NYC 2012 Olympics Bid

[New Jack City]

Here's the official NYC 2012 Olympics bid thread.

The official website of the bid can be found at:

http://www.nyc2012.com

Here's what's going on so far...

- A proposed Westside project was formally announced days ago which includes a Javits Center expansion and the creation of a new Jets stadium which would also act as a stadium of use for the games, you could check out the thread for that over here:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=71312

- The finalists from the competition for the Olympic Village in Queens have also been released, here's the thread:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=62016

Today, a new logo for the bid was unveiled in Times Square, here's the link to an article about it, and if you scroll down to the bottom, you could see the HUGE logo for it:

http://www.sportsfeatures.com/PressPoint/show.php?id=6793

Feel free to ask any questions or comment on NYC's 2012 Olympic bid.

[New Jack City]

NY1

City Unveils Logo For 2012 Summer Olympic Bid

http://www.ny1.com/Content/images/live/60/118849.jpg

APRIL 06TH, 2004

Past and present Olympians joined city officials Monday to unveil the logo for the city's 2012 Olympic bid.

The logo depicts the Statue of Liberty alongside the image of an athlete with upraised arms. Gymnast Dominique Dawes and swimmer Jenny Thompson were among those on hand at the unveiling ceremony in Times Square.

“Our goal was to create a symbol for NYC 2012 that would communicate the spirit of hope shared by both New York and the Olympic games,” said logo designer Brian Williams.

New York is competing for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games against a host of other cities, including Moscow, Havana and Madrid.

“What we wanted to do was come up with a logo that we would be able to use throughout our bid that expresses the spirit of the Olympic games in a uniquely New York way,” said Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, who organized the city's bid.

The International Olympic Committee will select the host city for the 2012 games on July 6, 2005.

[New Jack City]

Crains NY

NY’s bid a shoo-in as Olympic finalist, but stadium opposition a problem

By Anne Michaud, Crain's New York Business
May 05, 2004 1:57 PM

New York is almost certain to be among the finalists to host the 2012 Summer Olympics once the executive board of the International Olympic Committee narrows the field later this month. The applicant list will be pared to five or six cities from nine when the board meets in Switzerland on May 18.

But Olympics experts say that growing community opposition to a stadium on Manhattan’s West Side, which would serve as the centerpiece of the city’s Olympic games and ceremonies, may hurt New York’s bid. The city is locked in an intense race against London and Paris, which are considered the favorites. The vote this month is intended to eliminate cities that, in the IOC board’s opinion, can’t feasibly host an event the size of the Olympics. A group led by IOC Sports Director Gilbert Felli is scoring each applicant on criteria such as sports facilities, financing plans, hotel rooms, transportation systems, security and political support. Even the weather is taken into account.

The three cities expected to be eliminated are Havana; Istanbul, Turkey; and Leipzig, Germany. Moscow will probably join them if five cities are chosen as finalists instead of six. It’s predicted that London, Madrid, New York, Paris and Rio de Janeiro will survive.

Historically, the most important factors in this round are cities’ transportation systems and their supply of hotel rooms, says Brian Hatch, an amateur Olympics watcher who runs a Web site called NewYorkGames.org. Hatch, who now lives in New York, was a deputy mayor of Salt Lake City when the Winter Games were held in Utah in 2002.

“There’s no city as developed or advanced as New York, and so we should come out No. 1,” he says.

The cities will receive number scores in each category, and comparing the total scores will provide a rough ranking. The scores alone won’t determine the winner, however. When the host of the 2008 games was picked, for example, several cities scored higher than Beijing did, but the accompanying report was enthusiastic about the Chinese capital’s ability to put on a great event.

“The verbiage inside the report is really what matters,” says T. Rob Livingstone, the producer of an Olympics-watch Web site, GamesBids.com.

Assessing dissent

How the report on New York deals with the opposition to the West Side stadium could be key. Anita DeFrantz, an IOC member since 1984 and a former vice president of the organization, says committee members weigh local conflicts when casting their votes.

“As for dissent, we do take it seriously. We do try to understand its basis,” says DeFrantz, who runs an Olympic legacy foundation in Los Angeles. “Whatever the protest, we note it, and each IOC member has to make his or her own decision.”

