Surely it's better for Brazil to cancel them and spend the money on sorting out their economy and social needs? I have no doubt that another country with money to blow would be happy to host them. It just doesn't seem fair on the Brazilians to expect them to fund the games if they are in financial meltdown and the preparation for the games will just hurt the country.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/rio-2016/2016/06/17/rio-olympics-brazil-finances-public-calamity/86055924/
Not sure that pulling the plug is the right answer for their economy when they have invested so heavily in preparation for the games and are now a month+ away from reaping the benefits of hosting many hundreds of thousands that are coming to participate/spectate. Cancelling the games now would mean essentially flushing their 10 billion investment down the toilet. Apparently the games have sold out, hotels all booked to capacity.
Quote from: Rekim on June 19, 2016, 12:41:42 AM
Not sure that pulling the plug is the right answer for their economy when they have invested so heavily in preparation for the games and are now a month+ away from reaping the benefits of hosting many hundreds of thousands that are coming to participate/spectate. Cancelling the games now would mean essentially flushing their 10 billion investment down the toilet. Apparently the games have sold out, hotels all booked to capacity.
Fair point. I suspect there will be a lot of fallout if they have to spend more money yet, and the games don't deliver a significant boost to the economy. Any boost to the economy must be felt by the general population, not just to big business, or Brazilians will be asking what was the point of it.
The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta ran a profit. The "professional Olympics" people had a cow and moaned how "commercialized" the Olympics in Atlanta were. Financially, it went downhill from there.
As the US has always said about major events like the Olympics, and the World Cup: we're happy to have you move them here. Just try to give us a few weeks notice, please.
and yes, we seriously could pull it off - we do big sporting events better than anyone else
Hmm...I kind of doubt that a reorg to a US city could be accomplished in two months. So much involved. If the time frame was stretched I'd imagine it could be done, though.
If the current zika outbreak wasn't enough to cancel/postpone the Olympics in Rio I don't expect they'll allow a little bankruptcy get in the way.
But if the US ran it, made a profit, and shared some of that profit back with the Brazilians in recognition of the transfer and their costs, wouldn't that be a good idea? Plus no Zika, nor extreme crime rates for the fans to worry about. Most of the hotels affected will be multinationals, which could offer alternative accommodation, and those who are not might see some compensation out of the profits of a transferred event.
Quote from: Rekim on June 20, 2016, 03:21:29 AM
If the current zika outbreak wasn't enough to cancel/postpone the Olympics in Rio I don't expect they'll allow a little bankruptcy get in the way.
Heard the other day that an agency, the CDC I believe, said that the Zika virus outbreak in Brazil would really only effect those who brought it back to their own countries. That the amount of people visiting Brazil for something other than the Olympics would FAR outweigh those coming solely for the Games. So there wasn't really a reason to cancel the Games. Sounds like terrible reasoning if you're the one with Zika, or Patient Zero for your country, but, I guess it's a numbers game in the end.
It's the finances that are the problem? I thought nobody wanted to have to have a Brazillian to go there. OUCH! That would hurt. ;D
Quote from: Rekim on June 20, 2016, 03:21:29 AM
Hmm...I kind of doubt that a reorg to a US city could be accomplished in two months. So much involved. If the time frame was stretched I'd imagine it could be done, though.
If the current zika outbreak wasn't enough to cancel/postpone the Olympics in Rio I don't expect they'll allow a little bankruptcy get in the way.
I'm not sure you get how often we do these things. Right now Charlotte is hosting a sports festival that's just NC/SC and they've got over 40k participants (not spectators, mind you) over 16 days, and it's not even on the US sports radar. Charlotte isn't even a big city.
You don't think LA could pull this together in 10 weeks? We have stadiums coming out our ears. We have more hotel rooms within 60 miles of LA than Rio, Buenos Aires, Sao Paolo, and all of Venezuela combined. We already play every one of these sports (except team handball) for shits & giggles, and have every conceivable field, court, pool, and track imaginable, and we've got a bit of sand for the volleyball guys, too.
If just the UCLA alumni had entered the last summer Olympics as their own team, they would've finished about 7th in the medal count. We can totally pull it off