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

[Olympian1010 8,073]

  On 3/22/2020 at 3:58 AM, NMQ said:

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

Expand  

I think Moussambani’s pool was smaller 

[Quaker2001 251]

  On 3/21/2020 at 8:12 PM, Monzanator said:

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.

Expand  

 

Funding for all things Olympics works differently in the United States than virtually anywhere else in the world.  Everything is privately funded as opposed to being underwritten by the government.  So yes, that gives them a good chance at success that they don't need to rely on government funding except for contingency purposes.

 

As for USC, the NCAA had nothing to do with funding for the Coliseum renovations.  All that money was raised by USC from donations and sponsorship.  The crazy thing is that they spent close to $300 million on it and it's going to cost another $300 million to make the stadium ready to host athletics in 2028.  The NCAA will have little to nothing to do with the Olympics.  This isn't their show and they likely won't have a play to play.

 

The thing to remember with Kroenke is that he didn't move the Rams to LA until early 2016.  So he wasn't a part of the original plans for the bid.  A nice added bonus for sure, and yes, he and his stadium will become a big part of things, I'm sure.  

 

There's a lot of public infrastructure projects going on in LA.  Some of which are now tied to delivery of the Olympics in 2028.  So there are potential pitfalls there in terms of money spent that won't show up in the Olympic budget.  As opposed to with other cities where those expenses do fall on the OCOG.  Sometimes it's too much.  Rio and Athens most notably where the legacy plans weren't that great.  But don't lump those cities in with Barcelona, which is the ultimate story of an urban revival tied to an Olympics.  I know locals there aren't always too thrilled with the amount of tourism that took over the city afterwords, but it's the perfect example of right city, right place, right time.  Unfortunately, no other city is likely to ever pull that off again.

[AmericanHero40 222]

  On 3/22/2020 at 4:04 AM, Quaker2001 said:

 

Funding for all things Olympics works differently in the United States than virtually anywhere else in the world.  Everything is privately funded as opposed to being underwritten by the government.  So yes, that gives them a good chance at success that they don't need to rely on government funding except for contingency purposes.

 

As for USC, the NCAA had nothing to do with funding for the Coliseum renovations.  All that money was raised by USC from donations and sponsorship.  The crazy thing is that they spent close to $300 million on it and it's going to cost another $300 million to make the stadium ready to host athletics in 2028.  The NCAA will have little to nothing to do with the Olympics.  This isn't their show and they likely won't have a play to play.

 

The thing to remember with Kroenke is that he didn't move the Rams to LA until early 2016.  So he wasn't a part of the original plans for the bid.  A nice added bonus for sure, and yes, he and his stadium will become a big part of things, I'm sure.  

 

There's a lot of public infrastructure projects going on in LA.  Some of which are now tied to delivery of the Olympics in 2028.  So there are potential pitfalls there in terms of money spent that won't show up in the Olympic budget.  As opposed to with other cities where those expenses do fall on the OCOG.  Sometimes it's too much.  Rio and Athens most notably where the legacy plans weren't that great.  But don't lump those cities in with Barcelona, which is the ultimate story of an urban revival tied to an Olympics.  I know locals there aren't always too thrilled with the amount of tourism that took over the city afterwords, but it's the perfect example of right city, right place, right time.  Unfortunately, no other city is likely to ever pull that off again.

Expand  

 

1) I have no clue how they will fit the track and field events into the coliseum, it's setup for football, so very oval stands with no room (and a horrific area and transportation to get there, i only went to 3 games there and hated every aspect of the stadium)

2) SoFi stadium is not part of the olympics in a big way, half of the ceremonies, soccer and archery in the lake outside, thats it, probably could've done more with it, but there was no need

3) There could be another venue, with clippers building an arena next to SoFi stadium there are still issues for them to clear however it's suppose to be built by then, so probably a venue to move women's basketball or gymanstics to

[phelps 7,835]

  On 3/22/2020 at 11:36 AM, Maxim Fastovsky said:

 

1) I have no clue how they will fit the track and field events into the coliseum, it's setup for football, so very oval stands with no room (and a horrific area and transportation to get there, i only went to 3 games there and hated every aspect of the stadium)

2) SoFi stadium is not part of the olympics in a big way, half of the ceremonies, soccer and archery in the lake outside, thats it, probably could've done more with it, but there was no need

3) There could be another venue, with clippers building an arena next to SoFi stadium there are still issues for them to clear however it's suppose to be built by then, so probably a venue to move women's basketball or gymanstics to

Expand  

 

basically, they will set it up on an elevated platform, keeping the new first ring of seats below the level of the athletics track (capacity should go down to around 70,000 for the Games, while it's around 90,000 for American Football)...

