Tulsa: bidding for Olympic Summer Games 2024.

[rcjunkie]

How refreshing to see so many Okies bad mouthing their own state.

[Yahola]

Yep its all over for T town, last one out's a rotten egg!!

[kevinpate]

...
Tampa tried for the 2012 games and got laughed at by the US Olympic committee. ... The Olympics were a no go but what did they get instead - The Republican National Convention.

And we had hoped you'd just keep them once you got them, but noooooo.
Bad Tampa, bad.
8^)

[kevinpate]

It would be fantastical for the state, but neither Tulsa nor OKC could pull off such a bid at this time. Sadly, not even if it were a joint bid by the two. Perhaps, some day.

[SkyWestOKC]

Jesseda, actually the Atlanta airport is a very strong local (not connecting) market, it is about 70% connecting however. Which would come out to ~26.4 million passengers per year LOCAL, and ~61.6 million connecting passengers. So, no, it is not 95% connecting traffic. TUL moved 2.85 million passengers last year, while OKC moved 3.37 million.

[jmarkross]

All it would bring to Tulsa is financial ruin--or a watered-down version of the Games and open them up a torrent of ridicule--a no-win situation. More than that--a pipe dream.

[metro]

Jesseda, go back and read my post, #48 on page 2. This isn't even a pipe dream it's so far from reality. As jmarkross added, it would bring financial ruin to the state after the games as well. Sure, it'd bring in new business to the state and a few corporate relocations, but not several billion dollars worth as the games would cost, not to mention, we couldn't handle it if we had the money.

[Plutonic Panda]

3.5 billion to have the olympics here in Oklahoma. I would support it!!!!! This would be sweet, I won't believe it until I see it though.

Tulsa 2024 Olympics? Oklahoma's Second-Largest City Inquires About Hosting Games

[Plutonic Panda]

I agree with you Sid. With all the hotels we have going, the new park, core to shore area, world class river, new tourist destinations(crossroads mall, white water course) and it would also look awesome if we had about 3-5 towers under construction during the time they were filming it, we would look as a new major city being born.

[bchris02]

I don't think either Tulsa nor OKC are on the level needed to support the Olympics. The summer games generally only happen in world class cities. Atlanta was an exception and many people consider the '96 games a disaster.

[warreng88]

I know Dallas is making a huge push for the 2024 Olympics and they have a great chance with a lot of the infrastructure already in place like the Cotton Bowl (which would serve as the Olympic stadium after major renovations), Jerry's World, FC Dallas Stadium, AA Arena and a plan to turn the Fair Park in the Olympic Village into housing for 20,000 people and later be converted into apartments. Matt Wood, who was involved in the 2000 Sydney Olympic bid is leading the way for Dallas as well.

[venture]

Tulsa will never happen. They don't have the hotel space nor the transportation infrastructure to support the influx of people. It would bankrupt the city - like most Olympic games then to do.

OKC is also another long shot, though a bit better. I just don't see how how a couple of medium sized (by US standards, small by world) with nothing really unique would even be on the shortlist of candidate cities. I had to laugh that Tulsa feels more energized based on the city's experience of hosting a fishing tournament.

Dallas I can see. It has the infrastructure to pull it off. The competition though should be good amongst the candidates...

Non-US Cities: Nairobi, Casablanca, Durban (South Africa), Doha, Dubai, Taipei, Baku (Azerbaijan), Paris, Berlin, Rome, St. Petersburg, Kiev, Toronto, Guadalajara

US Cities: Dallas (mentioned), Los Angeles, Baltimore-Washington, Tulsa, Philadelphia, and San Diego (jointly with Tijuana).

The US only gets to forward one candidate on to the IOC. Reading up on things, Philly tried in 2006 for the 2016 games and only made it to the final 5 in the USOC selection process. They were dropped because the IOC didn't recognize them as being capable of hosting such a large event. That just screams Tulsa is out of place and needs to focus on events it can handle.

Looking at the candidate US cities (so far) I like Dallas and Baltimore-Washington. LA I feel won't get much serious traction since they've already hosted two games. San Diego is too small and a joint bid with a border city is just going to make things too difficult. Philly could work but I see them coming in 3 to Dallas and a joint Balt-Wash bid.

