Should Buffalo start training now?

Although an interesting concept, IOC officials is not keen on having another US summer Olympics anytime soon...mostly due to the lack of government funding that they expect of most of their host countries.

Throw in a potential multi-billion dollar overhaul of both Toronto and Buffalo transportation infrastructures, building venues in both cities, improving security, having a state and province, two cities from two countries combine resources...you'll have a nightmare on your hands.

It's too risky and too unrealistic especially during the midst of a recession.

It's crazy to select a new city every time the Olympics meet. The costs are untenable. It should either be permanently rooted somewhere or at least go back sometimes to places where venues are still in place.

One way: Pick three summer and winter cities to host the games and then rotate the hosting between them, say, three times each. Or maybe pick two cities that rotate every four years until they each get three turns, or even one city, but have that city host the event two or three times consecutively.

If it were up to me, I think I'd vote for Greece as permanent host of the summer games. Why not? After all, it's their ancient legacy . . . and their economy is always a disaster, they could use a little help. Throw them a bone. Always have it in Athens every four years, no rotation. Everybody else is out of luck. It would be the cheapest, most sensible outcome from an infrastructure cost standpoint. Of course, I imagine that billions of Indian and Chinese television viewers might have something different to say about that . . .

As to the article, if Toronto has the dough to blow hosting an Olympics, God bless them! It would be great for us even if we weren't involved (think of all those Torontonians deserting their metropolis and needing to go somewhere, not to mention other tourists). Of course if we were involved, it would be eminently flattering to bask in Toronto's spotlight but I can't imagine building much new in the way of venues here. What use would they be afterward?

I was reading recently that TO is pondering a '24 summer games bid and told my wife it would be nice if Buffalo could push to host some events. In the current games soccer matches are being played as far away as Wales and Scotland. Imagine rowing out of the West Side Rowing Club or soccer matches in UB Stadium. With Canada hosting they could push to have hockey moved to the summer games, which there is some talk of, and HSBC could host some prelims.

Even if we didn't get some events I would enjoy having the games so close. I enjoy watching them and would like to experience it in person.

The border customs would be impossible between the US and Canada.

We cant even get trucks across the Peace Bridge without poisoning the surrounding neighborhood with their fumes.

We cant create a unified Bridge Authority for all the US-Canada Bridges.

We cant get the light rail extended.

These are major logistical issues.

On the other hand, a joint Buffalo-Rochester games would be an interesting pairing but can Buffalo get cooperation out of a neighboring city that still looks down with condescension and antagonism.

Toronto and Buffalo should jointly host an Olympics . . . the WINTER Games, not Summer.

The city of Buffalo already has an {undeserved} negative reputation as a "snow capital" -- time to put that reputation to rest . . . and that snow to good use.

Other cities -- Park City, UT, Telluride and Vail, CO, and any number of places in Alberta -- regularly and loudly tout themselves as destinations due to their snow . . . why shouldn't the Buffalo/Niagara region do the same?

What better place is there for the US Mens Olympic Hockey Team to return to gold medal status than at "Hockey Heaven" {aka FNC?}

I like the idea. Buffalo's is a great place, and has the potential to be an international city. If making a bid, even if it is a co-hosting bid, helps Buffalo grow as a city and take a little pride in itself, we should do it. As for the funds, we can find them, what the heck, why not.

Allow me to propose plausible yet off the rocker:
Buffalo could theoretically host the Winter Olympics.

If Pegula can build two rinks, one with seating for 2000. Canal Side would be equipped to handle most of the ice events. In the Vancouver Olympics, the games were played on NHL regulation ice. That would save us billions as it is with those three rinks built in walking distance.

And the funding needed to secure a new Olympic Stadium would really be the money for a new NFL stadium some where Downtown. This is inevitable anyway, and will have to come in the next 15 years max.

The only question would be skiing events where government money would be used to enhance transit to slopes with a temporary express and frequent bus service.

If this was carried it out, the total public cost would be under 2 billion. Your main cost being a 700 million dollar stadium. To put in perspective, the Turin Olympics cost $3 Billion. We would be one of the cheaper and sustainable Olympics because everything would have a purpose after.

Buffalo doesn't have the hospitality infrastructure to host even the winter games. The skiing isn't Olympic caliber and there isn't even a guarantee of snow. I have however, thought for a long time that a cross-border Summer Olympics would be really interesting. In fact it could be great for the city. Logistics would be challenging but I would think it could be done. Buffalo would be the little partner for sure. Isn't this what the whole spirit of the Olympics is; sport and international cooperation?

I'm sure that Buffalo would enjoy the chance to have businesses decline by 30% to 50% while hosting the olympics.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/04/london-wish-you-were-here

and be the first in your neighborhood to have missile launchers installed on your rooftop.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/london-olympics-2012-missiles-on-rooftops-29941083.html

A lot of commenter's here at Buffalo Rising seem pretty amenable to the idea of a Co-host with Toronto. But the commenter's over at the Toronto Sun dont...

