NFR – Major European Cities pull out of Olympic bid

[love4ffc]

Heard this on the BBC today. 

"The Olympics have weathered world wars, boycotts and corruption scandals.  These days, the IOC has a new crisis on its hands: Finding cities willing to host the games."

Several Major cities from Germany, Poland, Swiss and Norway have pulled out of the 2022 winter Olympics.  Cities pulling their bids claim the cost of hosting the winter Olympics is too great.  Especially after Russia just spent $51 Billion on their Sochi games.  Of the countries left most are either under dictatorships or are on the verge of civil war. 

So the question is – Is it really worth it now a days to host the Olympic Games?  Do countries really need to spend $51 billion dollars to host the games?  I know there was a lot of fluff, waste and corruption in Sochi but surely a country can hold the games for less.  Right? 

Just crazy...

[Logicalman]

I agree, the cost of hosting such things is getting way out of hand. A good example is what is happening this year in Brazil. For a country so strong in WCF history, they really neither have the infrastructure or the money to stage the event, but have hocked their country to do so, and will now also have the additional costs to incur for the IOC summer games in just 24 months later.

The issues have been further highlighted by the fiasco called the 2022 WCF winning bid, and the controversy now surrounding it, not that it came as any surprise to anyone remotely interested in football that the allegations involve corruption and cover-ups, something that has dogged both the IOC and FIFA for many years past, and neither more surprising both are rooted in Switzerland, with all its past secrecy laws.

No, Countries that have somewhat more fiscally responsible Governments are running from hosting such events, especially with the extra costs of security in these dark days of international terrorism, and so news of this kind might well become the norm, than the aurprise, and what will the members of those committees do then for their bonuses?

[HatterDon]

The summer olympics should be held permanently in Greece
The winter olympics should be held permanently in Norway

There's billions wasted on bidding for sites. Stop wasting the money and use it for youth athletics training.

[CincyFulham1]

The summer olympics should be held permanently in Greece
The winter olympics should be held permanently in Norway

There's billions wasted on bidding for sites. Stop wasting the money and use it for youth athletics training.

:plus one:

Or just scrap them.  I don't have any interest in them anyway.  Just more bread and circus from the emperors.

[Nero]

Eurovision, Olymipics and World Cups how to bankrupt your country, dont know why Redknapp hasnt been offered a job with these organizations

[sunburywhite]

Eurovision, Olymipics and World Cups all corrupt (allegedly)

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

We should just concentrate on hosting Miss World competition. Mainly near my house.....

I'm surely her indoors wont agree tho.

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[Dan in Notts]

Love the Olympics: London 2012 produced my all-time favourite sporting moments (a few happy Fulham memories aside). There's a case for making the games less bloated, etc., but I much prefer athletics superstars like David Rudisha to pretty much any footballer I can think of (a few Fulham heroes aside). Also like the way there's a decent chance in the Olympics that someone you've never heard of is, sometimes on the back of pretty minimal funding but a lot of hard work, going to step into the limelight and produce a memorable sporting performance.

[Lighthouse]

Well we as part of the Human Race need to show how our gang is better than your gang. We need to have some sort of bloated pointless competion to stop us having to start more Wars.

May I suggest one person from each Country gathers in a different city every four years. There they will have a draw as to who plays who. Then in a world wide television event, they toss a coin just once. They each draw lots before the toss to decide who is heads or tails. Eventually we will be down to the gold medal playoff.

So we have an overly complicated competition that can still be open for scandal, yet would be cheaper and over with quicker and allow us to have some sort of false national pride.

[MasterHaynes]

The summer olympics should be held permanently in Greece
The winter olympics should be held permanently in Norway

There's billions wasted on bidding for sites. Stop wasting the money and use it for youth athletics training.

:plus one:

Or just scrap them.  I don't have any interest in them anyway.  Just more bread and circus from the emperors.

Agree, you can watch the world championships or Europe atheletics league if you wnat to watch the best v the best. Th Olympics is a dead duck the money & tickets creamed off by the IOC and its executives serves no one but themselves. Should knock it stone dead all it does now is try to give legitimacy to dubious countries willing to spend money they should spend on services for their citizens

[Logicalman]

The summer olympics should be held permanently in Greece
The winter olympics should be held permanently in Norway

There's billions wasted on bidding for sites. Stop wasting the money and use it for youth athletics training.

