The Birmingham Games? Long Shot City Makes Bid

The 2008 Beijing Olympiad is a little more than a month away. But one American city in the Southeast has already caught Olympic fever, and would like to host the Summer Games in 2020: The mayor of Birmingham, Ala., Larry Langford, is ready to throw the city’s hat in the ring.Langford has started to put together a plan that is designed to interest the International Olympic Committee: Birmingham officials have been trying to get a football stadium built for years, and would need to construct an Olympic stadium, along with other facilities. A domed stadium plan in Birmingham has been kicked around since 1998, but voters have already turned the proposal down. Langford still wants one, though, and the chance to get the Olympics has put the issue back on the radar. The city is making an assessment of what facilities it would have to build or renovate to bring Birmingham up to Olympic standards.There is one thing that Alabama does have in its favor: There are many colleges throughout the state that could house Olympic events. Two problems need to be solved, though: Birmingham lacks the hotel space that is needed for the Games, and the area’s infrastructure needs to be built up, a costly venture.The local airport would also need some upgrades, and that may open old wounds in the city’s history. Birmingham may have very well become the Southeast’s major destination had the Eisenhower administration given it the nod, instead of Atlanta, when it was decided in the mid-1950s that the Southeast needed a major airport to handle international traffic. Starting in 1957, Atlanta became the financial capital of the area, a destination city, and eventually a major league sports town. Birmingham stagnated.The city better be prepared for sticker shock if it decides that an Olympic bid is viable. The Beijing Games will cost more than $20 billion, with all the facility building and infrastructure, including airport and subway expansions that were required to host the event.At this point, Birmingham is a long shot at best. The IOC is reviewing four bids for the 2016 Summer Games, from Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Tokyo. If Chicago wins the prize, Birmingham will be out of the running for the 2020 Games, as the IOC will not award America back-to-back Games.Does Birmingham have a chance? The city has had Olympic experience, as it hosted some soccer contests as part of the 1996 Atlanta Games. But it’s far from a major American sports city, as it was unable to secure an NFL team in the mid-1970s, and was passed over in 1979 when the NHL absorbed four WHA franchises. College football is very successful in Alabama, though.Why would a city like Birmingham want the Olympics? That’s easy to answer: prestige. The Olympics would put Birmingham on the international map for a few years leading into and during the Games. But once the Games are finished, Birmingham would be forgotten, and there would be a sizable debt that would need to get paid.The 2004 Athens Olympics was a financial disaster for Greece, as cost overruns ended up in the billions of dollars, with local citizens stuck with the tab. Montreal and Quebec taxpayers just finished paying off the debt from the 1976 Summer Games two years ago. There is bickering in Vancouver (which will host the 2010 Winter Olympics) about how much money the Games will lose, and how British Columbia residents will have to pay for those losses. On the positive side, though, Vancouver is getting a new rail system and improvements on the waterfront that might not have happened without the Games. But there will be cost overruns, as the price of steel has skyrocketed along with energy costs.There is squabbling in London, as well: It is very likely that London’s original estimate of what the 2012 Games is going to cost will be wrong. Hosting an Olympics has become an albatross around the necks of taxpayers. The IOC will no longer stand for older facilities that don’t feature amenities that well-heeled customers demand, such as upscale bars and restaurants, along with merchandise stores and fast food restaurants. The last time the IOC didn’t care about new facilities was in Los Angeles in 1984, as the organization was so desperate to stage a successful Olympics after the American boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games that it didn’t care about facilities. The L.A. Olympics made money, because there was very little money spent on new facilities.Birmingham has a number of years to come up with a plan, but just because a city lands an Olympics, it doesn’t mean corporations will move their headquarters, or even set up shop there. After the Olympic Games leave town, there are some plaques put up, some reminders of the Games when a few local businesses are established, and some monies used for charities or maybe even some athletic facilities for children. But the debts remain and have to be paid off. Montreal, Sydney, Athens, and Turin residents can explain this fully to Birmingham politicians and business leaders.If you want to land the Olympics, be prepared to reach deeply into your pockets.evanjweiner@yahoo.com

The Birmingham Games? Long Shot City Makes Bid

The Birmingham Games? Long Shot City Makes Bid

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