Joint Canadian/United States Winter Olympics Bid

[skipaway]

This was in the news today:

http://www.sports.yahoo.com/m/oly/news/reuters/20030109/reu-canadausadc.html


I like the idea of sharing but with NYC possible in 2012 and Vancouver possible in 2010, I doubt this would work.


skipaway

[PAskate]

It's an interesting idea! And if the IOC doesn't go for NY and Vancouver, this would be a great alternative. I'd definitely be making plans to be there.

[Aaron W]

Well hopefully the figure skating event will be held in Canada and not in Lake Placid. The US always over-charges on figure skating events. I like the prices of Canadian skating events. :)

[rinsk]

From what I remember of the seating capacity of the 1980 rink in Placid, I think the Bell Center in Montreal or the Colisee Pepsi in Quebec City would hold more people (anyone who wants to correct me, go right ahead), so that might support holding the figure skating in Quebec (yay!).

[memememe76]

With 9/11 and all that, wouldn't crossing the border be one big hassle?

[Blue Line]

I wonder how the events would be split between the two countries. Where do you hold the Opening Ceremonies, the figure skating, or the hockey gold-medal game? I can only imagine the tug-of-war that would go on between each side of the border if this went through.

I've heard mentioned a few times in the past (but never very seriously) by local enthuiasts Detroit and Windsor co-hosting an Olympics, so it's interesting to see another location use a similar idea.

[MissJ]

There was also talk several years ago about a joint Vancouver/Seattle for the Winter Olympics. The outdoor would have been held at various locations up and down the Cascades (depending on the event) with Seattle and Vancouver sharing the events like Hockey and Skating. This never went past speculation and Vancouver has obviously gone for it alone.

[Artemis]

Haven't there been other bi-country Oly bids that didn't work out? Maybe in Europe?

I like the idea in theory, not just in terms of cost sharing but in preserving the international flavour that Olympics should have ... but I think in practice it would be a huge headache. And after all, if we're not allowed to call the Vancouver 2010 bid the "Vancouver - Whistler 2010" bid, what on earth would we call a cross-border one?

[MissJ]

I think the only way it would work is if one country/city agreed to be the primary host and contracted with other sites for specific events. One of the two countries/cities would defiantely have to be humble and in today's world that may be difficult.

I do know that Seattle and Western Washington will benifit greatly if Vancouver wins the Olympics. There will probably be many that will visit or stay in Washington at some point during their trip and since skiing for visitors probably won't be available in a lot of the Canadian sites. Mt. Baker will probably be booming with skiers. I really hope that they win the bid.