Possible Calgary Winter Olympic Bid - 2026

[ExtraSlow]

CBC is reporting today that hosting the 2026 Olympics in Calgary would cost $4.6 Billion and we'd get $2.2 Billion in revenue, meaning a new cost of $2.4 Billion.

If those costs are accurate, I'm not really a fan of pursuing this bid. I'm also a pessimist and suspect the costs would be higher than estimated.

What do you think? Is this a good idea?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-2026-olympic-bid-cost-estimate-committee-1.4167927

[Brent.ff]

nope nope noppppppeee.

or if they do, im moving to okotoks. Might as well suck on Calgary's teat like everyone else (see: C-Train)

[Tik-Tok]

Do not support, at all. May as well try to get FIFA here as well if we're just going to give money away.

[flipstah]

Did they just go "we'll make half of it back, easy" lmao. Calgary should focus on the low-bearing fruits, like getting a local LRT budget right. :rofl:

Not the same committee, but local priorities first.

[rage2]

Depends. Is the federal and provincial government chipping in $2B+?

[EK 2.0]

Depends. Is the federal and provincial government chipping in $2B+?


That's what the news was reporting last night. That 2B will come from Governments...just not sure what the breakdown would be or if the Municipal level is involved in that.

[kertejud2]

That's what the news was reporting last night. That 2B will come from Governments...just not sure what the breakdown would be or if the Municipal level is involved in that.

That's where the concern over the operation deficit comes from. The '88 Olympics had an operational profit but there was still a deficit if you take into account various infrastructure spending.

So it really depends on what that infrastructure is and if it is worth a deficit for. If you look at Vancouver, they got the Canada Line funded solely because of the Olympics. A public good that people can still use today. Do people really care if that is on the 'deficit' side of hosting the games? Doubtful. Similarly say a 2026 bid got the rest of the Green Line funded and an airport connector and some BRT Lines that would be a good thing. If it's going to an arena for the Flames to charge $12 a beer and $100 for a nosebleed ticket. Not so much.

If you can get $2.2B in funding from the provincial and federal governments that will go to infrastructure projects and benefit the city by spending $450M on operational overruns? Well that might be worth it too, provided the funding wasn't already coming anyway. So even if the city could probably rely on half that funding coming without the games, spending $1 to get $2 in funding isn't a bad deal either.



So to echo sentiments: It depends on where the funding is coming from, what the funding is going to, and how that operational deficit is handled.

[Buster]

There is nothing useful that might come from the Olympics in terms of infrastructure, that we wouldn't be better of just funding without the Olympics.

The Olympics is just a machine that the IOC uses to turn tax dollars into profit.

[rage2]

There is nothing useful that might come from the Olympics in terms of infrastructure, that we wouldn't be better of just funding without the Olympics.

The Olympics is just a machine that the IOC uses to turn tax dollars into profit.
kertejud2 explained it well. There's a lot of potential infrastructure to be had with a bid. Transit, buildings, basically a discount on all this stuff that we need/want anyways but with provincial and federal funding attached to lessen the tax burden on actual Calgarians. Sure you can argue that's your tax dollars anyways at the provincial and federal level, but if they're not spending it here, that same money would be spent elsewhere regardless.

The key is looking at how much municipal spending there is vs what we're getting out of it for the long term. That's going to drive the decision of hosting the Olympics here.

[HiTempguy1]

I'm also a pessimist and suspect the costs would be higher than estimated.


I honestly can not remember the last time, be it at city, provincial, or federal level, that a project came in under budget and on time over $1bil. I'd gladly be shown otherwise though.



The key is looking at how much municipal spending there is vs what we're getting out of it for the long term. That's going to drive the decision of hosting the Olympics here.

No its not. Your city council will decide if it gets them votes to stay in power. Come on now, you know better.

[G]

If we can build Calgary Next as part of the bid I'm all for it.

[rage2]

According to this: http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/calgarys-bad-2026-bid-4-6-billion-for-the-discount-olympics/

The plan comes with nothing. :eek:

No transportation upgrades. No new arena. Upgrades to Big 4 and Corral. Well that's a simple no.

Anyone have a link to the actual report? I can't find it anywhere.