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oh, all right, I'll be the first to say it:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I guess the more than 11 billion euro price tag....
... dampened the prior local support for the bid. Is it my imagination, or is every other Olympic plan in contention _way_ more expensive than the amount Boston sponsors claimed a Boston Olympics would have cost?
Yeah
Either there was no way in hell Boston would get the games as the ICO wouldn't go with the lowest bidder OR the Boston2024 planners where lying through their teeth about how much it would cost. (Or both could be true.)
Hamburg got a vote. Germany is a Democratic Republic.
Hamburg got a vote. If I recall correctly, no elected official in Boston or Mass. said we'd have one. In fact, the Mayor of Boston said we would not until the public outrage percolated to his office. In the end, Boston2024 and the United Independent Party both said they'd underwrite a ballot initiative.
$800 million was the taxpayer liability of the "No Public Money" Boston 2024 bid and that's just for starters. Average, that's average, cost overruns are about 280%of original bid.
I can't recall the mayor once calling attention to the cost and arguing it'd be worth it, and explaining why. What if we had a real mayor who could argue for his initiatives and for whom due diligence was not an afterthought?
mmmmm
I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning. Good work, Hamburg! Go to hell, IOC!
Excellent!
I will have a cheeseburger in their honor.
Well done Hamburg.
Well done Hamburg.
I'm still upset that I lost
I'm still upset that I lost my chance to hit on some Swedish Olympian babes in "Midtown".
It's a shame. A Hamburg
It's a shame. A Hamburg Olympics could have inspired the very best TV commercials.
All things aside
I wonder what the future of the Olympics will be when no city is willing to host them...or the only cities willing to host are ones who are incapable of doing so to an acceptable standard to draw spectators and athletes. (See: Sochi's dog-infested streets and low-quality hotels, Rio's heavily contaminated waterways, Beijing's poor air quality.)
The kind of people who will pay premium sums to go to the Olympics expect a certain standard of living while they're there; the kind of athletes who attract lots of sponsorships and spectators are the kind of athletes who will not jeopardize their health and careers for an amateur-level competition (many of them are now year-round professionals.)
Pretty much every city in the
Pretty much every city in the world is fine with hosting the Olympics. The disconnect is just over revenue. The IOC people are demanding massive, brand new infrastructure that brings in the most spectators and looks best on television. Cities are unwilling to provide that. Hosting a swim meet at a local college's swimming pool, fine. Building a fancy new natatorium with a capacity for 17,000 people, maybe not.
Remember in 1994 the World Cup was held in the USA and all the matches were played in existing stadiums. Didn't have to build a thing.
Covering Hamburg news now,
Covering Hamburg news now, Adam?
Ya, mein Freund
Olympia-Referendum in Hamburg: Die mutlosen Deutschen
Zo, um, so, you can't figure out why this story might be relevant to Boston?
Relevant passage
Vas ist los? Je ne parle pas
Vas ist los? Je ne parle pas kraut!
Me neither....
But if "cronyvolk" isn't a real word, if should be.
Google Translate is your freund
But basically, it's some columnist complaining about stick-in-the-mud Hamburgers whose nein votes mean the city will never be world class or something.
Obviously....
... Shirley Leung's doppelganger.
Shirley Leungwaffe
.
Close vote
The referendum was rejected in Hamburg by 51.6% of the vote, versus 48.4% in favor. About half of those eligible to vote actually did. Rssidents of a nearby town that would have hosted sailing events actually voted in favor by over 65%.(source:WBUR)