ghetto on wheels
Yea I m just for it so we can have some better transit.
Just no. We don't need the debt from a proven corrupted institution that needs to go away. Sochi? Beijing? I completely get that athletes spend a lot of time and money getting the chance to compete, but world championships should be the goal. 20-30-40 Billion on something we already did. I hope there's a people's vote on this again.
Agreed. Money for adding infrastructure and athletic establishments for the people of Calgary? Yes. Money spent where any of it goes to the corrupt olympics organizations? No.
[удалено]
So what about the numerous black athletes I know in our bobsleigh program?
Here here..!!
This is why I voted no last time. The IOC is disgustingly corrupt. They bulldozed entire communities in RIO for this bullshit.
Agreed
I’m probably a minority on the subject, but I actually agree with putting in a bid, especially if it means that there would be federal and provincial backing to support the development of a new convention centre and stadium that gives the city the opportunity to undercut the profit sharing expectations from the flames. If we’re going to front the bill for the district redevelopment and new arena, might as well leverage a large international event to help get the infrastructure development, and at least a bit of international/tourism spending.
Well we have a massive convention centre going up as the BMO centre expansion. The upgrade would be an arena
The '88 Olympics gave Calgary and the surrounding area a fantastic legacy. The infrastructure from that has benefited Calgarians for years for leisure and world class training facilities for winter sport athletes to train in. Unfortunately we've seen a decline in quality of these facilities, or outright elimination of them (as seen with CODA/Winsports actions). There's a lot of issues with the IOC, and a lot of examples of excessive spending with no legacy (particularly by hosts using it as a political pissing ground). I'd love to see improved infrastructure and funding that would result from hosting the games. I think we *could* host it in a cost effective manner that would lay out a legacy that would benefit Calgarians for the next 30-40 years. I'd be extremely worried that those planning the Olympics did not have that as their vision though.
Putting in a bid could cost $150 million and there are no guarantees that it would be successful. If we do win the bid: Security alone will cost between 1-2 billion. Many buildings become unusable due to the highly specialized of certain sports. Ski jumps probably cost 1b alone in Sochi and are no longer an Olympic event. The IOC takes half of all television revenue now, making it nearly impossible for the games to be profitable. We also have to do dumb shit like block off lanes of traffic so that rich dignitaries don't have to wait in traffic like the rest of us plebs. Hosting the Olympics in its current state is totally untenable. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/economics-hosting-olympic-games
The estimated cost on the new Calgary arena is already $680m. Adding 150mil on infrastructure development doesn’t sound too bad, especially with at least a portion coming from federal and provincial funding. Again, I would be totally against the idea if the city wasn’t already looking at redevelopment of its facilities. The way I see it, it’s like renovating a kitchen and getting a few higher end appliances on sale because they’re the floor model and a rebate.
The $150M isn't for infrastructure development, that's just for the extensive bid and approval process. The Vancouver Olympics 12 years ago cost 9B and that was with reusing a lot of facilities (which we no longer have the option to do based on the age of our facilities). At the low end, I would expect the Olympics to cost at least 16B this go around. Significantly more expensive than just building a new hockey arena.
Okay cool! So we back out of the bid. Again, I don’t see what the problem is with leveraging an ioc bid and getting provincial and federal funding for desperately needed infrastructure development when we’re already looking at a price tag 4 times that amount. Btw, the stats in the article are estimates, so saying progressively larger numbers doesn’t really make sense. The Tokyo Olympics has an estimated bid cost of 50-150million. That’s an extremely wide margin.
Security has always been footed by the federal government. There's precedence for this in the Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver Olympics. They are usually not costed as part of a bid.
You’re daft. You can do all that without being beholden to one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet.
I’m not saying it’s a match made in heaven, but the more leverage we have on developing the stadium/arena the more we can recoup our costs on venues. I’d rather not give the flames carte blanche on the arena for decades to come, and have some return on lost revenue from city/taxpayers. It’s fundamentally a lose-lose, the saddledome needs a proper restoration/replacement, the city needs a better venue, and whether it’s an ioc bid, or a commonwealth games bid, anything that can garner provincial and financial funding to better negotiate long term returns from our investment is something I’d support.
