2028 Olympics in OKC

[Snowman]

Pete, do you believe the advocacy for the new bridge was done with the Olympics in mind or was it already in the works? Accelerating the new bridge build, which is needed anyway, to land the rowing events would be worthwhile.

With funding planed for construction starting sometime between mid 2028 to mid 2029, it would not have been for this event, though it is plausible there was advocacy for events in general.

[king183]

With funding planed for construction starting sometime between mid 2028 to mid 2029, it would not have been for this event, though it is plausible there was advocacy for events in general.

Good point. I hope they will accelerate it if there is a realistic shot at us getting the rowing events. We will also need to undertake major river beautification efforts in that area. That should be relatively easy to do.

[Pete]

Good point. I hope they will accelerate it if there is a realistic shot at us getting the rowing events. We will also need to undertake major river beautification efforts in that area. That should be relatively easy to do.

I know this idea of clear spans to facilitate international rowing events has been discussed for quite a while and certainly before there were any specific thoughts about Olympic events.

However, this seems to be on the fast track and could easily be moved up in priority, and I believe very strongly that was due to wanting to put a presentation together for the Olympic committee.

I still believe it's a long shot, but there is an opportunity due to the fact canoe slalom is likely to come and also because the Long Beach course is suboptimal due to the 1,500m limit.

Let's put in this way: if the Olympic committee said: "Guarantee you can get this done in time and you get rowing" we would get it done.