Some New York activists opposed to the West Side stadium believe that they can influence the IOC. The local community board and legislators sent a letter to Jay Kriegel, executive director of bid promoter NYC2012, noting that they intended to block the stadium, which is to be used for New York Jets football games and Olympic events. They sent a copy of that letter to the IOC. Other opponents of the stadium, including City Councilwoman Christine Quinn, declined to sign the letter because of concerns that it might hurt the 2012 bid.

Kriegel says Olympics officials have assured him that local opponents cannot ruin New York's chances.

“The IOC has told us from the very beginning that it is not influenced by people writing to them,” he says.

Antiwar sentiment an issue

Nor is he is fazed by predictions that either London or Paris is in a better position to come out the winner when the host city is named in July 2005.

“I don’t trust any of that, because the only thing that matters is what the IOC announces on that afternoon,” he says. “We’re not engaging in speculation.”

Anti-American sentiment sparked by the war in Iraq is widely believed to be working against New York.

But sports consultant Marc Ganis says the city has a key asset: “It’s New York,” he says. “It is the most international of cities.”

If the front-runners falter because of lack of funding or government support, New York could always be there to pick up the torch.

[3tmk]

I like the NYC projects, but here I wish that NYC doesn't get the games.
For me I want Paris to get them. if not then Rio.
But to feel exotic, and to see what the US government will do, I want the games to go to Cuba. Those damn bureaucrats should finally learn to lift the embargo on Cuba. Fidel will die anyway, so why starve people over the issue of the regime?

[New Jack City]

The city made it past the next round, we're now among the five finalists!

Newsday

NYC among five 2012 Olympic finalists

BY JOHN JEANSONNE
STAFF WRITER

May 18, 2004, 10:14 AM EDT

New York is among five finalists named Tuesday in the race to host the 2012 Olympics.

Four European capitals -- London, Madrid, Moscow and Paris -- also made the cut and will compete with New York for the rights to host the 2012 Summer Games.

Four cities failed to make the cut: Havana; Istanbul, Turkey; Leipzig, Germany, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The field was trimmed by the International Olympic Committee executive board based on a detailed, 90-page report assessing the technical capabilities of the nine cities. The announcement was made in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The remaining contenders will file an updated bid book on Nov. 15. In February or March of 2005, an IOC evaluation commission will visit each of the remaining candidates, after which they will submit a new report to the IOC executive board in May 2005.

The final vote, by the full 123-member IOC body, will be held in Singapore on July 6, 2005.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said shortly after the decision was announced, "The answer is two hurdles down and one to go. We are flattered, we are humbled, and we will do whatever we can to further the Olympics movement and make New York City reflect all of the values that the Olympics stand for."

Claiming that bringing the Games to New York is a citywide effort, he added, "77 percent of people say they want the Olympics here in New York City. For New York, that's virtually 100 percent."

Bloomberg's comments were seconded by other local officials, including Gov. George Pataki. "Let me make this very clear," Pataki said. "The entire state of New York is behind this effort."

"I'm delighted we're in the field," said Jay Kreigel, executive director of NYC2012, the private group handling New York's bid. "We've got a lot to do."

Deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff, founder of NYC2012, is in Lausanne today along with representatives of the other eight potential candidates. During a presentation at a four-day Olympic media summit just concluded in Manhattan, Doctoroff said that unlike most cities that bid repeatedly for the Games, this is a one-time effort for New York.

"There is absolutely no thought," Doctoroff said, "of anything beyond 2012." He and other officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, are pitching the Olympic bid as "playing an absolutely critical role in the rebuilding of this city," Doctoroff said.

U.S. Olympic committee president Bill Martin said that the biggest surprise in the decision was that the IOC dropped Rio de Janiero, thereby setting up a final group that is all-European with the exception of New York.

Although the city's inclusion in the final group is a step in the right direction, it is probably too early to say whether New York is a favorite. In the race for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Toronto was considered the top choice after the finalists were announced, but Beijing ultimately won the honor of hosting the '08 Games.

