Expo Update

[current]

Another possible Expo bid? - Toronto Star article:
Toronto Councillor Looks Into Bid for Expo 2025

Madhavi Acharya-Tom Yew
Staff Reporter
Sat May 19 2012

Nearly six years after a push for Expo 2015 fell apart, there’s a movement afoot for Toronto to consider bidding for the World’s Fair in 2025. “It’s very early in exploration. The conversations are very casual. It’s information-gathering,” said Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam. Wong-Tam (Ward 27, Toronto Centre-Rosedale) said she is speaking to business leaders and trade unions, among others, to see if there is an appetite to mount a bid for the international exposition that showcases technology, architecture and culture from around the world. “So far the reaction has been very warm to enthusiastic,” she said.

In 2006, city council, lead by then-mayor David Miller, was firmly behind Toronto making a bid. The federal government pledged to contribute $600 million to cover infrastructure, security and other costs. But Ottawa and the province were unable to reach a deal on who would pick up a projected deficit for Expo 2015, estimated at $700 million to $2.2 billion. The final preparations fell apart and no bid was submitted to the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).

The fair was awarded to Milan.

Wong-Tam, who was not on council for the last attempt, plans to table a motion in June that would ask for a report from the city’s economic development and culture office on the estimated costs, benefits and environmental impact....

...Then-city councillor Rob Ford supported the push for a 2006 bid, Wong-Tam noted...

...Montreal hosted the World’s Fair in 1967, and Vancouver did so in 1986. The deadline to make a bid for Expo 2025 would be in 2016...


Read More: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/...expo-2025?bn=1

[Innsertnamehere]

we should be focusing on olympics 2024, not expo 2025.

[Taller, Better]

Hmmmm.... I don't know about that. An Expo is an entire summer of tourism. Olympics is what? two or three weeks tops?

[Mollywood]

I'll take a World's Fair, thank you very much.

Two weeks of Olympic media coverage and then it's all over, just has nothing in it for me. At least with a World's Fair, I can go whenever I want for 6 months. Does anybody on here realize how difficult it is to get tickets to big, Olympic events? For opening and closing ceremonies, it's next to impossible. I have 3 friends that live in Sydney and all 3 wanted to get tickets for either the opening or closing ceremonies. Guess how many were able to round up tickets? NONE! Not a single one could get tickets. So really, if you can't see the events you want to, what's the point? You pay BILLIONS in your tax dollars and what do you get out of it? I'll take a nice, long World's Fair any day.

[Innsertnamehere]

the big incentive of the Olympics is the huge investment in infrastructure that always comes with it. if we were to get them, It would all but guarantee the DRL, and probably billions more in infrastructure investment. they may be temporary, but they also put your city into the spotlight of EVERY country in the world for two weeks, as people tune in around once a day to watch. With the expo, people see a short newscast on it on the 6 o'clock news, and thats it. i feel the olympics would bring a better long-term tourism industry than an Expo.

[Taller, Better]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

the big incentive of the Olympics is the huge investment in infrastructure that always comes with it. .

In my books that would be pretty much the only incentive.

[Mollywood]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

the big incentive of the Olympics is the huge investment in infrastructure that always comes with it. If we were to get them, It would all but guarantee the DRL, and probably billions more in infrastructure investment. they may be temporary, but they also put your city into the spotlight of EVERY country in the world for two weeks, as people tune in around once a day to watch. With the expo, people see a short newscast on it on the 6 o'clock news, and thats it. i feel the olympics would bring a better long-term tourism industry than an Expo.

You would think that, wouldn't you. The reality is the Olympics fails to improve tourism. Do some research of your own and see if the Olympics helped Beijing, Sydney or even Vancouver. It's sold as a huge boost to tourism but that's a big lie used to justify the huge cost.

An Olympics leaves a legacy of sporting venues but those are almost exclusively for elite athletes. The general public almost never gets to use any of it. When was the last time you got to ride in a velodrome or a luge?

If we are lucky, we might get a subway but we should get one based on our daily needs, not because of a 2 week spectacle.

A World's Fair can also get a subway built and its permanent buildings could be used for much more than just sports. It could provide cultural amenities everybody could use. (and not just wealthy collage jocks)

What other infrastructure do you think an Olympics will bring? The Jays and Argos have a hard time filling the Skydome, so do we really need an 80,000 seat stadium, that will either be a white elephant or just be temporary? Do we need a velodrome?

[isaidso]

Any Olympic stadium would have to be designed so that it is of an appropriate size for one of Toronto's sports teams after the games. The football team is the only possible tenant so it should be designed with the Argonauts in mind. 80,000-90,000 for the Olympics, but 40,000 after the games and no athletics track.

[current]

Expo or Olympics? - Yahoo News article:
Toronto Pondering Potential 2024 Summer Olympics Bid

By Nadine Bells | Daily Brew – 6 hours ago July 30 2012

...On Friday, council voted to investigate the possibility of a 2024 Summer Games bid, the Toronto Star reports. This comes as an amendment to another motion: to study the possibility of a World Expo 2025 bid. Two separate reports — one on each bid — will be submitted to Toronto's economic development and culture committee in March 2013, CBC News reports....

...Well, the Pan American Games might be key. Toronto is set to host the games in 2015, guaranteeing that the city will have world-class facilities worthy of Olympic athletes. "Presuming that we do a good job on it, I think it's very positive," Bob Richardson, the organizer behind Toronto's successful Pan Am Games bid, told the Globe and Mail. "The proof of that is in the pudding for Rio [de Janeiro]. They held the Pan Am Games and that was a huge plus for them in terms of their successful bid to host the 2016 Olympics." Still, if Quebec City bids on the 2022 Winter Olympics as it's rumoured to do, Toronto's odds will be hurt: Canada isn't likely to be awarded back-to-back games. Plus, the country has already hosted the Games three times in the last 40 years, making its bids more difficult than a more largely populated nation with fewer Olympics to its name.

Councillor Minnan-Wong says that he'd choose the Olympics over the 2025 World Expo. "If I had to choose, there's no question: The Olympics. It's the most important global event a city can host: The economic benefits. The job creation. The buzz it would give the city. And the infrastructure that would be left would be amazing," Minnan-Wong told the Toronto Star....

...London mayor Boris Johnson thinks Toronto should just "go for it."

"I think that's a great move," Johnson told The Canadian Press earlier this year. "Go for it, Toronto. You won't regret it if you get it."

The London Olympics reportedly cost more than $14 billion.

The winning bid for the 2024 Summer Games will be announced in 2017....

Read more: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily...185326192.html

[rbt]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Any Olympic stadium would have to be designed so that it is of an appropriate size for one of Toronto's sports teams after the games. The football team is the only possible tenant so it should be designed with the Argonauts in mind.

I think Blue Jays are a more likely tenant, don't you? In 2025 the SkyDome will be 36 years old so the Jays will either want want a new stadium or a major refurbishing. Heck, the Ex stadium was only open for 30 years.

See Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and St. Louis for recent examples of stadiums demolitioned after 30 years of service.



Argos only play 9 home games a year with an attendance of 25,000. A very high per-ticket premium would be required to absorb the cost of a new stadium (or even just operations of a stadium dedicated for the Argos).


Jays on the other hand have 80 home games with ~30,000 fans to split the cost across. A much lower per-ticket premium making it worthwhile if there is any boost in game enjoyment by the fans.