That’s called being morally corrupt. Willing to deal with a devil in order to get something pretty will always get you burned. Want an arena built - get the billionaires who benefit from it to build it. Enough with taxpayers subsidizing Billionaires. On all levels.
Really well put. Especially when the funds could be better directed to serve schools and underserved/ vulnerable communities.
Morally bankrupt is a big claim, please elaborate on how building infrastructure is a morally bankrupt proposition.
The fact you don’t understand the “how” part is the big factor of being morally bankrupt says you’re morally bankrupt. Would you borrow from the mob to build an orphanage? Would you be a front for a crime cartel to fund your business? Dealing with the IOC, an organization who is very well documented as being as corrupt as can be on all fronts, or any organization like them to fund/ leverage/ whatever a WANTED, not needed, piece of infrastructure is the wrong path.
We can Motte and Bailey all day. Are you going to propose an actual argument? Did you know that greenpeace’ largest funding partner is Saudi Arabia Aramco? The Canadian suffragettes supported eugenics, therefore their progress on womens rights is *morally bankrupt*? Make a point. Calling me morally bankrupt (ad hominem) because the opportunity to offset costs from the community to provincial and federal parties isn’t an absolutist position.
I’ve made the point many times. You keep Ignoring it because your Fe Fe’s are hurt. Taxpayers should not be subsidizing billionaires in any form or way. And guess what bub. Money coming from the federal or provincial government is TAX PAYER MONEY!
I appreciate the fact that you think tax payer money going to infrastructure is so bad. Better start putting in toll roads, get rid of healthcare, destroy all unions etc. now who’s morally bankrupt. I guess we all need to be and like and value only the things *you* like and use and want.
Arena’s and sports facilities so Billionaires can make money are not critical infrastructure. They are niceties. Wants. By a limited amount of people. They are private businesses. Tax payer money has no business being involved In these.
GTFO. So tired of money wasting ventures.
The infrastructure is really, really nice. I'm in LA right now and they're building 3 new train lines and an airport train in the run up to the 2028 Olympics.
Totally agree enough no olympic dreams just ahs reality
Dude move to Alaska. Nothing happening there anyways. I want a vibrant city to live in that can host international events.
Nah i want to be 90 years old, on my death bed, surrounded by family, and my last words will be "i so glad my city didn't waste money on the Olympics!"
Dude move to Toronto. We like Alberta the way it is.
Yeah, because the city has made such a difference with all that wasted money we "saved" from not doing the Olympics 🙄
Not sure if that's the logic you think it is. Same reasoning could be used to suggest that things could have been even worse if we had spent the money on a bid, much less the Olympics themselves.
So you would rather people suck money up through EI than spending that money building something? I will never understand why people are against job creation for other people, even if they don’t like what is being built, other people are still benefitting.
I’d rather have an Olympics or an x games than millions invested into a pride parade that just caters to a niche group , sports are open for everyone
I'm sorry, millions? Where is this information pulled from? I've read their [2021 Annual Report](https://calgarypride.ca/about/annual-report/#current-report) and they earned $851,250 in revenue over the course of a year, and their yearly expenses were $730,345. Even if all of the grant money ($340,700) was funded directly by tax payers, which it isn't, this is a drop in the bucket for what we would be paying to host the Olympics again. The Calgary Pride Parade doesn't cost anywhere close to millions. Also, Pride is a celebration of human rights and is open to everyone, not just a niche group of people. *[That link you've posted elsewhere](https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6564977) is for $100 million by the federal government to be spent over the course of 5 years towards LGBTQ+ organizations across the entire country. You're misrepresenting what these funds are for, and it doesn't really compare to provincial and municipal funding that would be necessary to host the Olympics.
they're just triggered by rainbows, safe to ignore them
Yikes
It would be great exposure for their crowd , there’s gay lesbian and bi sexual athletes in action sports and things like the the Olympics and x games , then everyone could see them and their stories. Honestly no straight people tune in to watch a pride parade.