[Agglomeration]

The article says it all. I'll only say that Deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff has done a superb job promoting the city's bid. Seriously, Doctoroff should have been sitting in Gracie Mansion instead of Doomberg. The chances are still quite slim, but New York is still hainging in there. And people can dream, can't they?

[New Jack City]

The article says it all. I'll only say that Deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff has done a superb job promoting the city's bid. Seriously, Doctoroff should have been sitting in Gracie Mansion instead of Doomberg. The chances are still quite slim, but New York is still hainging in there. And people can dream, can't they?

Yea, but wasn't Doctoroff the one who said that housing should be built on the WTC site? He seems to only have ONE priority and that's trying to get the Olympics in NYC, but what else is he doing?

Here's a chart with the scores and how the cities ranked in different aspects:

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/05/19/sports/19_OLYM_GRAPHIC.jpg

[BigMac]

New York Times
May 23, 2004

Why New York City's 2012 Olympic Chances Are Dim

By DAVE ANDERSON

In its furious campaign to be the site of the 2012 Summer Olympics, New York has to overcome much more than having faded to fourth in the International Olympic Committee's current appraisal of possible sites — behind Paris, Madrid and London.

As if Paris's being ahead of New York in all 11 preparation categories and Madrid's being ahead in 9 wasn't daunting enough, as announced last Tuesday, New York's chances won't depend only on a go-ahead for the proposed West Side stadium that the Jets will eventually use for football.

More important, New York's chances will also turn on the United States' worldwide political and Olympic image when 125 I.O.C. members from more than 40 countries gather in Lausanne, Switzerland, for the vote that will precede the July 5, 2005, announcement of the 2012 site.

At the moment, America's political and Olympic images need to be cleansed. But is there enough time? And enough soap?

Even before photos of prison atrocities embarrassed the United States around the world, the Iraq war fueled anti-American feeling, particularly among Muslim nations. And with the American sprinter Kelli White suspended for evidence of performance-enhancing drugs, an expanding steroids scandal would stain New York's résumé further.

To those anti-American members, a vote for Paris or Madrid or London would be more a vote against the United States than a vote against New York. Considering the United States' recent Olympic history, such sentiment is quite likely, going back to the I.O.C.'s distaste for the last Summer Games here, in Atlanta in 1996, when a bomb exploded among a throng of midnight revelers in Centennial Park, killing two and injuring dozens.

Many I.O.C. pooh-bahs also thought that Atlanta's country-fair atmosphere was too relaxed for what they like to call the Olympic movement. In other words, Atlanta wasn't respectful enough.

To make matters worse, the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City erupted in a scandal and the United States Olympic Committee had to be reorganized. And with the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which suspended White from competition for two years, now scrutinizing candidates for the Summer Olympics that begin Aug. 13 in Athens, other athletes are expected to be suspended.

All of which diminishes New York's chances. Unfairly perhaps, but understandably.

Yes, there will surely be some sympathy votes for New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center. To balance that, some I.O.C. members might fear that New York remains a prime target of terrorists. But Olympic arguments alone may be enough to turn many I.O.C. members away from rewarding a United States city.

Why would they vote to return the Summer Games to the nation where a bomb went off the last time? Where the Winter Games provoked a scandal involving several I.O.C. members? Where its Olympic committee had to reorganize? And where there is now alarming new evidence that some athletes have used performance-enhancing drugs, especially in the Olympics' showcase sport, track and field?

The crackdown by the anti-doping agency may persuade some voters to credit the United States for its suddenly sterner drug policy, but others may consider it just another reason not to vote for New York.

On preparation alone, New York created I.O.C. concerns for its transportation plans to use waterways, the not-strict-enough structure of its security force to protect athletes and spectators, the plans for the athletes' village in Queens rather than in Manhattan, and the source of financing where all those zillions are yet to be approved for the proposed West Side stadium that would be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the track and field events.

Will those zillions be approved before Nov. 15, when New York submits its final bid book? Will construction of the stadium begin before next July's vote?

If those zillions and the stadium construction don't develop, say goodbye to New York's chances — no matter how cleansed America's worldwide image is.

