No Chance Without A Stadium

Buried beneath the bickering, lobbying, and political maneuvering around the Jets’ stadium dispute, a simple concept has been lost – the venue and its funding must be approved, or New York will not be the host city for the Olympics in 2012.The state assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, reportedly said that the International Olympic Committee doesn’t care where the Olympic stadium site is, and denies that its approval is required before the IOC selects its host city July 6. Mr. Silver – whose vote is required to approve the stadium at an upcoming meeting of the Public Authorities Control Board – also denies that his actions are damaging NYC2012’s bid and claims he still supports the bid.Well, here are the facts.In the “Candidature Procedure and Questionnaire” published by the IOC, from which NYC2012 has built its bid book, the evaluation commission has explicitly requested guarantees for both the financing and the use of planned venues. To further emphasize those requirements at the conclusion of the evaluation visit in February, commission chairwoman Nawal El Moutawakel said that both the proposed stadium and the site are “important” for the bid. That was an understatement.At this point in the race, switching venues would not be acceptable to either NYC2012 or the IOC as the stadium site is part of a larger and more complex plan. Bids are often won or lost on the proximity of venues to transportation infrastructures and to each other. One small alteration would require a major reworking of the plan.Opponents to the Jets stadium often point to a site next to Shea Stadium in Queens as an alternate location for the Olympic stadium. Although this concept was proposed as a back up during NYC2012’s domestic bid campaign, that was only in response to a request from the U.S. Olympic Committee and doesn’t necessarily represent a competitively viable option. The IOC doesn’t request back-up venue plans nor would they entertain such an idea – they want to see a solid commitment behind the proposal currently on the table.Critical votes will be lost if Mr. Silver’s doubts about the plan or the bid echo in the ears of IOC members, with whom the NYC2012 team is trying to build trusting relationships. If politics are delaying their plans now, why should the IOC expect anything different from NYC2012 over the next seven years?Whether disingenuous or just naive, Mr. Silver must abandon the guise of a bid supporter if he really wants New York to win the Games – especially while he continues to do damage to the bid by opposing the stadium. The IOC understands and knows the role of Olympic opposition, but they’ll think twice about teaming up with a wolf in sheep’s clothing.When New York’s technical evaluation report is published in June, it will focus on the stadium deficiency and will demand a written response. While NYC2012 scrambles to conduct damage control, they’ll be missing the opportunity to extol the positive points of the bid – and this could be most damaging of all at a critical time in the campaign.If the stadium doesn’t get approved before the final IOC vote, NYC2012 is faced with three possible bid-ending scenarios.First, NYC2012 could limp into Singapore, stay on the ballot, and accept an inevitable defeat.Second, the IOC could drop New York from the ballot before the election even begins. The evaluation committee has the right to do this if they feel the bid isn’t qualified, but such a move is extremely unlikely because the IOC wouldn’t want to offend the U.S. Olympic Committee and their biggest Olympic market.Third, NYC2012 could voluntarily drop out of the race and avoid the possibility of the first two embarrassing results. You don’t have to look too far back to find a remarkably similar precedent.In 2002, with only nine months left in the campaign, the Swiss city of Berne was a top contender in the bid to host the 2010 Winter Games before a public referendum denied their proposed Olympic stadium funding. Organizers knew that without the approved funding their bid was hopeless, and they dropped out of the race less than a week later. The outcome was so devastating that Switzerland’s nomination for the 2014 Winter Games, Zurich, abandoned its bid before it even left the gate due to similar funding fears.It is that straightforward. The IOC has run the 2012 campaign unlike any other in its history. The committee has developed stringent rules to ensure the system is fair to all bidders, and these rules are strictly enforced. Accordingly, the PACB stadium approval vote will be a vote for NYC2012’s survival.Mr. Livingstone is the producer of GamesBids.com.

No Chance Without A Stadium

No Chance Without A Stadium

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