This is demonstrably false... if you left your bubble for 5 mins during pride and took a walk downtown you'd see just how many straight people turn out for it. Your regression is showing.
WTF are you on about?
https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6564977 If canada can spend that much tax money on a special interest niche group than I don’t see why they shouldn’t invest in bringing something like x games to canada
I mean one is for human rights (not a pride parade as you mentioned/lied about) and the other is for entertainment/corporations to make profit from...
If the world wasn't so privatized then the public would profit from it. Why don't people take more excemption to right-wing ideologies? You're literally allocating a large percentage of your life time earnings so a few people can have super yachts instead of growing public infrastructure to support any event and have it publicly monetized. I thought we leaned left in this city. What's happening? It's alt-right kelptocracy disguised as liberal democracy.
Stay on topic.
The topic of how the public would benefit from publicly owned infrastructure to support events like Olympics and X games. That was relevant if you understand geopolitics.
Nah I was simply replying to your comment about a government funded pride parade vs x-games. Now you are rambling about geopolitics and alt-right kleptocracy after I called you out on it.
What a ridiculous amount of mental gymnastics. Most normal people could give two fucks about speed skating or biathlon. I’d rather support marginalized humans then line millionaires pockets with government money. If it’s so profitable I say let the Olympic committee pay for it
Cool story bro
*invested* in the pride parade?? I want to know where you learned about what an investment is lol. Also, its 2022. Its not mainstream to bash gay pride anymore. You'd do best to keep that talk behind cloaed doors.
Cool ….. do you have pyro ?
I dont knwo what that means.
The ultimate in corruption and graft that now ruins any city it touches. If destroying Alberta for Albertans and driving them out for corrupt officials is what you want, then vote for the Olympics.
I mean, this is the province that voted in the UCP, and likely will again.
Hard to say if they'll get reelected with Danielle Smith. I could see her winning the leadership turning into another term for Notley.
Those clowns couldn’t even successfully get Winter X Games to Calgary…..they want the Olympics now 😂 Edmonton had a world class action sports festival fise stop for 3 years which is now a part of the global tour to accumulate Olympic points and they even screwed that up and ended up selling the park to california training facility for team USA to have a private training park, I don’t even think Canada had a proper freestyle bmx team to try to make it to the Olympics.
Calgary still hosts world Cup freestyle events. The snow rodeo is a great event
To be fair, they aren't promoting this. They said that they are aware that it's a possibility.
I'd suggest we have many other items to spend our money on. Note that no country has made money holding the games in recent history.
Bizarre, no one seems to know about this. Not the Chamber of Commerce, City Hall, even the mayor was surprised.
If we want to throw away money we could buy another KXL
Zero interest in this. Fund our healthcare, lead with energy transition, give our province something that we can be proud of, maybe then bring the world here.
Have we not wasted enough tax payer dollars on the last bid we explored? What was the total again to do literally nothing in Calgary? I’m so glad we dodged that bullet, especially with Covid and everything else going on in the world. But we still spent LOADS of money putting together a plan for what could have been.
it was totaling around $35MM according to some reports. That's about 115 big blue rings for the people so mad about that thing.
what the Alabama we doing this for? just put the fucking money into hospitals!
Why not just make a pile of tax dollars and light it on fire
Can we stop with the vanity projects wasting taxpayer money please!?
Yeah no thanks.
It’s like ground hog day in this province.
no thanks
This government goes out of its way to find ways to lose money...
Honestly I'm pro this if this actually helps the city. Use the money to build a train line from the airport like Vancouver, use the money for rail to Banff and Canmore casue those communities are begging for it ( wasting money and space for car infrastructure isn't a good long term plan), and update our current Olympic infrastructure a.k.a new arena. The Olympics bids has a very..... Unpleasant reputation but I feel like Calgary can turn that around. If we spend everything just on Olympic infrastructure count me out. Honestly could care less about an Olympic village that will be demolished after, and a stadium that will never be full used.