But even if New York's résumé improves, Paris remains the 2012 favorite. The anti-Paris people smirk that Paree has had the Olympics twice, but the Summer Games were there a long time ago: in 1900, the second modern Olympics, when Alvin Kraenzlein of the United States won four track and field events, and in 1924, when Paavo Nurmi, the Flying Finn, won five track gold medals and Johnny Weismuller won three swimming golds.

Kraenzlein never got a gold medal; the winners that year were awarded silver medals, the second-place athletes bronze medals. Weismuller went on to be the movies' Tarzan of the Apes.

But now Paris, despite the infamous French judge of the Salt Lake City figure skating circus, is the 2012 leader heading into the stretch. Madrid is second, but with Barcelona having been the 1992 site, the I.O.C. is unlikely to go to Spain twice in 20 years. London is a distant third, Moscow a tiring fifth.

New York is a faded fourth. Its Olympic stadium doesn't have an official go-ahead, and America's political and Olympic images must be cleansed. But is there enough time? And enough soap?

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

----------------------------

On a lighter note, the Olympic logo was spoofed soon after its unveiling.
Gothamist (http://www.gothamist.com/) posted this one last month:

http://www.gothamist.com/images/2004_04_logospoof.jpg

[entropy]

The Olympics Committee needs to think twice before lashing at NYC for Iraq or terrorism - it's an international, non-capital city that ultimately has less governmental influence than any of the other 4 capital cities would have. You could just as easily exclude London for supporting the war (at least it HQed its prime minister), Madrid for its recent terrorism, Moscow for its own problems with the Chechyan terrorists and Paris for being in a country that has gotten Muslims fired up for the headscarf ban. The community of these 5 megacities needs to realize that they all are big time "targets".

As for history goes I don't think either Paris or London should be penalized for having 2 Olympics before as entire generations have passed, and a 20 year gap for Spainish Olympics is still a generation gap for some - but New York remains the true and definite Alpha class city that has yet to host the Olympics.

[New Jack City]

NY POST

'WOW' ABOUT IT!

http://www.nypost.com/photos/news0806200408.jpg

By STEPHANIE GASKELL

August 6, 2004 -- Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a massive $3.7 billion plan yesterday to transform the city for the 2012 Olympic games.

"I think everybody just has one word — Wow!" said Bloomberg after an hour-long presentation at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the future site of many Olympic events if New York is chosen.

The plan is dubbed "Olympic X" because the two main lines of getting around — a ferry line down the East River and the commuter rail lines cutting across Midtown Manhattan — intersect at the Olympic Village, forming a giant X across the city.

The entire plan is expected to cost $3.7 billion, which would be paid for by revenue from TV rights and licensing and ticket sales.

The proposal consists of three major venues:

* Olympic Square. It relies on a retractable stadium being built for the New York Jets on the West Side and an expansion of the Javits Convention Center next door.

Track and field and the opening and closing ceremonies would take place in the new stadium. Fencing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling would be held in the Javits Center.

Olympic basketball would be played in Madison Square Garden nearby.

* Olympic Park. Located at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, the site of the 1939 and 1964 World's Fairs.

Archery, rowing, slalom, whitewater canoeing, tennis and water-polo events would be held here.

* Olympic River. Events would straddle the Harlem River. Track cycling would take place in the Bronx Terminal Market and baseball would be played at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, while badminton would be played in the 369th Regiment Armory in Manhattan.

Volleyball would be played at the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey's Meadowlands.

An Olympic Village would be built in Queens, just across the East River from the United Nations.

The city's comprehensive proposal must be submitted to the International Olympic Committee by Nov. 15, but Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff — head of the Big Apple's bid to land the games — said he wanted the plans to be complete before he and the mayor head to Athens next week to persuade IOC officials to choose New York as host.

New York is competing with London, Madrid, Moscow and Paris for the 2012 games. The host city will be named at a ceremony in Singapore next July 6.

Doctoroff pointed out that every venue has a "post-Olympic benefit."

The plan would "truly leave a spectacular legacy to the world of sports and the City of New York," Doctoroff said.

