2024 Olympic Bid?

[mattaudio]

"We've already been partially fleeced, so we can now host the Olympics without a complete fleece job"

[MN Fats]

I mean, in fairness to a hypothetical bid, we would have really limited venue construction needs at this point.

We would still have needed a main stadium, no? The new Vikings stadium won't be big enough to fit an oval running track. TCF Bank Stadium wouldn't fit it either.

[BigIdeasGuy]

Correct we would still need a new main stadium neither TCF or the Vikings as currently designed could accommodate a running track with out significant renovations. I would also guess the the Target Center would have to be replaced even after the renovation it's scheduled to under go. Outside of that venue need would be rather limited expect for sports that need highly specialized venues (think canoe/kayak/etc.).

With all that said if you think the public got fleeced building the Vikings Stadium hosting the Olympics would make that project look like walk in the park. Quite frankly any public officials trying to bring the games to there locality are either A. naive B. out of their minds or C. willfully ignorant or a combo for the 3.

According to estimates from Wikipedia(so take this a grain of salt) the cost of the London Summer Games in was $10.4 BILLION and the Winter Games in Sochi were $51 BILLION. Not to mention the fact the games would basically shut down the Twin Cities for a month. Host the Olympics would put the metro and the state in budget hole that would take decades to crawl out of.

The better option would be to try to host a World Cup match or two the next time it comes to the US. It would be much cheaper to host although it would result in much less international exposure. But to be fair FIFA makes the IOC look like choir boys with the way they operate.

[Didier]

We would need a 60,000-seat stadium with a track and an aquatics center of some sort, plus a velodrome and some sort of rowing facility. Many other events could be held in current and/or modified venues though. We do have quite a few sports facilities in this area, but the Olympics are also really big.

[matt91486]

I would assume they would somehow renovate the U's Aquatics Center with temporary seating. Putting a rowing facility on the Mississippi near campus also seems the most likely outcome, since it could be used by the university subsequently. The velodrome is honestly the only really tricky one in my mind, since we're tearing down a velodrome we can't support anyway. But it could perhaps be done as a temporary venue.

I don't know feasibility of it, but I would also guess that somehow reconstructing TCF would be the most likely situation for a track. It wouldn't be the easiest option, but having a third football-sized stadium here would clearly not happen, and the Vikings stadium will be "newer."

[MN Fats]

I would also guess the the Target Center would have to be replaced even after the renovation it's scheduled to under go.

I don't think the Target Center would have had to be replaced, they used a temporary "recyclable" facility at the 2012 London games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_Arena_(London)

[Didier]

The U of M pool is 25 yards, whereas an Olympic pool is 50 meters. In theory you can put a temporary pool anywhere, though. Omaha holds the Olympic trials in a temporary pool set inside their equivalent of Target Center.



It's not that easy, though. In a hypothetical Twin Cities Olympic bid, Target Center would likely host basketball and Xcel Energy Center primarily gymnastics. Let's say volleyball goes to Williams Arena, then you have Roy Wilkins Auditorium, Mariucci Arena, Ridder Arena, the Sports Pavilion (maybe), and River Center to split up wrestling, team handball, fencing, badminton, judo, table tennis, taekwondo and weightlifting. There's a chance you could delegate some of those into a place like Northrop Auditorium (weightlifting) or the Minneapolis convention center. Besides Xcel and Target Center, though, all of these would need extensive changes.

I also forgot to mention tennis. That would be among the most problematic venues.

I'm not sure if it's feasible to put a temporary track into a stadium like TCF Bank Stadium, but if it were possible it would wipe out thousands of seats in a stadium that'd already be way too small for Olympic standards. I believe Boston's bid (and maybe San Francisco's too) are suggesting a temporary track stadium at a cost of around $300 million.

[RailBaronYarr]

The U of M pool is 25 yards, whereas an Olympic pool is 50 meters.

? http://www.recwell.umn.edu/facilities/aquatic.php The UMN pool is Olympic sized, with a 25 yard diving pool (not sure if that could host Olympic diving).

Please don't take this as a ringing endorsement from me to host the Olympics. It would be a terrible idea.

[BigIdeasGuy]

While the U's pool is Olympic size the capacity isn't in the ballpark in terms of seating capacity. The pool in London sat 17,500 current the U's aquatics facility sits about 2,500. That's a huge amount of seats needed and short of knocking down the parking ramp next door I have not idea where they would put them.

I would also doubt the IOC would allow Williams to be used as a venue because it has so many terrible and obstructed seats. Yes it's historic and unique and a landmark among college basketball fans it wouldn't work. Mariucci is the better bet to be used.

