Rachael Church-Sanders, Editorial Director, Major Events International, examined each of the bids for the September issue of SportBusiness International, here is her analysis of how each bid stacked up in the final run in.
Rio de Janeiro
With recent bursts of sugar daddy funding, no doubt to assuage fears over expensive infrastructure costs, and the playing of the almost obligatory ‘green’ card to please the environmental lobby at the eleventh hour, certainly there is more reason now to feel bullish about the Rio bid than ever before.
It is no secret that proven financial security is high on the IOC selection agenda, which is why Rio will be thankful for Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista’s kind donation of R13m (around $6.8m), adding to the R10m he has already bankrolled. Nice.
Meanwhile, the ultimate in recycling will take place if the Games go to 2014 FIFA World Cup Final host city Rio, with one of the venues, Barra da Tijuca, being turned into a waste water management centre that will reportedly benefit around 10,000 people. Barra da Tijuca is the proposed venue for competitions in 19 Olympic sports and 13 Paralympic sports, as well as the site of the Olympic Village, the International Broadcast Centre and the Main Press Centre.
Perhaps Rio’s greatest stroke of genius however was its bid team’s compelling presentation to the IOC in June that was designed to tug well and truly at the governing body’s emotional heartstrings. By displaying a huge map showing where all the Olympics have been held, with dots placed strategically in Europe, Asia and North America and the entire South American continent left blank, it would be a brave person who rules out the Brazilian city soon filling the gap.
Madrid
If the 2016 Games were to be awarded on the merits of which city had the jolliest campaign, then Madrid would surely win. Madrid says it is committed to delivering a ‘Happy Green Games’ in 2016 and has worked with experienced stakeholders to ensure that all plans meet with the highest environmental standards. With a touch of the ‘Factor 30’, rather than the ‘X Factor’ about its bid, the city is hoping that its status as ‘sunniest candidate’ will increase its chances of success.
Alas, the fact that there have never been back-to-back Summer Games in the same continent is still a major stumbling block unless Madrid can pull something a bit more spectacular out of the bag than glorious weather forecasts and the mandatory environmental promises. That said, Madrid must surely win points for putting legacy at the heart of its bid and having lots of lovely pre-existing infrastructure. The city will also have learned invaluable lessons from the experiences of its two previous failed bids. The softly, softly approach that Madrid has been following may end up being its catchy-Olympic-monkey masterstroke.
Spain’s King Juan Carlos is in Copenhagen to support Madrid’s bid preparations. With the David Beckham factor being acknowledged as a positive in London 2012’s final push for glory, Spain’s capital city might be savvy to buy a first class ticket for Cristiano Ronaldo too. Just a thought.
Chicago
Chicago has long been favourite, with bookmakers at least, to secure the coveted event. The Windy City, home of the Cubs and the White Sox, is seeking to take the Summer Games back to the US for the first time since 1996 in Atlanta and is promising a compact Games with 85 per cent of competition taking place within an 8 km radius - an area to be known as the Olympic Ring.
Although the bid could get a decisive boost with President Barack Obama and the First Lady having travelled to Copenhagen for the vote, the positive influence of the former Chicago Senator will have to make up ground for several elements that insiders claim may prove to be “too much hassle” for the IOC to deal with. For starters, the IOC was upset about the United States Olympic Committee's (USOC) plans for an Olympic television network launch … now on hold...
And as far as finances go, Chicago’s Mayor (Richard M Daley) has now agreed to sign a contract bearing full financial responsibility should Chicago host the 2016 Games – marking a complete u-turn on earlier plans to privately fund the Games. But strong concerns remain domestically about potential taxpayer risks.
Tokyo
Giant green robots, enormous paper lanterns and iPhone Applications have all been used to bolster Tokyo’s bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. As far as the bid team’s marketing and PR budget has gone, no expense has been spared to promote the transformation that the city is undergoing within its 10-year ‘Tokyo Big Change’ that will be completed in 2016 in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Tokyo certainly continues to sing its own praises well through a range of gadgetry and gimmickry, but is Japan’s capital city barking up the wrong (albeit newly planted) tree when it comes to appealing to the IOC voters?
On paper, the Tokyo bid stacks up incredibly well and ticks the full gamut of boxes. It is securely-funded, there is evidence of great public support (including from the popular youth element), an Olympics-hungry time-friendly massive television audience is primed and at the ready, robust legacy planning is firmly in place, and Tokyo is offering an environmentally-friendly Games that would be even more compact, or indeed ‘Bonsai’, than Chicago’s. Some might say that Tokyo’s bid almost seems a bit too good to be true. Perhaps even a bit excessive at this time of global economic downturn? It is for the IOC members to decide.
The IOC decision will be made public around 18.00 GMT.