[3tmk]

"wow" :D
actually the plans really are wow-ing

[flyin_higher]

It'd be cool if NYC got the Olympics- they kinda deserve a special event after all the hard times the city has been through recently :cheers:

[Woor20]

I love to have the Summer Games in NYC but there is a problem, Vancouver is hosting the Winter Games in 2010 which translate into an obstacle into allowing an another North American city to host the games since Vancouver (a North American city) will be hosting it. Had South Korea got awarded for the Winter Games instead of Vancouver, the chances of a North American city to host the games in 2014 increases.

[3tmk]

no thanks, no Olympics here, too many reasons to list.
But for the Vancouver argument, I don't think it's much of a problem, look at Torino, they're hosting the games in 2006.
So NYC has all it's chances, if Paris and Madrid mess up.

[BigMac]

New York Times
November 16, 2004

New York and 4 Others Submit Bids for 2012

By DUFF WILSON

New York and four European capitals submitted their final bids to be host of the 2012 Summer Olympics by yesterday's deadline, the International Olympic Committee announced.

New York is competing against Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow for the Games.

The two major steps remaining in the process are visits to each city by an 11-member I.O.C. Evaluation Commission and a vote by the 122 members of the International Olympic Committee on July 6 in Singapore. The evaluation committee is to visit New York on Feb. 21-24.

Details of the cities' final bids are to be revealed tomorrow, although much was already known from the preliminary bids and an earlier I.O.C. evaluation.

Previous criticism of New York's bid was that it was too costly and complicated, and in the case of its stadium plans, controversial.

But Peter V. Ueberroth, chairman of the United States Olympic Committee, promoted the advantages of New York yesterday at a breakfast, sponsored by the Association for a Better New York, at the Waldorf-Astoria in Manhattan.

"This city offers an outstanding combination of marketing, financial and media power that can help the Games achieve a new level of global prominence," Ueberroth said. "There is no doubt in my mind that New York has produced a bid that can win."

Ueberroth announced yesterday that Daniel L. Doctoroff, the deputy mayor for economic development and a longtime Olympic booster, would serve as the unpaid president and chief executive of the New York Olympics Organizing Committee if the city were selected.

Doctoroff was named in a document signed by the City of New York, the State of New York, the State of New Jersey, Nassau County, the U.S.O.C. and NYC2012. Doctoroff is the founder of NYC2012.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the Games would add more than $12 billion to the economy and create more than 135,000 jobs. He is promoting a stadium as a necessity for Manhattan.

New York is promising to build an Olympic stadium on the far West Side, with $800 million contributed by the Jets, who would own the stadium.

The city would also create an Olympic Village in Queens, facing the East River and the United Nations; the site would provide new housing after the Games.

New York sent 120 copies of its 562-page bid book, formally called a candidature file, to I.O.C. headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. The document was printed in French and English, the official languages of the I.O.C.

The bid packet for New York also included a number of maps and an attachment of about 1,500 pages that contained the required guarantees, licenses and contracts to assure the I.O.C. the city could hold the event.

The NYC2012 Olympic budget is $3.7 billion, which does not include the privately financed athletes' village in Queens, or $1.8 billion for the West Side stadium.

Paris is widely considered the front-runner for the 2012 Games. It has twice been a host of the Summer Games (in 1900 and 1924) and has an Olympic stadium in place.

Kevin B. Wamsley, a professor of history and the director of the International Center for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, said the I.O.C. vote on the 2010 Winter Olympics foretold a problem for New York in next year's vote. The I.O.C. bypassed a strong Austrian bid and awarded the 2010 Games to Vancouver, British Columbia.

"That was a clear indication that they thought a European city should get the 2012 Summer Olympics, which they regard as more important," Wamsley said by telephone yesterday.

Asked whether New York really had a chance, Wamsley said: "At this point I don't think so. I think Paris is probably a good bet. But stranger things have happened."

Olympics are traditionally rotated among continents. By surviving into the later rounds of the I.O.C. vote next year, New York could pick up votes from supporters of European cities that are eliminated in earlier rounds and want to keep their own hopes alive for 2016.

"If there is a way for New York to win, that's it," Wamsley said.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[www.sercan.de]

Does somebody have got the NY 2012 Bid Book (*.pdf)

Thanks and sorry for reactivating this old topic