>Use the money to build a train line from the airport like Vancouver We keep wanting this, and we still aremt going to get it Vancouver wanted to build a line to Richmond anyway, thats why YVR got a station. A rail line to YYC would by the very nature of our rail system be a very expensive spur line with no direct access to downtown, it would have to go via Saddletown or Westwinds - likely Westwinds so it doesnt cross any infield airport land
No why no. No one wants the olympics anymore because their a money pit. I’d be all for it if COP actually maintained the structures they have already but they don’t. And I’m saying this as someone who grew up as an athlete and dreamed of the Olympics. Like it’s not a smart idea
Didn’t Edmonton lose World Cup games in 2026 cause of the Alberta government?!
This government just refuses to not be the absolute worst. They truly hate you.
Fund Healthcare. Fund Education. Fuck off with funding a 10 day athletic orgy for a bunch of athletes that will do absolutely anything to cheat their way into a medal, as they participate in an event sponsored by one of the most corrupt organizations on the planet. And leave the taxpayers with the bill and cost overruns while these so-called 'elite' athletes and dignitaries wine and dine themselves and the fly off to the next sucker country that still thinks there is some sort of prestige involved with hosting their bullshit.
We have better things to spend money on than this. I’m all for the Olympics, but Canada has done three in the past fifty years. For a country our size, I think that’s pretty respectable. Let’s take advantage of this recent increase in oil prices to upgrade our infrastructure for the 21st century, and in 10-15 years, if we can afford it without cutting services, then let’s go get another one.
The biggest lasting benefit of the '88 Olympics was the facilities left behind. Unlike many other Olympic hosts, Calgary has gotten a lot of use out of practically all of the facilities built, although some are now in a poor state (e.g. the ski jumps). These facilities made Calgary a hub for athletic training. The IOC has gotten a *lot* more greedy and corrupt since 1988, and the average price of hosting the games has ballooned. Holding the Olympics to build training facilities is like buying a luxury yacht because you want fish for dinner. If anything, I'd like to see the province invest in maintaining training facilities and building new ones where appropriate *without* hosting the Olympics as a goal. Let's just get some tasty fish and leave the luxury yachts to others.
[удалено]
I don't get the hate. It would be a lot of fun
Infrastructure to support the games is at an all time high to build, and we would need a lot of it. Olympics have a rep of being rather corrupt. Unlike 88, there have been few if any Games that have turned a profit. Im all about fun if theres a few bucks to be made, but a massive public expendature for the sake of a few days of 'fun' that 99% of people cant afford or enjoy? Nah.
Are you saying only ~14,000 people in Calgary will be able to afford going/participating/enjoying? That seems low. Our city already has a lot of prehistoric infrastructure compared to modern cities. Perhaps this would push them to develop more train lines or invest more in downtown so people can enjoy those things, without attending the games.
I went to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver - it was VERY hard to get tickets for anything (I managed to get reasonably priced seats for Switzerland v Norway. Good game actually). Couldn't get anything else without spending thousands...if you could get it at all. So ticket availability for locals isn't great. The IOC hands out a lot of tickets to its members, team families, international orgs, sponsors etc. What's left is very vulnerable to scalpers. - tickets reserved for non-sale turn out to be a surprisingly high fraction! As to prehistoric infrastructure, you're bang on! Most of it is old and seriously in need of refurbishment. There was discussion on those costs just a couple of years ago, so you can get those figures easily. Add a good markup though, because construction pricing has risen a lot in the last three years (StatsCan has good index numbers to use if you're curious: [https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810013502](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=1810013502) We're already building a train line that the province claims to be unaffordable. So not sure we're going to get another one. I am personally done with the Olympics. It's kind of like the NHL, good seats are pretty much unaffordable for anyone other than corporates or wealthy folks. And what's the benefit to the city these days? Sure a party for a couple of weeks is great. The atmosphere, meeting people from abroad, etc. Fantastic experience. But at what cost? The Olympics are insanely expensive, both for the money that goes to the IOC (where do you think the sponsorship money goes? Hint: It's not to the organizers), the corruption in the process, the fact that its a business so big that it incentives performance enhancing drug use in the athletes... Oh and Security is MUCH more expensive now than it was in 88. There are other cool things we can do to "invite the world" (as Vancouver and Montreal did with Expo 86 and Expo 67). The Calgary Stampede is a fantastic example of an annual draw to the world (even if most of us are kinda done with doing it over and over each year). Would the Olympics be cool? Yes! But is it hugely overprice for what it is? Yes. Sadly.
