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I couldn't tell you who will host the next 10 Pan Am games or who hosted the last 20 :)
 
There is a way of going back.

Denver's citizens were offered the opportunity to hold a referendum when their city won the bid for the 1976 games and costs jumped by 300%. Needless to say, Innsbruck Austria (who didn't even bid for these games, but held them in 1964) ended up hosting the games instead.
 
But in the end, what's so terrible if we win this?

Part of the deal was that the city would incur no expense if prices inflate correct?

So what's the worst case scenario.

Yes this is not the Toronto games ... it's the Southern Ontario games ... but seeing how there's so little media attention who cares.
If the Olympics were being pitched like that I'd have a lot more to say.

Sure Toronto may not get a whole lot out of it ... but the athletes village by it self may just be worth it! Hopefully we'll get a few other things as well. BUT IT BETTER BE DOWNTOWN NOT AT YORKU!! ... imagine having it while a strike was going on :) ... p.s. I am a YorkU student, for one more term.

At the same rate, it doesn't hurt for other regions in the GTA to pick up a few things of their own. Hopefully this will also spur inter region rail, or at least improve it.
 
I'll be looking forward to Toronto's future 2020 or 2024 Olympic bid, if Chicago fails at their attempt to get the 2016 Olympics. These Pan Am Games won't do much for the city as the officials are making it seem like it will but I don't think it will have such a big negative affect on the city if the Southern Ontario region hosts the Pan Ams. I'm just upset Toronto isn't going to be hosting a majority of events or even the best sporting events on the program (Athletics or Swimming).
 
They're not building a new athletes village anymore.

Instead the athletes will be housed at UofT's residence.
 
Pan Am venues to be named

By BILL LANKHOF, SUN MEDIA

Last Updated: 21st January 2009, 7:17pm


The bid committee attempting to bring the 2015 Pan Am Games to Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe is close to announcing where individual sports will be held.

“We’re not all the way yet. We’re close ... a couple of weeks away from being able to unveil most, if not all, of the plan,†Jagoda Pike, the bid committee’s president and chief operating officer, said today.

Pike declined to be specific but it is expected that Toronto will see construction of several new sporting venues under the plan. As well, the Rogers Centre will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies. “I think a very poorly kept secret is that potentially we’d be thrilled to have the opening and closing ceremonies at the Rogers Centre,†Pike said. “We want to use the key venues in town like the Air Canada Centre and BMO Field. Those are all key landmarks.â€

This would suggest that Toronto will be the site of at least some of the soccer and baseball tournaments.

“It is a Golden Horsehoe bid but Toronto certainly is the international face of this bid. It is a key part of it and I think you’ll see some good developments for Toronto when we’re ready to talk about it,†Pike said. “(Until then) it will be fun to speculate.â€

The committee must submit its official bid to host the Games to the Pan American Sports Organization by Jan. 31. They are expected to select a host city this fall. Lima, Peru and Bogota, Columbia, are also in the bidding but the past two Games have been in Latin America and the 2011 Games are scheduled for Guadalajara, Mexico.

As a result, Pan American Sports Organization president Mario Vasquez Rana, has indicated to insiders he would be pleased (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) to bring the Games back to North America.

The federal, provincial and municipal governments within the Golden Horseshoe have established a $1.75 billion budget to host the Games with hopes that it will also help spur local economies, as well as improve crumbling sports infrastructure.

There have been numerous proposals from communities to host events, said Pike. Too many, actually.

“It’s been tough in the sense that you have a lot of municipalities that want to participate and a lot of communities which

want to benefit from the bid,†said Pike. “The hard part has been prioritizing because there isn’t enough money to go around to do all the things everybody would like to do.â€

Toronto, for instance, has two Olympic pools that need upgrading, there is no international track facility, no velodrome, and gymnasts practice in places where bouncing off ceilings is a probability.

Hamilton would like a new stadium to replace aging Ivor Wynne and Caledon would like to implement plans for soccer facilities.

“We have to be disciplined about what to build and what not to build, and, if we build where to build it. We’re close (to identifying) where each of the sports will be hosted. Then obviously, we will identify what will be in existing facilities and what will be built,†said Pike.

Some current facilities will be utilized to reduce costs. Athletes will be housed at the University of Toronto to avoid the expense of building an Olympic-style village.

The Games attract more than 5,000 athletes from 42 countries and, if the committee wins the bid, it will mean a projected 17,000 jobs and up to 250,000 tourists.
 
250,000 tourists eh ... if that's the total count (i.e. local and international) that's 1/4 Caribana for xxxxx times the cost :(

Hopefully the tourist will come with their pocket books open.

jk ... I know this isn't about the money.
 