For the 2016 games Rio, Madrid, Tokyo, and Chicago were the only cities to get votes at the IOC meeting. Baku, Doha, and Prague didn't receive any votes. Madrid is one to watch IMO. They came in 3rd for the 2012 games (behind London and Paris). Toronto and Paris were 2 and 3, respectfully, behind Beijing for 2008. The 2020 candidates already got cut to only 3...Istanbul, Tokyo, and Madrid. Is it Tokyo's time again? I'm not sure. I'm not sure the IOC is ready to have the games in Europe again with either Istanbul or Madrid.

With Rio having the games in 2016, is it too soon for it to be back in the Americas? I almost won't be shocked to see Istanbul picked for 2020 to help bring peace close to the Middle East, but the unrest nearby may be what keeps them away. Madrid is pretty darn persistent, so do they get thrown a bone?

Regardless. Tulsa won't make out of the US round so all this won't really matter unless it allows them to know what type of events they can host.

[ljbab728]

This is not a new discussion.

http://www.okctalk.com/tulsa-suburbs...es-2024-a.html

[bluedogok]

Denver has a group planning to go after an upcoming Winter Olympics.

[zookeeper]

Dallas would be great! I'd love seeing the Olympics in this part of the country, can you imagine the Summer Games just 3 hours down the road?

[ljbab728]

Dallas would be great! I'd love seeing the Olympics in this part of the country, can you imagine the Summer Games just 3 hours down the road?

And I think there is an excellent chance they might send some of the rowing and whitewater events our way.

[Mississippi Blues]

Dallas would be great! I'd love seeing the Olympics in this part of the country, can you imagine the Summer Games just 3 hours down the road?

Nailed it.

[venture]

And I think there is an excellent chance they might send some of the rowing and whitewater events our way.

I was going to comment about that in my post, but I pulled back. I'm not sure how much Dallas (and Texas) are going to want to share "their" games with Oklahoma. While we would have the facilities at the time to host those events, I'm not sure they'll let them go. Dallas has plenty of water features to the host the evenings, even though the river downtown (here) is pretty much tailor made for them.

Let's say it happens though. Dallas 2024 and the rowing/whitewater events here. It would probably be a nice thing to have the HSR active between the two cities. It could also come into use with hotel rooms and such as well, even though Dallas has well over 70,000 rooms. It wouldn't really shock me to see, if the HSR is in place, hotel rooms in Oklahoma and further south into Texas fill up.

Having events away from the core host city isn't unusual though. Let's look at Atlanta 1996. Football (Soccer) events were almost all held outside of Atlanta. They utilized the Citrus Bowl (Orlando), Legion Field (Birmingham), Orange Bowl (Miami), RFK Stadium (DC), Sanford Stadium (Athens). The Canoeing events for the slalom utilized the whitewater center in Ducktown, Tennessee. Stegeman Coliseum in Athens were used for rhythmic gymnastics and indoor volleyball. Then of course the sailing event has to be held on the open sea so that was done in Savannah.

So OKC probably has a decent shot at getting the slalom events and maybe the other canoeing and rowing events. Dallas just has a lot of lakes around that could fit the bill, so its tough.

Seeing as how extensive the football (soccer) events were, that may be another play for Oklahoma. The smallest stadium they used for the events had a capacity of 56,500 (RFK in DC), so that will probably rule out anything other than the major university and pro-sports facilities. So let's see what the Dallas area has...

Cowboys Stadium - almost a given to be used.
Rangers Ballpark - another given I would think, would be interesting to see how scheduling with the Rangers is worked out.
Amon G Carter Stadium at TCU - probably used.
Cotton Bowl - already said would be used and might end up being Olympic Stadium for the event.
Ford Stadium (SMU) - probably too small.
FC Dallas Stadium - Obviously will be used.

The rest of the facilities are all fairly small or indoors. So seeing as how many they needed for the soccer events, it almost seems like a given Memorial Stadium in Norman would be used as well as Baylor's new stadium. Probably also that one down in Austin to throw them a bone.