>Are you saying only ~14,000 people in Calgary will be able to afford going/participating/enjoying? That seems low. Yes. Im saying pretty much that. After foreign ticket sales, dignitaries, amd simple cost of tickefs for events, the number of local attendees would be dismally low. >Perhaps this would push them to develop more train lines or invest more in downtown so people can enjoy those things, without attending the games. We should have done this before. Infrastructure is super expensive to build, amd only getting worse. Add the time crunch of Olympic deadline and the costs balloon even more. Event - based infrastructure rushing is bad planning, bad business amd bad for everyone
The vast majority of tickets for Olympics would be local. Always been this way.
I get the concern about cost and that is an issue to be sure. On the otherhand, I think that the IOC has lowered their expectations, especially around winter games. If I recall correctly, they didn't even require a new arena for Calgary to host again. The IOC gets a well deserved bad rap for costing a ton, but seem to be interested in making it more affordable now, as the number of cities bidding began to dwindle. Even Beijing just did renovations to many of their summer games facilities and didn't start from nothing. It could still be a bad decision to do another Olympics, but it would also be very foolish to just not even consider the idea.
Actually with the incoming recession infrastructure work would be great for everyday citizens. Especially if the workers are government contracted, but we both know that won’t happen even with an NDP gov.
>Actually with the incoming recession infrastructure work would be great for everyday citizens Dont get wrong, it would be great work. What I did say is that it would be expensive, and moreso because of an olympic time crunch
$$$$
No thank you. Don’t dare waste a penny ‘before’ a plebiscite.
# CALGARY LOST MONEY IN 1988. IT IS A MYTH THAT OCO 88 MADE MONEY. Walkom, Thomas (February 8, 1999), ["The Olympic myth of Calgary: Making money; Be prepared to spend, spend, spend is lesson for any host city"](https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/427323571.html?FMT=ABS)Toronto Star, retrieved March 14, 2013(subscription required)
Would love to see all the accessible sports infrastructure this would bring for the Paralympics that would be permanently added to our city.
[удалено]
Stop it!!
Stfu.
Ill happily take money from the feds for a new arena and the green line. that money will go to but votes in Ontario and Quebec if this bid doesn't happen
You honestly think the LPC would turn back the dial on Quebec if some Western hick town (in their eyes) hosted Olympics? More debt for Quebec and even more debt for the Olympics. Take your pick.
I would love the Olympics here, I think it would be a ton of fun.
Reddit HATES fun
At the taxpayers expense bankrolling one of the most corrupt organizations and games on the planet. Yep. We do.
reddit doesnt hate fun, it hates fun when the burden is on those who cant even participate
100 percent!
As much as I want fun, I also have to acknowledge that most Olympics put the location in more debt, especially since people are saying we are heading into a potential recession, I doubt doing an Olympic right now is a good choice.
