Phelps on board...

With Michael Phelps on board Chicago can't be stopped:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRPBOntoDs2RWLhsvkc_DSmmWn7QD92VJ2800

Seriously, this guy can do anything. I hope that he and Daley got along well because we're going to need Phelps' support over the coming year. Hopefully he is as much an international superstar as the media is making him out to be.

A taste of the Olympics...

Oprah gave Chicago a taste of what it would be like to have nearly all of the U.S. olympic stars here in Chicago yesterday:

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/09/oprah-mayor-dal.html

I haven't seen the episode yet but it sounds like a small piece of the show gave some encouragement to the Chicago 2016 bid - hopefully the nation sees Oprah's show and catches some of the excitement that we have here in Chicago!

I'll post more video from the show if I can get some next week.

Bravo China!

The Beijing Olympics were unreal - two weeks of excitement. London has a big name to live up to after that performance.

Here's a great link to a list of the greatest moments (from a US perspective) from ESPN:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/flash/zoomGallery?section=gen&photoGalleryId=3549249

From my conversations with Chicagoans, the last two weeks have only inspired us further and increased anticipation of having the Olympics here in Chicago.

Thank you Beijing!

Go Chicago 2016!!

Chicago reacts

It is interesting to see the reactions coming out in Chicago after this initial victory - most of them seem positive. The Tribune is clearly in favor with Blair Kamin again leading the charge. Here is an interesting Tribune article (login may be required):

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/olympics/cs-070415oly,1,3445788.story?coll=chi-sportstop-hed

ESPN.com's story also seems to be positive:

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=2837473

It will be tough to keep momentum for the next 2.5 years...

It's Chicago!!!!!

Chicago took a major step this morning towards being the host city for the 2016 games! The U.S. Olympic Committee selected Chicago as the U.S. applicant city for the 2016 games.



For those of you who are interested, you can listen to the announcement by Peter Ueberroth here:



http://www.usoc.org/16AppChicago.mp3



(ignore the first minute or so of background noise before announcement starts)



Congratulations to Mayor Daley and Patrick Ryan for this initial victory!





Now we have two and a half more years until the selection of the actual host - it looks like Chicago will be up against at least Tokyo and Rio for the honor of hosting the 2016 Summer Games. Early speculation indicates the main competition will be between Chicago and Rio...

An Early Supporter - Blair Kamin

One of the nation's premier architecture critics is clearly "on board" with Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics. Blair Kamin, the Chicago Tribune's architecture critic wrote a fantastic article (login required) about all of the fantastic structures and improvements that a Chicago Olympics would bring. In his recent article Kamin writes:

"With Mayor Richard Daley and civic leaders gearing up to make a bid for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, the possibilities for making dreams on the city's priority list come true are dazzling."

"Forget, for a moment, Daley's unlikely trial balloon of building a domed mega-stadium that eventually would host a second Chicago NFL team. Think of the other big-ticket public works the Games could spur: New subsidized housing, to be built as an Olympic village. A proposed West Loop Transportation Center linking buses, CTA and Metra trains and high-speed intercity rail, which would move spectators around. Perhaps, if U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and south suburban leaders can twist Daley's arm, a third airport that would provide a new gateway for visitors."

Kamin clearly thinks that Chicago can succeed at pulling together the political, business and community support to get these improvements approved and funded in order to make a successful bid. I'm glad to see Kamin on board early - he has been an influential critic of Chicago public works and architecture. His influence on Chicago's readers and leaders will be an important component of driving support for the Olympic bid.

The Stadium Issue

The Chicago Tribune broke the news on Friday that Mayor Daley is trying to tackle the stadium issue up front. Daley knows that New York's failure to secure a stadium deal up front was an enormous negative for New York's bid for the 2012 games. According to this article (log in may be required) in the Trib, Daley has made some preliminary inquiries into luring a second NFL team to Chicago in hopes of getting an anchor tenant for an Olympic-scale stadium. Such a stadium would need to seat 80,000 spectators and serve multiple functions.

I'm not sure that Daley will be able to lure a second NFL team to Chicago (L.A. is clearly the NFL's priority), but it is clear that a stadium is needed. From a utility standpoint, the remodeled Soldier Field is a disaster. It is really only used less than 20 times a year for Bears games and a few concerts. A stadium with a retractable roof or a dome could not only be used for football games, but could have also allowed Chicago to host a wide variety of other events such as the Final Four and large meetings and year-round indoor concerts.

However I'm glad that Daley realizes that this is Chicago's weakness and he is out in front trying to find creative ways to solve it. A second NFL team (although I think it would be great) is probably a long shot but there must be some solution that will enable Chicago to plug this gaping hole in a potential bid for the 2016 Games.

No Name Problem Here!

I saw this interesting article in the Wall Street Journal - unfortunately I think you need a paid subscription to access the full text. The gist of the article is that the city of Torino, Italy, host of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games has decided that the 2006 Olympics will officially be known as the Torino Olympics and not the Turin Olympics. (Torino is pronounced like Cappucino, according to the WSJ article) Apparently it is longstanding tradition that the English version of a city's name is used as the official name for the Olympic games held in such city. Thus, we have the Rome Olympics and not the Roma Olympics and the Munich games and not the Munchen games. But Torino is putting its foot down and ending that tradition by using Torino instead of Turin as the official name for its upcoming games.

I'm all for Torino using whatever name they want to call themselves, but I just wanted to point out that this isn't a problem with Chicago! We are internationally known as Chicago! If the games are held here, then around the world they will be known as the Chicago Olympics. Bring on the 2016 games!