I agree with the sentiment there, the locations may be a little suspect, and where do we hold the WCF?

[Logicalman]

Well we as part of the Human Race need to show how our gang is better than your gang. We need to have some sort of bloated pointless competion to stop us having to start more Wars.

May I suggest one person from each Country gathers in a different city every four years. There they will have a draw as to who plays who. Then in a world wide television event, they toss a coin just once. They each draw lots before the toss to decide who is heads or tails. Eventually we will be down to the gold medal playoff.

So we have an overly complicated competition that can still be open for scandal, yet would be cheaper and over with quicker and allow us to have some sort of false national pride.

Hasn't worked very well in the past 100+ years, has it?  :005:

[YankeeJim]

The summer olympics should be held permanently in Greece
The winter olympics should be held permanently in Norway

There's billions wasted on bidding for sites. Stop wasting the money and use it for youth athletics training.

:plus one:

Or just scrap them.  I don't have any interest in them anyway.  Just more bread and circus from the emperors.

I wouldn't say scrap them but certainly scale them back. Who in his right mind came up with synchronized diving or swimming or chasing a rock on ice with a broom?

[Logicalman]

The summer olympics should be held permanently in Greece
The winter olympics should be held permanently in Norway

There's billions wasted on bidding for sites. Stop wasting the money and use it for youth athletics training.

:plus one:

Or just scrap them.  I don't have any interest in them anyway.  Just more bread and circus from the emperors.

I wouldn't say scrap them but certainly scale them back. Who in his right mind came up with synchronized diving or swimming or chasing a rock on ice with a broom?

Someone in the IOC who understood it meant more money for their coffers I would suspect, and don't get me started why there is a Winter Olympics - wasn't aware the Ancient Greeks used to ski anywhere at all (unless they brought Scandinavia into it all)!!

[YankeeJim]

If we are going to have a winter Olympics we should also have a desert Olympics. Events like rattlesnake wrestling, irrigation ditch digging and finding shade could be interesting to watch. I was going to say camel racing but I'm sure the NSA would considered that racism.

[Logicalman]

If we are going to have a winter Olympics we should also have a desert Olympics. Events like rattlesnake wrestling, irrigation ditch digging and finding shade could be interesting to watch. I was going to say camel racing but I'm sure the NSA would considered that racism.

:005:

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

A world cup of soggy biscuit anyone?

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[love4ffc]

Why do people want to go from one extreme to the other?  We shouldn't just scrape the winter games.  They should however be completely overhauled.  Permanente venues would be great and could help with holding down cost.  The venues though should be spread out though so as to be fair.  There could be a rotation of Norway, Japan, Canada or the U.S.   This way there are several locations for people to enjoy the events. 

There is a lot of good that comes out of sports and sport competitions.  Besides the fact that it promotes a healthier way of life sports teach lots of things.  Things like sportsmanship, how to belong and work with a team, how to play by the rules and how to win and lose.  Everyone loses. Learning how to lose without blaming others, giving up, quitting, or pouting is a vital life lesson. 

Note – it is very sad when professional sports players and fans forget all the above life lessons. 

Competition can be healthy when adhered to the right standard.  It isn't until corruption like performance enhancing drugs, bribes, un-sportsman like conduct and other forms of cheating come into play that the competition becomes unhealthy and just down right wrong. 
It won't be until countries come together and say enough is enough that the extravagant and over blotted spectacles that we currently call the Olympic Games and WC will be changed.  If people want to see extravagance they should go to Disneyland. 

Remember without healthy competition we would never be able to watch fantastic events live Fulham in the Europa League. 

[HatterDon]

If we are going to have a winter Olympics we should also have a desert Olympics. Events like rattlesnake wrestling, irrigation ditch digging and finding shade could be interesting to watch. I was going to say camel racing but I'm sure the NSA would considered that racism.

I used to be a nap hand at rattlesnake wrestling in my salad days, and irrigation ditch digging would be just as compelling as dressage, curling, and racewalking.