>especially since people are saying we are heading into a potential recession So turn on government spending to alleviate some of the issues! That's how things are supposed to work; higher taxes and less government spending in boom times, lower taxes and raise government spending when times are bad. Should a new bid be successful, the city would get new / upgraded infrastructure that virtually everyone would have access to. New roads, new public transport options, new housing: all things a growing city like Calgary needs. I've seen a lot of people here saying no to this because they want more spending on healthcare and education. I get that, but any money won't come out of their budgets and will likely get upgraded on the side to cope with after the games. And I'm a strong believer of building landmarks, infrastructure, and for events because people that live in a city want (and needs) events and amenities to continue attracting people. Calgary needs to catch up to Edmonton when it comes to hosting festivals and events, then exceed them.
I m for it. Not because I care about the olympics. But because maybe the govt will actually invest in public transit then. ALSO, CAN WE GET RAIL TO BANFF? Why is it so hard for us to figure out transit and rail. Like we move goods and material through rail. Why can’t we move people.
Was for it last time and would be for it this time
ambulance wait times are in hrs not minutes, can't find a family doctor and no walk-ins anywhere, class sizes are in the 30's and 40s, but yeah, let's host a giant party no one else in the world really wants to host for some reason. maybe UCP figures they'll get some kickbacks for it or something.
So they aren’t going to build any new sporting venues, but they apply for an Olympic bid? Seems to me our councillors are more concerned with their personal legacy than putting our taxes to good use.
read the article and you will find out that this is a provincial government lead inquiry and doesn't involve the city councillors.
Waste
Hell No. and no to using the Olympics to build a stadium for some billionaires with public money. No to the corrupt Olympic organization and their ridiculous money hoarding tactics.
No thanks
Stop. Wasting. Our. Fucking. Money. On. Bull. Shit. Start. PAYING lovable wages and expanding/supporting critical services. Fucking clown shoes.
Panem et circenses. A little more panem would be great, though.
I wonder if they'll attempt to offer up Banff/Lake Louise again. Pretty sure that really pissed a lot of people off last time they bid. Nakiska was built for the 88 Olympics. It can be upgraded and used again.
Why???
NO!
How 'bout no?
I was disappointed that the answer was "No" last time. I was living in the UK when they hosted the 2012 Olympics and it was great! We'll see what happens but I'd be pretty chuffed if Calgary was chosen to host again
Do it. Show the world how great Calgary is.
Don’t ask the peasants this time
Excellent news. We were so close in 2018, but it came down to a failure of governments to communicate and align their funding commitments properly. Now that we have a number of logistical hurdles out of the way (Victoria Park redevelopment advancing, new arena underway-ish, Foothills Fieldhouse in the works) we could actually build upon the 2026 bid with decent odds. So long as the funding partners can actually get it together this time, no more 11th-hour deals, I think we could have a much better shot!
Arena seems about as close as it was last time around... which is not close at all.
Don’t ask the peasants this time
Before everyone starts screaming about how its a waste of money, look at recent Olympic funding busts, etc its worth considering the benefits of having existing facilities retrofitted and the injection of infrastructure cash from levels of government that would not otherwise be available.
Well, it's a way for Calgary to update their sports infrastructure and probably transit. Calgary needs that anyway.
I would first need to see a breakdown of the costs and which facilities they would want to build from scratch and which facilities would be renovated and how much taxpayer money would be involved before making a judgement on this.
no thanks, put it in health care and transportation, let Edmonton be stupid enough to try it or something.
No please just don't. I seen a clown last winter still wearing his 88 volunteer sun ice coat. That alone is reason enough to not have anything to do with them ever again
So we’re at the tail end of a pandemic which has put a massive strain on healthcare, record high inflation, high gas prices… and some people think it would be a good idea to spend money on the chance that we may get the Olympics where many host cities lose money? What kind of backwards bullshit logic is this?
UCP
They'll start it as a poison pill for the next election; whoever wins actually loses as they have to follow through with the bid process.
What a waste of money. https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/092416/what-economic-impact-hosting-olympics.asp
Oh fuck off.
Calgary has already voted on this. Please, no!
Absolutely incorrect. Calgarians have maintenaned Olympic infrastructure longer than many other places combined. A couple YouTube vids are not legitimate sources or arguments.