2024 Summer Olympics in Tulsa?

[AquaMan]

"Cruise ships coming up the Arkansas Navigation Channel"?

And what...drop off people at Muskogee or the Port at Catoosa to drive the rest of the way?

There should be some requirements to apply. Like real mass transit, at least the demonstrated ability to invite, host and operate a professional sports team, and a large enough airport to handle the crush of visitors.

Nonetheless, Dewey has the right attitude about it. Fine if there's a little humor about it and fine if they seriously consider us.

[Oil Capital]

"Cruise ships coming up the Arkansas Navigation Channel"?

And what...drop off people at Muskogee or the Port at Catoosa to drive the rest of the way?

That is a pretty hilarious idea, and reflects a common misunderstanding of the Tulsa port.  It is not a port for ocean-going vessels. It is a river port for barges.  The channel is neither wide enough nor deep enough for ocean-going vessels, including cruise ships.  (Not to mention that cruise ships would not fit under the vast majority of bridges leading to the port of Tulsa.)  If they are referring to river cruise ships, I doubt there are enough of them in existence to make up the housing shortage.

[patric]

No medals have yet been awarded, and Rio is already an exemplar of the Olympics' disastrous model of urban development and planning. This is a disaster 30 years in the making. As with almost all host cities over the last couple of decades, Rio is unlikely to see any perceptible post-Olympics rise in growth, employment, wages, or tourism, and the gains that are made in terms of new transport infrastructure and housing are overwhelmingly focused on neighborhoods that are already super wealthy.


http://qz.com/748894/nobody-wants-to-host-the-olympic-games-anymore-can-you-blame-them/

[Hoss]

No medals have yet been awarded, and Rio is already an exemplar of the Olympics' disastrous model of urban development and planning. This is a disaster 30 years in the making. As with almost all host cities over the last couple of decades, Rio is unlikely to see any perceptible post-Olympics rise in growth, employment, wages, or tourism, and the gains that are made in terms of new transport infrastructure and housing are overwhelmingly focused on neighborhoods that are already super wealthy.


http://qz.com/748894/nobody-wants-to-host-the-olympic-games-anymore-can-you-blame-them/

Hell, they got hurt bad enough by the World Cup.

Another John Oliver piece to make my point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I

You think they would have learned...

[Conan71]

No medals have yet been awarded, and Rio is already an exemplar of the Olympics' disastrous model of urban development and planning. This is a disaster 30 years in the making. As with almost all host cities over the last couple of decades, Rio is unlikely to see any perceptible post-Olympics rise in growth, employment, wages, or tourism, and the gains that are made in terms of new transport infrastructure and housing are overwhelmingly focused on neighborhoods that are already super wealthy.


http://qz.com/748894/nobody-wants-to-host-the-olympic-games-anymore-can-you-blame-them/

Well Duh.  It's no longer about the athleticism of the world's best amateur athletes which was the purpose of the Olympics in the first place. 

It has become about showcasing cities, countries, and the best professional athletes from each sport.

40 years ago, I recall Franz Klamer from the Innsbruck Olympics and Caitlyn (nee Bruce) Jenner from the Montreal games.  These were simple athletes, but we started to put them on a pedestal and started to find ways for them to profit off all the hard training they put in to help sustain them for the rest of their lives.  Maybe it was Mark Spitz and Olga Korbut from the doomed Olympics of Munich in 1972 who first hit the Wheaties boxes and it all changed from there.

Bottom line is, no one who organizes or manages the Olympics really cares about the Olympians anymore and I'm not sure the participants do it for the love of the sport anymore, it's a means for self-enrichment.

[cannon_fodder]

I don't mind the fact that it is professional athletes, at least as it pertains to the sports which are not "main stream" giant cash generating machines. Having the best athletes in the world for track and field, bad mitten, rowing, gymnastics, archery, swimming, fencing, etc. is all fine with me. For these athletes, the Olympics are the biggest event and the best chance to "make it" in your sport.  A world championship is nice, but Olympic gold is the dream and very likely the only way to "make it big" as the worlds best [insert non-major spectator sport here].

But tennis, golf, basketball, etc.?  The Olympics becomes maybe the 5th most important tournament of the year for both golf and tennis, who cares? For basketball, it sure is fun to watch team USA crush the rest of the world - but not only is the event nearly a foregone conclusion, it isn't the biggest basketball "dream" of the vast, vast majority of the guys in the game. And the ones chosen surely don't need to showcase their stuff, they've "made it" already. I'm a pretty big cycling fan, and God knows I'm excited about watching Peter Sagan compete in the mountain bike events... but it just doesn't seem right. Particularly for the road cyclists, the Olympics are again the 4th or 5th most important race of the year.

For those sports, let the amateurs take a crack at it. Boxing still sticks to this model. Mens soccer follows a modified version of this model (U23 + 3 over the age of 23).

/damn thread drift
- - -

Hosting the Olympics *could* be an excellent opportunity for a city to really step up its game. To invest in infrastructure quality of life, beautification, and announce the city on the world stage. Those proposals have been made. Unfortunately, they rarely advance and are never selected.

Lets look at the Tulsa bid. A quality rail link to OKC would be essential to the bid as it would have to be a regional effort - maybe even include NW Arkansas and link to them also. Quality public transportation would be a must within Tulsa and to the region  (even to the point of bringing in more buses temporarily to bring times between buses way down). A few venues would have to be built, but could very likely to be done in partnerships with Universities (U Tulsa rowing, for example) or other groups (USA BMX, the Roughnecks) to make sure they are utilized after the fact. Clearly we could use the opportunity to bite the bullet on needed infrastructure improvements and beautification.

Would it make any sense to do the grand Beijing games in Tulsa? Of course not. But if the IOC really wanted to use the games in an efficient manner, it could be done here or similar locations around the world. There would, of course, be vanity projects and waste. But vast improvements and overall good could result.

As it stands, the City with the biggest promises wins.

[DTowner]

Hosting the Olympics *could* be an excellent opportunity for a city to really step up its game. To invest in infrastructure quality of life, beautification, and announce the city on the world stage. Those proposals have been made. Unfortunately, they rarely advance and are never selected.

Lets look at the Tulsa bid. A quality rail link to OKC would be essential to the bid as it would have to be a regional effort - maybe even include NW Arkansas and link to them also. Quality public transportation would be a must within Tulsa and to the region  (even to the point of bringing in more buses temporarily to bring times between buses way down). A few venues would have to be built, but could very likely to be done in partnerships with Universities (U Tulsa rowing, for example) or other groups (USA BMX, the Roughnecks) to make sure they are utilized after the fact. Clearly we could use the opportunity to bite the bullet on needed infrastructure improvements and beautification.

Would it make any sense to do the grand Beijing games in Tulsa? Of course not. But if the IOC really wanted to use the games in an efficient manner, it could be done here or similar locations around the world. There would, of course, be vanity projects and waste. But vast improvements and overall good could result.

As it stands, the City with the biggest promises wins.

More likely, the City with the biggest bribe wins.