250k tourists probably means coming from outside the golden horseshoe. Caribana's total attendance is only roughly 1million people so it isn't even close to bringing in 1 million people from outside the catchment area. The number of tourists and the number of attendees are two different things and it's very important that we not get the two mixed up. 250 thousand tourists is incredibly significant. If each spends on average even $500 (which in itself is a conservative estimate), you're looking at a $125million boost to the local economy plus an extra $15-20million in tax revenue.

Mind you, will 250k people actually come? Well Rio had roughly 500k tourists attend their games in 2007. I think 250k is a pretty realistic estimate, and maybe a tad conservative.

Also, Rio spent US$2billion on their games. But they used it as a launching point to bid on other big events like the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. So really, we're in the right ballpark in terms of figures and expectations I believe.
 
There is something to be said for using Pan Am to establish a track record of major sporting events as a precursor to an Olympic bid. When was the last time Toronto held such an event? The 30s?

Assuming Chicago doesn't bag the 2016 Olympics (although the swell of goodwill for Obama positions it pretty well) the Pan Am games would be an excellent test run for a 2020 or 2024 Toronto bid.
 
I have to say, I have found the lukewarm response to this very disappointing. Either let's do Pan Am, or not. If not, hey, no problem -- we're Toronto, and sometimes it feels like not doing things is what we do best. But if so, let's do it right.

The Pan Am games are a major event. In particular, they are a major pan-Americas continental sporting event. No, they're not the Olympics. But what they are is an opportunity to step up and pay attention to continental integration and Toronto's role in it.

For instance, I would love to see us put on a major one-off Spanish-and Portuguese-language cultural festival at the same time, especially given Toronto's very important lusophone and hispanophone communities. Get Luminato and TIFF involved. Make the Americas the summer theme. Galvanize Toronto's various Latin-American communities, encourage local art galleries to undertake inititatives, and do this Americas thing right.

Same for all this Toronto as global financial centre business. I mean, how are we doing with Latin America and Caribbean matters? Aren't Scotia and RBS big players down there? Can our financial sector get going on reaching better integration with some of the Mercosur, etc. zone initiatives?

In short, I'd have liked to have thought that the Pan Am games could be a great catalyzer for Toronto to smash heads together -- as the Australian and, now, McGuintyan saying goes -- to put up a concerted initiative to put our city on the map of the Americas.

Because, if we can do that, then we can certainly put on a great Olympics or anything else. And, conversely, if we don't have the creativity or drive to get "up" for an event like the Pan Am games, and sniff at anything that's not giant world class, then we're not really too far ahead of anyone, are we?

EDIT: And, just to continue my rant, same thing for this whole Toronto vs Golden Horseshoe thing. I mean, if there are events in Hamilton, let there be events in Hamilton. If we want people to come to Toronto, Toronto can do something to bring people there. The competitive events that the Pan Am games schedules and awards medals for do certainly not have to be the be-all and end-all of this event, and an excellent event will indeed include more than just athletics. Music. Film. Art. An authors and speakers festival. We should be able to design Americas-oriented stuff that will do Toronto proud.
 
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Pan Am budget slashed by $300M, says T.O. bid committee official

The Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games bid committee says the Ontario government has cut the budget for the Games proposal by $300 million.

In anticipation of winning the Games, organizers proposed a budget of about $1.8 billion, with most of the money going toward construction of new pools, stadia and an athletes village, should the Golden Horseshoe region win the bid to host the Games.

The rest would be spent on staging the Games and looking after the 10,000 athletes.

But organizers are being sent back to the drawing board, because the province has told them to cut their budget by $300 million, or roughly 17 per cent, a senior official with the bid committee told CBC News.

According to the official, the cut wouldn't have a dramatic impact, but it could mean some municipalities won't get the same level of economic spinoff they might have been hoping for from construction of new facilities.

The Games bid committee is expected to release information later this month listing where the hundreds of millions of dollars for new athletic and housing facilities would be spent if the bid is successful.

Toronto is expected to be in line for the $1 billion athlete's village.

As many as four new swimming pools would be built, along with other facilities to accommodate track and field and other sports. The venues would be spread across the Golden Horseshoe, from Niagara to Durham.

But instead of a number of permanent new pools, for example, a couple of the pools that could be constructed specifically for the Games might be temporary.

The highly anticipated new velodrome, instead of being a permanent structure, could be torn down once the Games were over.

Given the economic crisis that has gripped most of the world, the official said, a reduction in the budget is not surprising.

The final bids are due to be submitted to the Pan Am organizing committee by April.

The final decision on which city will get the 2015 Games is due this fall.

The Golden Horseshoe bid is up against three South American cities: Bogota, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; and Lima, Peru.

If the Ontario bid is successful, construction could start in the spring of 2010.

Source
 
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Wait, i thought they were going to house the students in the U of T. That would slash costs by one billion, and then all the pools, and the velodrome could be permanent.
 
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