[Hawk405359]

Given how badly the Olympics have hurt a lot of cities, I'm not so sure I'd want it in this state even if it was a realistic option. However, I don't think it's a realistic option in our lifetime, so I don't think it'll be a problem. Dallas isn't quite as big of a long shot, but I don't quite see it. However, it would be cool to be have it so close. I doubt they use any of the major arenas there except maybe Cowboy Stadium, though. The Olympics is all about building the showiest facilities possible, so unless they shove some of the lesser watched events elsewhere, I don't think we'd see many of them used.

[venture]

Given how badly the Olympics have hurt a lot of cities, I'm not so sure I'd want it in this state even if it was a realistic option. However, I don't think it's a realistic option in our lifetime, so I don't think it'll be a problem. Dallas isn't quite as big of a long shot, but I don't quite see it. However, it would be cool to be have it so close. I doubt they use any of the major arenas there except maybe Cowboy Stadium, though. The Olympics is all about building the showiest facilities possible, so unless they shove some of the lesser watched events elsewhere, I don't think we'd see many of them used.

I read somewhere in their proposal that Cotton Bowl stadium would be updated to be Olympic Stadium for the event.

I don't think many would build all new facilities anymore if relatively new facilities exist. We are talking 10 years from now, so any getting close to 20-30 years might be up for replacement. As I pointed out, the soccer events are normally off site at various facilities. They aren't going to build 5 new stadiums to host them...they'll use existing facilities.

[Plutonic Panda]

This is not a new discussion.

http://www.okctalk.com/tulsa-suburbs...es-2024-a.html

Yeah, I noticed that at the bottom of the page in related threads. I think Pete or MMM should merge these threads

[OKCTalker]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/sp...m.html?hp&_r=0

TULSA, Okla. — When Neil Mavis roams the wide, quiet streets here, he sees an 80,000-seat Olympic stadium blooming where a fleet of trucks sit in a parking lot. He imagines kayaks and canoes gliding along the Arkansas River and marathoners striding down Route 66, past an oil refinery that looms over the highway.

“We don’t have an answer yet for water polo,” he said. “But one thing we do have is plenty of land out here in Oklahoma.”

Mr. Mavis is the dreamer in chief for Tulsa 2024, this unassuming city’s bid to host the Olympic Summer Games.

For all his enthusiasm, the odds for Tulsa, one of several cities vying to bring the Summer Games to the United States for the first time since 1996, seem longer than a gold-medal javelin throw.

The Games require an estimated work force of as many as 200,000, which would mean enlisting one of every two men, women and children within the city limits.

International Olympic officials require a host city to have a minimum of 45,000 hotel rooms. Tulsa has about 15,000. And the estimated price tag, which will almost certainly top $5 billion, is equivalent to more than half the state budget.

[Just the facts]

So let's say Tulsa wins the bid. What do they do with all the facilities after the Olympics? Those structures require an enormous amount of maintenance and up-keep just to prevent them from falling into disrepair. That doesn't come free. At least Atlanta had the Braves to take over their Olympic stadium.

[BoulderSooner]

I think OKC should compete and set aside the CC funds for the construction needed to support the Olympics. Then we can re-purpose the facilities as a Convention Center after the games are done. Could also act as a catalyst for getting the Cox Convention Center torn down and the grid restored with a variety of purposes.

Cox CC aside, by 2024 the River District will be truly amazing and if we don't spend the CC funds now, that would be very useful during a competitive bid process for the Olympics. Several more boathouses are likely to be in place, Central Park and C2S is an amazing opportunity for this type of event, Streetcar will be in place.

We've got the space. I really hope we are giving it consideration.

you think OKC should spend 500 mil to build an 80,000 seat stadium

[jedicurt]

I think OKC should compete and set aside the CC funds for the construction needed to support the Olympics. Then we can re-purpose the facilities as a Convention Center after the games are done. Could also act as a catalyst for getting the Cox Convention Center torn down and the grid restored with a variety of purposes.

Cox CC aside, by 2024 the River District will be truly amazing and if we don't spend the CC funds now, that would be very useful during a competitive bid process for the Olympics. Several more boathouses are likely to be in place, Central Park and C2S is an amazing opportunity for this type of event, Streetcar will be in place.

We've got the space. I really hope we are giving it consideration.

i totally disagree with part of your statement. I do think we should look at something like the Pan-America Games, or even the X-games. but not the Olympics.