The Minneapolis Convention Center would likely be the International Broadcast Center. Equestrian could be held out at Canterbury. Various large theaters (Ordway, Orpheum, State, Northrup, etc.) could be used for events like weightlifting and fencing. The Vikings Stadium could host Rugby and Soccer. Maybe turn the old Armory into a Boxing venue.

It would be interesting to see what the Twins would do while the games would be going on. I can't imagine they would want to be in town with everything else going on. They would get zero attention and it be next to impossible to get to Target Field. So you could use Target Field for something as baseball and softball aren't Olympic sports.

[MN Fats]

It would be interesting to see what the Twins would do while the games would be going on. I can't imagine they would want to be in town with everything else going on. They would get zero attention and it be next to impossible to get to Target Field. So you could use Target Field for something as baseball and softball aren't Olympic sports.

They would certainly have scheduled away games during the Olympics. The Braves went on a 17-game road trip during the '96 games.

[matt91486]

O'Shaughnessy at St. Thomas could certainly be used for something like Field Hockey. I don't know if any of the other private schools in the area have something with enough seating.

You're right that Williams could be problematic for some events, but for things like, say, weightlifting or judo that have smaller audiences, I'm betting it would be entirely sufficient. Maybe it would be big enough for team handball.

Tennis could be problematic, I agree, though I don't think the university would object to having a highly improved Baseline Center as a legacy. There is a parking lot across 5th Street from it, so there's space for a theoretical expansion/renovation.

[Nick]

Obligatory repost: http://www.theonion.com/articles/indian ... for,26149/

[matt91486]

As long as this exists, I think we're safe no matter what:

http://www.tulsa2024.com/Home

[SteveXC500]

It was reported last night on the news the USOC has opted for Boston as its bid for the 2024 games.

[BigIdeasGuy]

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking and scratching my head on where the Olympic Village would go. During the 2012 London games it housed 24,000 people then it was transform into low and middle income housing. It has to be relatively close to most of the venues and have great transit connections. With those requirements the viable options would be pretty limited but then it hit me like a ton of bricks. The massive shopping and parking complex bounded by University, Lexington, 94 and Snelling.

But as I started to research the site and the population it would house I realized that it would be too dense. The site would be slightly smaller 1/4 square mile or 160 acres and housing a minimum of 25,000 people probably more. With a density of 100,000 people per square mile (assuming 25,000 people in the village) it would be roughly 4 times as dense as NYC. I would have to think it they would need to add another village somewhere in the area perhaps over in the industrial area between Prior and 280 between 94 and University but the problem there is the railroad tracks not mentioning the fact that there are some historic buildings that would need to be saved. No matter where the Olympic Village would be located it would clearly completely redefine the area and the city forever.

[BigIdeasGuy]

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking and scratching my head on where the Olympic Village would go. During the 2012 London games it housed 24,000 people then it was transform into low and middle income housing. It has to be relatively close to most of the venues and have great transit connections. With those requirements the viable options would be pretty limited but then it hit me like a ton of bricks. The massive shopping and parking complex bounded by University, Lexington, 94 and Snelling.

But as I started to research the site and the population it would house I realized that it would be too dense. The site would be slightly smaller 1/4 square mile or 160 acres and housing a minimum of 25,000 people probably more. With a density of 100,000 people per square mile (assuming 25,000 people in the village) it would be roughly 4 times as dense as NYC. I would have to think it they would need to add another village somewhere in the area perhaps over in the industrial area between Prior and 280 between 94 and University but the problem there is the railroad tracks not mentioning the fact that there are some historic buildings that would need to be saved. No matter where the Olympic Village would be located it would clearly completely redefine the area and the city forever.

[Didier]

For those curious how a Twin Cities Olympic bid might look, here are the updated plans for Boston. The document shows the different areas that would need to be developed and how they would look afterward.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/0 ... %3Atwitter

[VacantLuxuries]

I'm glad they're being upfront and saying "Yeah, we're going to build the stadium in a way that we can dismantle it once it lives out its three months of usefulness."

HOWEVER, in regards to where Minneapolis could put their athlete villages? 35W freeway caps. You'd never have a better excuse to build them, and since doing it in only one area probably would be too heavy for the cap, you could probably stitch together DTE and Cedar, plus reconnect downtown to Southside.

[acs]

If Steve Cramer and the Downtown Council have their way, that's exactly where we'll be hosting the 2022 world's fair.

[min-chi-cbus]

I personally don't want to be fodder for the Onion.....unless Minneapolis is a serious potential suitor. If it were my choice, as much as I'd love the city to get international exposure like it's never had before and will never have again (way more than the Super Bowl), I would never want the city/region to pay the ultimate price for its vanity. It seems like the event always near-bankrupts the host city.