So #BuffaloOpeningCeremony wasn't just a Twitter joke after all, eh?

At the risk of being overly serious about this, the empty Niagara Falls Redevelopment property behind the casino would be a good location for athletic facilities.

This ranks as one of the most far-fetched articles ever on BRO. Who would pay for a Buffalo Olympics (even it shared the cross-border logistical nightmare with Canada)?

Beijing's Olympics cost about $40 billion. London's was estimated at $8 billion but may reach reach $19 billion due to a series of escalating expenses. Additionally, sales at local London businesses have declined during these games.

I disagree with Biniszkiewicz: I think cities around the world will continue to compete for the games because they want to announce to the world that they can pull off such a large scale event. They do it for the publicity because it sure doesn't make money for host cities. (I was recently in Salt Lake City and they are considering a bid to host another Olympics.) Basing the Olympics in Greece is nice, in theory, but could Greece -- considering their severe economic plight -- have managed these games successfully and safely?

NBC news tonight: "Romney doesn't think Buffalo has the right culture to pull off the Olympics".

The logistics of the cross-border traffic alone make this laughably ridiculous. Even at absolute best case, you're talking about moving several million people back and forth across the border under very tight time constraints. There is no way that movement like that could be accommodated. It's just not physically possible, even if they built another span.

The good side of it would be that while the games would cost us a hell of a lot? By requirement a lot of Buffalo's infrastructure would have to be updated significantly - at the very least we'd get a massive mass transit update/expansion out of it. Not that this is going to happen, it's a ludicrous idea and the writer from the Sun is a damn fool.

Multinational Olympics are not unheard of, though the IOC discourages them, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm in '56 because of Australia's import restrictions on live animals. Cross-border bid attempts have been made by Detroit/Windsor, San Diego/Tijuana, and Seattle/Vancouver. We know the '92 Winter Games as belonging to Albertville, though in Europe they are known as the Savoie games because they were spread across the entire southeast Alpine region of France.

Partly due to the vast infrastructure and investment required, a cross-border Olympics could actually be a benefit if two nations were splitting the costs. Canada nearly went bankrupt hosting the Montreal games, but consider if they had only spent half as much, while the US chipped in the other half. As we've seen with Greece, any small or economically challenged nation could never hope to host the games by themselves. Some of the biggest fears about Brazil and Turkey being hosts are that they are being supported by a single, small nation.

As for cross-border traffic, there's an easy way to lessen the problem. Segregate by sport. Canada hosts track & field and swimming, while the US hosts gymnastics and cycling (or some similar division). It is very rare that athletes compete in more than a single genre of events, and even spectators tend to favor one type over the whole experience.

Obviously, there will be large amounts of people who will need/want to visit both nations, so set aside a single crossing such as the Whirlpool Bridge to streamline Olympic traffic (not unlike the 'games lanes' being used on London streets) to exclusively carry trains and buses that have upgraded customs facilities. Further segregate all truck traffic to Lewiston-Queenston, car traffic to the Peace Bridge, and make the Rainbow Bridge pedestrian only.

Niagara Falls is reasonably central to both Toronto and Buffalo, and is (or could be developed to be) more than capable of handling the hospitality requirements. Transportation infrastructure linking NF to Toronto, Pearson airport, Buffalo and BNIA has been a no-brainer that we've been screaming for for years and would certainly benefit the region for decades after the games have ended. Further connections to NYC would also assist with international visitors, and are already a hopeful boon to NYS in general.

The downside to the plan is that Toronto, by itself, is already a VERY strong contender for the games. They were a favorite in '96 and are simply biding their time until a bid become geographically favorable (I think it's safe to assume that after Sochi, Rio, and Pyong Chang, '20 will go to either Istanbul or Tokyo, '22 to Salzburg, and '24 to Paris, so a '28 games is a likely bet for North America). Toronto CAN host the games by themselves, but US involvement would help to lessen the economic investment, even if we only go in for the somewhat 'less popular' events like judo, equestrian, archery or whatnot.

I really don't think there's much chance of a shared bid, unless Buffalo had more challenging sailing venues than TO (both lakes aren't that great). But Buffalo can coordinate on any tourism push and enterprising Buffalonians could welcome refugees fleeing Toronto ahead of the crowds and Olympic hassles with pleasant accomodations and maybe a restaurant passport with discounts for anyone on extended stay.

Does anyone remember the "World University Games"?

Not exactly a success story.

Buffalo's World University Games in 1993 WERE quite a success. I worked at the Galleria while they were being held and the place was PACKED with foreign athletes just shopping and taking in the sights and spending money. That was one of the few times, besides the Wallenda crossing, that I remember the American side of the Falls being so festive and full of people.

