Chicago City Council Backs The Bid

Yesterday the Chicago City Council unanimously passed an ordinance authorizing Mayor Daley to sign the standard International Olympic Committee Host City contract, which commits taxpayers to absorb any deficits should Chicago be awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics. Passage of this ordinance was the last speed bump in Chicago's bid against Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janero for the games.

Even the non-partisan and often critical Civic Federation of Chicago issued an analysis right before the city council vote which concludes that the bid by the City of Chicago provides fair and reasonable protections to taxpayers thanks to reasonable budget projections in a professionally prepared plan. This is good news for those construction businesses which will get the chance to bid on billions of dollars of new construction in the city, should Chicago be awarded the 2016 Games when the announcement is made next month.

What If Chicago Gets The Olympics?

Chicago proposes to host the 2016 Olympic Games July 22 through August 7, 2016. Today the 2016 IOC Evaluation Commission released its comparative report on the bids by Chicago, Tokyo, Rio de Janero and Madrid to host the 2016 Olympics. According to that report, there is a financial bonanza for the local economy if Chicago is selected as host city.

The Games would bring 16,800 athletes from around the world to the heart of our city, where they would live in a newly built Olympic Village on the site of Michael Reese Hospital in Bronzeville. At that location 90% of the athletes would be living within a 15 minute bus ride of their competition venues. After the games the Village would be owned by the private developer winning the construction bid, and the developer would have to promise 20% of the units as affordable housing for Chicago residents.

The evaluation report characterizes the proposed Games budget as "ambitious but achievable," supported by City of Chicago financial guarantees of $500 million and State of Illinois guarantees of another $250 million. The City of Chicago has already arranged an insurance policy covering its guarantee, so the city taxpayers will be protected from any losses. Olympic events will sell 8.9 million tickets to sports fans from across town and around the world, with more than half the tickets costing under $50, and an average ticket price of $71.

The Games would bring a direct total of $5.36 billion in cash to the Chicago area economy, including $1.8 billion from local sponsors, $1.03 billion for construction of the Olympic Village, $876 million in ticket sales, $675 million from IOC, $355 million from international sponsors, $246 million from donations, $226 million in bus and train fares, and $152 million in sales of Olympic merchandise. For the construction industry, in addition to the $1.03 billion Olympic Village project, on land already owned by the City of Chicago, construction of new Olympic venues would bring another $162.2 million.

One in four odds on getting over five billion dollars seven years from now sounds pretty good to me!