 

here you can find renderings and a whole discussion thread about how it will look at the end of the Olympic set up...

 

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=145445659

 

p.s. if the really build a new modern arena beside the new Football Stadium, it finally lead to rethink of having the main swimming pool outdoor at the USC Baseball Field...they could set that pool inside the new arena (I definitely don't like outdoor swimming competitions, they are often problematic in terms of weather conditions -wind is capable of making a race unfair- and the sunny outdoor environment is always a problem when it comes to tv pictures production)...

[Quaker2001 251]

  On 3/22/2020 at 11:36 AM, Maxim Fastovsky said:

 

1) I have no clue how they will fit the track and field events into the coliseum, it's setup for football, so very oval stands with no room (and a horrific area and transportation to get there, i only went to 3 games there and hated every aspect of the stadium)

2) SoFi stadium is not part of the olympics in a big way, half of the ceremonies, soccer and archery in the lake outside, thats it, probably could've done more with it, but there was no need

3) There could be another venue, with clippers building an arena next to SoFi stadium there are still issues for them to clear however it's suppose to be built by then, so probably a venue to move women's basketball or gymanstics to

Expand  

 

1 - What phelps said.  The agreement between USC and the city of Los Angeles is that they can do whatever they want to the Coliseum so long as they make it available for the Olympics.  Again, this means they just spent nearly $300 million on renovations to improve the stadium with little regard for hosting athletics, which will require an additional $300 million for the temporary overlay.  I was there for the first time a few years ago visiting a friend in LA.  For a building that's nearly a century old, I'm moderately surprised it's still standing.  That there's public transportation there helps, so that will be a key selling point during Games time.

 

2 - Half the ceremonies is not a small deal.  Debatable how much Kroenke and his interests will be involved, but now that he's firmly planted himself into the LA landscape, I'm sure he'll do what he can to capitalize on the Olympics being in LA.  Remember, SoFi is his stadium.  He owns and operates it, as opposed to the Coliseum which is owned by the city.

 

3 - Depends if it's a new arena or a replacement for the Forum, which right now is slated to host gymnastics.  I agree with phelps that I've never been a big fan of the current plan for swimming.  Not sure a new arena would be an option if if displaced gymnastics, but it's an interesting theory.

[Quaker2001 251]

Good read from Inside the Games on what the IOC is dealing with these days..

 

Michael Pavitt: IOC must act responsibly for Japan as well as athletes over potential Tokyo postponement

[Jur 687]

Spanish press is saying the IOC would anounce today the delay of the games.

[Quaker2001 251]

  On 3/22/2020 at 5:18 PM, Jur said:

Spanish press is saying the IOC would anounce today the delay of the games.

Expand  

 

It's currently the middle of the night in Japan.  Wonder about the timing of such an announcement, if it comes from Japan or from IOC headquarters in Lausanne

[Jur 687]

  On 3/22/2020 at 5:33 PM, Quaker2001 said:

 

It's currently the middle of the night in Japan.  Wonder about the timing of such an announcement, if it comes from Japan or from IOC headquarters in Lausanne

Expand  

Apparently it comes from Samaranch Jr. (IOC member)

[Wumo 3,016]

German fencer, Max Hartung, has announced he will not participate in Tokyo this summer. He will only take part in the Games if it is being postponed. In a interview he said he needed to set an example to protect his fellow-athletes. It has to be said Hartung is chairman of the German Athlete Association. 

https://tokio.sportschau.de/tokio2020/nachrichten/Hartung-sagt-Nein-zu-Olympia-Druck-auf-IOC-wird-groesser,olympia6956.html (in German)

Edited March 22, 2020 by Wumo