[POLL] Should the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games be cancelled, postponed or held at any cost?

[Monzanator 4,503]

22 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

Hockey is 1 sport out of many at the Winter Olympics.  It cost them viewers, but if we're talking about major controversies with the games, what about the Russians and doping?  What about North Korea-South Korea relations that created a number of concerns in the lead up?  The NHL skipping 2018 would barely be a blip on the radar so far as history is concerned compared to if the Olympics had to be postponed.  That literally has never happened before in their history.  People will look back on that 200 years from now and wonder what happened?  No one would do the same with 2018 because NHL players weren't there.

 

And I disagree about social media.  In the past decade, we've seen several potential Olympic host cities have to give up because it was put to a referendum or a public vote.  I'm pretty sure that happened with Budapest with their bid for the 2024 Olympics.  My understanding - and you can correct me if this is wrong - is that there were political movements to stop the bid and their efforts succeeded when it was going to force the possibility of city residents rejecting the Olympics.  So yes, that's exactly how social media can influence a decision.

 

You're right that if the Olympics get moved to next year and everyone figures out how to make that work, no one will care.  The problem is now where the IOC is saying they could hold them this summer when it might not be possible to do so.  So if the IOC continues on that path, they're potentially asking for trouble in the midst of a worldwide pandemic like we haven't seen in more than a century

 

Hosting Olympics loses you money, it has nothing to do with social media. Garmisch-Partenkirchen struck down the idea of WOG bid in public vote because they don't really need to host them and lose a ton of money. They have the Four Hills on New Year and the alpine skiing World Cup. They are very fine with that plus it's a skiing resort for tourists. Winter Olympics in particular are no longer held in traditional winter resorts, there are a few countries willing to host the Games regardless how much money it will cost them China is obviously one, I bet in 20 years time Doha will be awarded Summer Games too. Qatar has hosted every damn World Championships there is, football, athletics, handball, cycling, you name it. They've got the money and they don't care about anything else. Hosting the Games is more about prestige, there are only a handful of countries that pick prestige over money loss, China, Qatar, USA, Italy and France being probably on that short-list.

[Quaker2001 251]

2 hours ago, Vektor said:

Hockey is by far the most popular winter sport, nothing comes close it, so no, it's not "just 1 out of many". Hockey actually has some stars that regular people heard about. 

 

And what you are talking about isn't "social media". It's regular referendum. People didn't need any "influencing" in Budapest to vote against the Olympics, because they never wanted it in the first place, it's the most left-wing part of country where people are against most of the sport events. And as I said, there will always be some cities where the politicians in power will have the support of the public on this matter. Let's also not forget that not every country is a democracy. The Olympics doesn't need the Western democracies to host to survive. 

 

You sure about that last part?  Because without Western democracies, who else would have hosted the 2024 Olympics?

 

I can't speak for outside the United States, but pretty sure "regular people" have heard about Lindsay Vonn and Shaun White (among others).  Either way, there was still a hockey tournament in 2018, even if it didn't include NHL players.  How anyone could argue that's a bigger story than the entire Olympics being postponed for a year is beyond me.  That makes absolutely no sense.

[Quaker2001 251]

2 hours ago, Monzanator said:

 

Hosting Olympics loses you money, it has nothing to do with social media. Garmisch-Partenkirchen struck down the idea of WOG bid in public vote because they don't really need to host them and lose a ton of money. They have the Four Hills on New Year and the alpine skiing World Cup. They are very fine with that plus it's a skiing resort for tourists. Winter Olympics in particular are no longer held in traditional winter resorts, there are a few countries willing to host the Games regardless how much money it will cost them China is obviously one, I bet in 20 years time Doha will be awarded Summer Games too. Qatar has hosted every damn World Championships there is, football, athletics, handball, cycling, you name it. They've got the money and they don't care about anything else. Hosting the Games is more about prestige, there are only a handful of countries that pick prestige over money loss, China, Qatar, USA, Italy and France being probably on that short-list.

