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Toronto, Buffalo discuss making joint bid for 2024 Olympic Games


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Well considering how building a new Peace Bridge is going, I shudder to think of all the things that could go wrong.

 

That said, it's not a bad idea. Buffalo has RWS Stadium, UB Stadium, Cocoa Cola Field, and several decent sized high school stadiums that could host events. The Burt Flickinger Center by ECC Downtown is an excellent pool facility. We don't have anywhere near the amount of hotel rooms needed for such an event but we could probably host several sports.

 

Cities can no longer afford to mortgage the cost of an Olympics alone. Many of the venues built in Bejing for their Olympics now sit empty and decaying. It makes more sense to use existing facilities.

 

PTR

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Never gonna happen. The politicians, either at the state or the local level, would find some way to !@#$ it up.

 

And I can't really see the IOC going for it, either. Best case is they'd probably grant it to "both" cities, then just end up holding everything in Toronto just because it's easier.

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I think FIFA has allowed for World Cup events to be held in multiple countries, IIRC, so that's sort of a precedent.

 

To me the biggest logistical nightmare isn't the facilities or local government, it's figuring out how to shuttle all the teams, staffs and families/fans from 200+ countries across the border quickly as needed. it's not exactly what those border crossings are normally equipped for with most people crossing either being Canadian or American.

 

A cool idea in theory, though.

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Terrible. The Olympics never end up benefiting the host city long term and end up costing so much money it can cause serious financial problems like in Athens. It would cost tons of money and heap scorn on Buffalo. If we thought some of the comments from the World Jrs. were bad- wait until the glitterati, press and and weathy euros from around the world show up in WNY. We thought Tom Brady's dad hated our hotels? That would seem like a nothing compared to what we would hear.

 

Lets just get an NHL all star game.

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logistics would never work...requiring people who want to visit multiple venues would have to get passports...bridge crossing lines....good god it would be an absolute nightmare....

Um, They're already gonna have the passports . . .

 

Infrastructure is build in every city that hosts the Olympics. See Every Single Olympics.

 

We can build a bigger bridge in anticipation of the Olympics. Its really not that difficult.

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To me the biggest logistical nightmare isn't the facilities or local government, it's figuring out how to shuttle all the teams, staffs and families/fans from 200+ countries across the border quickly as needed. it's not exactly what those border crossings are normally equipped for with most people crossing either being Canadian or American.

 

I think it would be more likely that you would have like 'gymnastics' in one country and 'swimming' in the other.

 

There's many other factors that I think torpedo this idea though.

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Lets not forget Buffalo did host the world's second largest amateur sporting event in 1993 with the World University Games. A WNY Athletes Village could be created for the events being held here. In Vancouver there was a second village in Whistler for the skiing events. Also Toronto is only 29 miles away by water. A temporary ferry service could be set up between Toronto and say Olcott, thereby reducing the time to travel. IIRC there is another bridge between the Whirlpool and Lewiston Queenston Bridges not in use since 9/11. This could be used as an Olympics Only Bridge for the games. Also if someone really wants to go overboard, a Chunnel Type Project could be constructed between Toronto and somewhere in Niagara County. Which would be great if the Bills built a new stadium in Niagara County.

 

This all being said, it is not going to happen.

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logistics would never work...requiring people who want to visit multiple venues would have to get passports...bridge crossing lines....good god it would be an absolute nightmare....

 

I'd love to see an Olympics in Buffalo. But I think Poojer's remarks about logistics are valid. 100 miles and an international boundary separate Toronto and Buffalo. There would have to be two separate Olymipic Villages. Fans would have to choose one city or the other. Etc.

 

Competition to host the Olympics is fierce and a less-than-ideal situation like this would seem to be deal-breaker.

 

But I wonder if there's a way to put a positive spin on two cities in two countries co-hosting?

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But I wonder if there's a way to put a positive spin on two cities in two countries co-hosting?

 

I do think that the Olympics will have to go this way in the future eventually. They can't keep having these cities throw away cash on new buildings that will never be used again. Find a few other neighboring cities/countries with existing infrastructure and work with it. It won't take away from the games one bit.

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Much depends on who is in charge. The folks who worked on the last Toronto bid did a fairly good job and really reached out to the broader public. From what I could see from this side of the border as one who would deal with Torontonians from time to time, even though the bid failed the area got a lot of benefit from having the various parties involved learn how to work together for a common purpose,

 

If one is committed to being in this for the long term and it is more than simply and episode to win the bid, if the bid fails you still have something to show for it.

 

However, I have real doubts that we Mericans would approach this from any standpoint other than whats in this for me. Such an approach more or lesses forces people to choose to be for it or agin it.

 

This decision to be more individulistic rather than collaborative is a big part of why it is really hard to get things done on this side of the border.

 

The Peace Bridge Expansion is a good example, the folks in charge at the Peace Bridge Authority never took seriously really collaborating with anyone and surprise when the Community Foundation for Buffalo sponsored a real public involvement process the PBA take it or leave it approach got voted down 30 somethinh to 1 (the 1 being the Buffalo Chanber of Commerce representing the PBA view.

 

Likewise when the PBA got sued by the Buffalo Olmsted Parks folks, and the judge in charge urged the PBA to settle for a 75% win and they refused demanding a 100% win, the judge shot them down and gave them nothing.

 

Ironically, not expanding the bridge based on a 20th century estimate of truck usage proved to be the best thing the community ever decided not to do as the reality of 21st century product distribution makes the bridge expansion proposals pretty off-point and stupid.

 

If this is a good idea then them in charge will need to collaborate to make it a reality. Alternately, any attempt to make Buffalo a major stakeholder will fail if the folks in charge choose to do what they want without regard to what others want.

 

It would be hoped that like the Peace Bridge Expansion it will simply be the best thing that Never happened!

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