Cities That Have NEVER Hosted an Olympics that SHOULD in the Future

[10023]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The airport in Bariloche is tiny. I think there are 5 or 6 gates max. Since the city is geographically isolated, and the road system in Argentina is not very robust, there aren't any nearby airports to provide redundancy. Neuquen is the closest big city -- which also has an extremely small airport -- and it's at least a 5 hour drive away. Driving from Santiago or Buenos Aires would take over 12 hours. Lake Placid is 2 hours from Montreal.

Even if they did build everything they needed to host a games, there would be hardly any way to repurpose it since the town is so small and isolated. But it would be an amazing setting.

The airport is easily expandable. That would be one of the least costly things to do to prepare for a Winter Olympics. And the economic benefits would be obvious, in that it would greatly expand the city’s hotel capacity and possible long distance airport links.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by skyscraper

Philly for summer olympics though.

Yes.I mentioned Philly on a similar thread on here. I think it would be a good spot to hold the summer Olympics..I can just picture the rowing on the Delaware or the Schuylkill with the city back drop.

I would also add Toronto for NA, but others are right..Cairo, Warsaw, Cape town and more South American presence would represent the games more globally..Another poster suggested a fund.Sadly, the Olympics are a 1st world venture, and I don't know if tax payers from these richer nations can ultimately stomach propping up developing countries so they can host these games, and have the venues become white elephants after.

[north 42]

Originally Posted by Crawford

QC would probably be too cold. And if the mountains in the Northeastern U.S. are inadequate, why would they be fine across the border?

But given that cities generally no longer want the trouble of the Olympics, I think a permanent or rotating few hosts would make sense (for both Summer and Winter).

Really? Too cold for the Winter Olympics? Average high and low in February is 22F and 4F, just about perfect for the games! They are currently 30F there this morning!

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by north 42

Really? Too cold for the Winter Olympics? Average high and low in February is 22F and 4F, just about perfect for the games!

I think we have very different concepts of "cold". 4F is pretty damn cold for outside mountainside events, IMO. With windchill that's guaranteed to be well below 0F.

And there's very little sun in the Eastern U.S./Canada during winter. The Rockies and Alps are both much warmer and sunnier.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by 10023

The airport is easily expandable. That would be one of the least costly things to do to prepare for a Winter Olympics. And the economic benefits would be obvious, in that it would greatly expand the city’s hotel capacity and possible long distance airport links.

Have you been to Bariloche? I haven't been, but my wife has been a number of times. It's very isolated, and the infrastructure is pretty limited.

Those Andean resorts, whether in Chile or Argentina, tend to be bare-bones, with iffy snow quality. And there are big wind issues. Gorgeous, though.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I think we have very different concepts of "cold". 4F is pretty damn cold for outside mountainside events, IMO. With windchill that's guaranteed to be well below 0F.

And there's very little sun in the Eastern U.S./Canada during winter. The Rockies and Alps are both much warmer and sunnier.

True. Nearly every single night, NBC coverage has mentioned the brutal cold in Pyeongchang and in not a good way.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Have you been to Bariloche? I haven't been, but my wife has been a number of times. It's very isolated, and the infrastructure is pretty limited.

Those Andean resorts, whether in Chile or Argentina, tend to be bare-bones, with iffy snow quality. And there are big wind issues. Gorgeous, though.

No. I’ve only been to Argentina in the southern summer. But it had been on my bucket list as I had heard good things (granted, that was from a guy who lived in BA and is originally from Michigan, so his standards for skiing may not be that high).

[10023]

Originally Posted by north 42

Really? Too cold for the Winter Olympics? Average high and low in February is 22F and 4F, just about perfect for the games! They are currently 30F there this morning!

What??

Perfect temperature for the Winter Olympics, or any winter sport, is below freezing (32F) for most of the day and night, but creeping above that in the sun during the afternoon. At least at base elevation... obviously with altitude it gets colder.

A high of 36F and a low of 22F would be great. A high of 22 and low of 4 is pretty damn cold.

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Phoenix
Summer: 5
Winter:

[:

Fun fact, flagstaff and show low (townsof 130k and 40k respectively). Are within 2 hours of Phoenix in the mountains and have fairly sizable ski slopes already with the potential of a lot more

However they are on trible land and the tribes seem completely diinterested in expanding their winter sports capacity or allowing private money to do it. It’s a shame really they could be great destinations, maybe some day.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Have you been to Bariloche? I haven't been, but my wife has been a number of times. It's very isolated, and the infrastructure is pretty limited.

Those Andean resorts, whether in Chile or Argentina, tend to be bare-bones, with iffy snow quality. And there are big wind issues. Gorgeous, though.

Agreed. I've been there and the infrastructure will not handle an Olympic games anytime soon (I'm actually headed back to Argentina next week). Even if they did build it out to handle a games, they would just be left with a bunch of boondoggles. There would be no way to repurpose the stadiums that would need to be built to accommodate the indoor competitions and ceremonies.

[Buckeye Native 001]

Flagstaff's population is only around 70,000. Coconino County (which is larger than most states back east) has a total population of around 130,000.

The reason the Navajo, Hopi and other tribes are/would be opposed to any sort of ski/winter resort expansion is because the San Francisco Peaks (including Humphrey's Peak, the tallest point in the State of Arizona) are considered sacred. Regardless of its purity/cleanliness, the fact that AZ Snowbowl uses reclamated (sp?) water to create snow for years such as this when it's drier than normal upsets the tribes and environmentalists (as well as quite a few locals) to no end.

Also, Flagstaff doesn't have and apparently doesn't want the infrastructure required to cater to such a large event. The city has enough trouble as it is dealing with the never ending expansion of Northern Arizona University.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Even if they did build it out to handle a games, they would just be left with a bunch of boondoggles. There would be no way to repurpose the stadiums that would need to be built to accommodate the indoor competitions and ceremonies.

Yeah look at Rio's venues and that's a huge city. An extremely isolated region of Argentina just would not be able to maintain it.

http://www.businessinsider.com/aband...in-september-2

[sopas ej]

Regarding the size of cities hosting Olympic games...

I recently learned that Pyeongchang, with a population at just over 43,000, is the smallest city to host a winter Olympics since Lillehammer 1994.

And Pyeongchang is actually a county of South Korea; I'm not sure what a county is in terms of South Korean terminology...

Anyway, I thought the days of small mountain towns hosting a winter Olympics were over.

The Squaw Valley 1960 Winter Olympics was probably the smallest area to hold a winter Olympics; Squaw Valley isn't even a city or town, it's basically a ski resort. In fact, during the ceremonies, a Placer County supervisor did the duties that a mayor of a town or city would do. But of course back then the winter Games was much smaller, and it only lasted about 10 days. The first winter Olympics to last about 2 weeks was the 1988 Calgary Olympics.

[Cirrus]

Pyeongchang is small, but it's only 10 miles to Gangneung, which has over 200,000 population and is definitely helping with the facilities. There are also a number of other cities with 100,000-300,000 within 50 miles, and Seoul itself is only 90 miles away. It doesn't have to be *in* a big city, but it has to be close to one.

[mhays]

I wouldn't want Seattle to spend too much or let it dominate our agenda, but I'd love for us to host it anyway. Summer I mean. If our existing stadiums can be used...track at Safeco maybe?

You could park at least a few cruise ships in or near Downtown, each with thousands of rooms. That would add to a greater Downtown inventory that will soon be in the 16,000 range.

The athletes village would be a parking lot at the UW that can become student and faculty/staff housing after the games.

The cultural nexus would be the Seattle Center, which housed our most recent world's fair and is perfect for such things.