 

The United States and France are able to willing to host because they have the majority of the needed facilities already in place without having to spend billions to build new venues with no planned use for after the Games.  That was the problem with cities like Rio and Athens which in hindsight were poor choices to be Olympics hosts.  Hosting the Olympics will lose money if it's planned and executed poorly.  Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to plan and execute them well.  Let's see how that works out for Los Angeles in 2028 where the baseline for them will be the 1984 Olympics which made a profit.  And it's hard to measure the long-term benefits of hosting an Olympics.  Ask LA 1984 and Barcelona 1992 how that worked out for them.

 

What we're seeing with the Winter Olympics is that the only cities that might want to host now are those with facilities in place.  Which for the most part means cities that have host an Olympics before.  Somehow, Italy stayed in the running for 2026, but they have many of the needed venues already in place.  Yes, if no one else bids, maybe Qatar offers up a trillion dollar bid and the IOC has said yes (although after the impending disaster that is the 2022 World Cup, let's see how that goes after that).

[Monzanator 4,503]

24 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

The United States and France are able to willing to host because they have the majority of the needed facilities already in place without having to spend billions to build new venues with no planned use for after the Games.  That was the problem with cities like Rio and Athens which in hindsight were poor choices to be Olympics hosts.  Hosting the Olympics will lose money if it's planned and executed poorly.  Unfortunately, it's extremely difficult to plan and execute them well.  Let's see how that works out for Los Angeles in 2028 where the baseline for them will be the 1984 Olympics which made a profit.  And it's hard to measure the long-term benefits of hosting an Olympics.  Ask LA 1984 and Barcelona 1992 how that worked out for them.

 

What we're seeing with the Winter Olympics is that the only cities that might want to host now are those with facilities in place.  Which for the most part means cities that have host an Olympics before.  Somehow, Italy stayed in the running for 2026, but they have many of the needed venues already in place.  Yes, if no one else bids, maybe Qatar offers up a trillion dollar bid and the IOC has said yes (although after the impending disaster that is the 2022 World Cup, let's see how that goes after that).

 

 

Yes, having facilities in place gives certain countries a clear advantage over some others but Los Angeles will make money from hosting the Games because:

 

a) Memorial Coliseum is tied to USC & NCAA which makes a ton of money and probably has a bigger budget than 75% of the world. NCAA is the most dysfunctional organization in sports which pays absolutely nothing to the student athletes. Therefore they have money to spend on the Olympics.

b) Stan Kroenke and his SoFi Stadium will combine the Games with private business. So it's no longer a public event where people make a choice. Kroenke will probably sign billionaire deals with Olympic sponsors and get back all that money he invested in building the stadium. This goes beyond the country's budget, outside of China and Qatar which other country could afford to basically leave the hosting process in private hands? Probably none.

 

Rio, Athens, Barcelona, Cortina whatever, they had to pour public money into the Games, USA/LA basically leaves the lion's share of this process to NCAA and Stan Kroenke.

[Olympian1010 7,976]

30 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

Rio, Athens, Barcelona, Cortina whatever, they had to pour public money into the Games, USA/LA basically leaves the lion's share of this process to NCAA and Stan Kroenke.

I love when you talk out of your ass. This statement is laughably overdramatic about the Olympics hosting situation in the United States.

[Monzanator 4,503]

3 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

I love when you talk out of your ass. This statement is laughably overdramatic about the Olympics hosting situation in the United States.

 

Overdramatic? Then why is SoFi Stadium scheduled to host opening, closing ceremonies & the soccer games at the OG? How much PUBLIC money was spend on purchasing the land and building the stadium? NCAA revenue is north of 1 billion dollars, Stan Kroenke's net worth is 10 times as much. No wonder Los Angeles made the Olympics hosting bid. When was the last time NCAA and Kroenke LOST money? If you believe Kroenke won't strike business deals with official Olympic sponsors then you have no idea what's going on.