The WUG organization considers those games as turning point, for the being the first time they were held in the USA they were the largest to that date. In the years since Buffalo hosted, they have grown to 2-3 times the size than even we held. It was a massive boon to WUG!

If there was any lack of success for Buffalo, it's because we didn't take full advantage of them. Yes, we got a new downtown aquatic center but dropped the ball when it came to media coverage. If I remember correctly, there was some failed negotiations when ESPN tried to broadcast the games, and we ended up as being page 5 news in the nation's sports section.

I was at the opening ceremonies, and wasn't at all impressed with the entertainment selection (Willie Nelson???) but the parade of nations was absolutely ELECTRIC!!! (yes, I'm talking about the part that is so boring that NBC fast-forwarded through it during their London coverage)

And yes, the WUG was a US-Canada bid. We went to the rowing events in St Catherines and got held up at the border because my friend's car had been reported stolen a few years earlier. With the exception of a few Cuban baseball player defections, we handled the international and bi-national customs issues perfectly.

Best of all were the sporting events. Buffalo cheered on EVERY team, whether we had even heard of the country or not. I went to a soccer game between Spain and Brazil and some of those players went on in their careers to win the World Cup!

It could work.

I would imagine 75% of the events taking place in the GTA area, with Buffalo picking up the other 25%.

It would be a perfect chance to actually build that downtown stadium, actually build a new Peace Bridge, expand the metro rail at least to the airport, and build the high speed rail connection between Buffalo and Toronto(something that is suppose to happen anyways upon completion of the empire corridor connecting Buffalo with NYC).

Maybe a few other venues, or upgrading existing ones. Between First Niagara, the Ralph, the horse track at the fair grounds, UB's stadium, and the Darwin boat house, Buffalo is in pretty good shape as it is if it were to get 25% of the events.

I think an upstate NY Olympics wouldn't be a bad idea. Between Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo you could have a fairly well thought out set of stadiums and venues with enough hospitality/airports to diffuse major congestion. There's a couple large arena/domes already built and there would be no issues with boarder crossings. At most you'd be 2 hours from Syracuse to Buffalo and the cost would be deferred across several metro areas.

Cool idea. Then we can use the brand new 80,000 stadium for the Bills new home! Two birds with 1 stone

Very cool! I like the notion of Highspeed rail as part of it. Maybe we can host the track and field and parlay that into a new bills stadium down town.

Gosh..the non hospitality related infrastructure that would need to be upgraded before things are even considered is enormous. I have always wondered if it could be possible to bring something soo large to the area.

There would need to be some sort of rail extension..bridge enhancements..large scale beautification..HUGE UPGRADES TO OUR HOSPITALITY INFRASTRUCTURE. Our reputation would be riding on it..it could be a game changer..or the final nail in the coffin.

Do you remember our first NCAA and with visitors complaining about not being able to get food? Things have gotten better..but not much. People are suprised with Buffalo during their travels...in the summer the whole city is consistenly sold out. If there is a large event in town where you're on a deadline/time restraint (convention, show, game etc) you can't get a taxi-cab. Mass transit is nonexistent/inefficient..I honestly do not know if we as a region would be capable of pulling things together.

On a different note...man o man what a great goal to reach for..I've always wanted the area to get together on a regional basis for county wide sports facility upgrades. Sports tourism and tournaments are big business.

The upgrades that could come to area..that I could see being used after. I could see the state stepping in with funding. Buffalo's a cheap date and it would be a great time to get some things done that we've been waiting on for a while.

If Lake Placid and Salt Lake City can do it..I suppose Buffalo could too...Dreams I suppose..

From Toronto so don't hate me to much, but if the summer Olympics were to come to Toronto that 80,000 seat stadium some of you are talking about would be build here,for 3 reasons; one we want an NFL team, yours or some other team; two the Skydome is old and there is already some talk for it to be replaced soon and finally, the new owners of MLSE will want to expand the sports properties even further to generate more revenue then 150 million or more they will be getting once the sale is officially completed in a few weeks.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/beijings-deserted-olympic-sites/article4106855/

The IOC isn't very receptive to dual-city bids, particularly international dual-city bids. From the Olympic Charter (Chapter 5, Rule 34):

"All sports competition must take place in the host city of the Olympic Games, unless the IOC Executive Board authorises the organisation of certain events in other cities, sites or venues situated in the same country. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies must take place in the host city itself. The location, sites and venues for any sports or other events of any kind must all be approved by the IOC Executive Board."

If you look at recent bids, most cities have also made a point of touting how compact the games would be if awarded to that city. Rio de Janeiro proclaimed that it would have the most centralized games ever. Rio is keeping costs under control by heavily utilizing existing facilities. The main stadium and aquatics center already exist, for instance.

It'll never happen. Who could think it would? Canada, a foreign country, will never allow its borders with the USA to be so open.

http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/219501--toronto-councillor-proposes-joint-olympic-bid-with-buffalo