Report: New York a Long Shot for Olympics
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New York is down but not out of the running to be the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics. According to a new report by Gamesbids.com, New York has the fourth-strongest bid in the five way race with a BidIndex score up .73 points to 59.62. The BidIndex is a model developed by the Web site to track cities’ potential as hosts for the Olympic Games. Criteria include venues’ plans, budgets, and hotel space, according to Gamesbids.com founder, Robert Livingstone.
“The most important factor affecting New York is that everyone feels it is Europe’s turn to host the games,” he said.
While New York is only worsted by Moscow, which dropped .51 points to 49.77, it is a mere six points behind frontrunner Paris. The French capital dropped .63 points for a BidIndex of 65.88.
“New York’s bid is only six points behind in the race, so there is a chance they could still win,” Mr. Livingstone said.
The International Olympic Committee chooses a winner for the 2012 Games July 6 in Singapore.
New York has not done better in the BidIndex because it is a first-time bidder, and the Olympic Committee tends to vote for second- and third-time bidders, Mr. Livingstone said.
The Paris 2012 bid is essentially the same as its 2008 bid, which the city’s Olympic Committee started working on as early as 1998. “Paris has had a head start, with more input from the IOC members,” Mr. Livingstone said, adding that Paris officials “have built relationships with the IOC officials” that New York officials do not enjoy.
The BidIndex was created for the 2008 games, where it predicted Beijing would be chosen as the host city. For the 2010 games, BidIndex was not as lucky, finding Salzburg the most likely winner, when Vancouver was chosen.
“The BidIndex is not designed to predict a winner, but how strong the bid is based on historic voting patterns,” Mr. Livingstone said. “The Winter Games are harder to judge because they are even more political than the Summer Games.”
In this BidIndex, London improved the most with a 2.32 jump to 63.40. Madrid took third, down .8 points to 61.11. Moscow is in last place, with a .51 drop to 49.77. The previous BidIndex was calculated before the five bidding cities submitted their bid books to the Olympic Committee.