[Olympian1010 7,976]

17 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

Overdramatic? Then why is SoFi Stadium scheduled to host opening, closing ceremonies & the soccer games at the OG? How much PUBLIC money was spend on purchasing the land and building the stadium? NCAA revenue is north of 1 billion dollars, Stan Kroenke's net worth is 10 times as much. No wonder Los Angeles made the Olympics hosting bid. When was the last time NCAA and Kroenke LOST money? If you believe Kroenke won't strike business deals with official Olympic sponsors then you have no idea what's going on.

Well, SoFi wasn’t ever built for the purpose of hosting the Olympics (though it has been designated and lined up for that purpose now). Public money isn’t spent on the land/stadium, but it will be spent on all the supporting infrastructure in the area. I really don’t know where you got this ridiculous idea that the NCAA are funding anything outside college sports. Kroenke isn’t funding the games either. LA made our bid becuase we were the last Olympic host to successfully turn a profit, and we had the majority of the infrastructure already needed. Of course that’s without mentioning our desirable weather, high rate of freedom, appeal to culture, and large population base. The NCAA isn’t a powerful as you think they are. 
 

You know I honestly don’t care what you believe. I’m more pissed off about how constantly just take massive shits on everything. Have you ever made a positive comment on here? Look, I know Poland isn’t rainbows and sunshine, but show some fucking decency every once in a while. I’m not the only user that finds it hard to tolerate your constant negativity either, so don’t act like it’s just a “me” problem. 
 

I’ll also make an awesome, kind suggestion for you. How about we talk about the issue this thread is meant to address. 

[Monzanator 4,503]

6 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

Well, SoFi wasn’t ever built for the purpose of hosting the Olympics (though it has been designated and lined up for that purpose now). Public money isn’t spent on the land/stadium, but it will be spent on all the supporting infrastructure in the area. I really don’t know where you got this ridiculous idea that the NCAA are funding anything outside college sports. Kroenke isn’t funding the games either. LA made our bid becuase we were the last Olympic host to successfully turn a profit, and we had the majority of the infrastructure already needed. Of course that’s without mentioning our desirable weather, high rate of freedom, appeal to culture, and large population base. The NCAA isn’t a powerful as you think they are. 
 

You know I honestly don’t care what you believe. I’m more pissed off about how constantly just take massive shits on everything. Have you ever made a positive comment on here? Look, I know Poland isn’t rainbows and sunshine, but show some fucking decency every once in a while. I’m not the only user that finds it hard to tolerate your constant negativity either, so don’t act like it’s just a “me” problem. 
 

I’ll also make an awesome, kind suggestion for you. How about we talk about the issue this thread is meant to address. 

 

I told you before I'm a cynical realist. Take it or leave it.

 

As for this thread I said before, it's gonna be late May at earliest when Japan makes some kind of decision. Yeah, Japan, not US Track & Field or whomever else. If you wanna waste two months on dabbling what the decision will be, it's your choice. Shinzo Abe has said the preparations for the Games will continue despite the virus outbreak. That kills any sort of discussion for now. Everything else is pure speculation and unneccessary drama I prefer to ignore.

[Olympian1010 7,976]

6 minutes ago, Monzanator said:

 

I told you before I'm a cynical realist. Take it or leave it.

 

As for this thread I said before, it's gonna be late May at earliest when Japan makes some kind of decision. Yeah, Japan, not US Track & Field or whomever else. If you wanna waste two months on dabbling what the decision will be, it's your choice. Shinzo Abe has said the preparations for the Games will continue despite the virus outbreak. That kills any sort of discussion for now. Everything else is pure speculation and unneccessary drama I prefer to ignore.

I agree with this entire statement. I apologize for my attitude earlier. We’re good 

[NMQ 243]

Delfina Pignatiello training for the Olympics Eric Moussambani style. She´ll surely  catch Ledecky this way!

 

Edited March 22, 2020 by NMQ