The U.S. as WC host [split]

[Ned Ryerson]

The thing I don't get is that the US seems happy to put together an OG bid whenever the opportunity arises, yet they make out that they are unable to host a World Championships? If they're prepared to build new facilities for an Olympics, why can't they build a new stadium for a World Championships? Although the UK bid to host the '05 WCh ultimately fell through, they secured the funds to build a new stadium, so it is possible. It seems like the US will only settle for the 'biggest and best' sporting tournaments, and can't be bothered to host the 'smaller'(!) events like the World Championships.

No, that's not it. The key difference between the US and all the other major world economies is that there is no public funding and no state channel to provide video as a service. So all of that has to be privately funded.

American companies and sponsors will invest in the Olympics. There is still the idea of the Olympics being the pinnacle of athletic success, even if it's just for Olympic sports.

The World Championships of Track and Field? Not so much. The World Series of Poker garners far, far more attention. Even though there's no suitable facility (some say Washington, but I think that stadium will be gone soon), I think the question of video and broadcasting is the more difficult hurdle to overcome.

[gh]

[....
The thing I don't get is that the US seems happy to put together an OG bid whenever the opportunity arises, yet they make out that they are unable to host a World Championships? If they're prepared to build new facilities for an Olympics, why can't they build a new stadium for a World Championships? Although the UK bid to host the '05 WCh ultimately fell through, they secured the funds to build a new stadium, so it is possible....

That's very easy to answer. U.S. Olympic bids are formulated by major cities, in which the city government and a goodly number of the major business players all sign on, and with the blessing of the state government. And with the understanding there is going to be a lot of cash flow, with the chance of making a profit.

Any U.S. "city" bidding on the World Championships would be a small group of activists with little city support forthcoming other than a letter from the mayor saying, "welcome to East Poughkeepsie." They'd have a significant sponsor, but probably only one. And there would be no guarantee it wouldn't lose (big) money.

And the federal government would be about as interested as it would be in sponsoring the World Synchronized Bungee-Jumping Championships.

Truly a case of apples & oranges.

[Conor Dary]

[....
The thing I don't get is that the US seems happy to put together an OG bid whenever the opportunity arises, yet they make out that they are unable to host a World Championships? If they're prepared to build new facilities for an Olympics, why can't they build a new stadium for a World Championships? Although the UK bid to host the '05 WCh ultimately fell through, they secured the funds to build a new stadium, so it is possible....

That's very easy to answer. U.S. Olympic bids are formulated by major cities, in which the city government and a goodly number of the major business players all sign on, and with the blessing of the state government. And with the understanding there is going to be a lot of cash flow, with the chance of making a profit.

Any U.S. "city" bidding on the World Championships would be a small group of activists with little city support forthcoming other than a letter from the mayor saying, "welcome to East Poughkeepsie." They'd have a significant sponsor, but probably only one. And there would be no guarantee it wouldn't lose (big) money.

And the federal government would be about as interested as it would be in sponsoring the World Synchronized Bungee-Jumping Championships.

Truly a case of apples & oranges.

That is a very good summary. I might add the idea of Chicago even thinking about the WC is pretty laughable. First of all Daley and Co. would ask does anyone even go to these things. Then they would assume the visitors were all cheapskates....Well you get the idea.

If they ever put a track into Autzen then there might be hope. Otherwise forget it.

[tandfman]

I don't think Eugene would have nearly enough hotel rooms.

[mump boy]

and by the way i would LOVE USA to hold the world championships but that's a problem they need to sort out and not off the back of the OG

[Gabriella]

That's very easy to answer. U.S. Olympic bids are formulated by major cities, in which the city government and a goodly number of the major business players all sign on, and with the blessing of the state government. And with the understanding there is going to be a lot of cash flow, with the chance of making a profit.

Any U.S. "city" bidding on the World Championships would be a small group of activists with little city support forthcoming other than a letter from the mayor saying, "welcome to East Poughkeepsie." They'd have a significant sponsor, but probably only one. And there would be no guarantee it wouldn't lose (big) money.

And the federal government would be about as interested as it would be in sponsoring the World Synchronized Bungee-Jumping Championships.

Truly a case of apples & oranges.

I still find that truly bizarre. Behind the Olympics and the Football (soccer) World Cup, the World Championships are the next biggest sporting event world-wide. There is plenty of money there. Do Americans not see this?

[7-sided]

I still find that truly bizarre. Behind the Olympics and the Football (soccer) World Cup, the World Championships are the next biggest sporting event world-wide. There is plenty of money there. Do Americans not see this?

-Where is this money? Osaka, nor Beijing nor Berlin sold out the 100m! The 100m!?! Why would any city go for games where no one shows up?
-The sport really does not have the fans - even in Europe - that we like to think it does; nearly one billion people live within a 4 hour flight of Berlin and the house was packed only 1 night out of 9.
-There are no stadiums for track in America, and the criteria the IAAF uses to host cities exclude a few that 'might' have a chance.

we've been through this so many times before that I'm thinking that gh needs to post the criteria and make it a "sticky" on the front page.

[Ned Ryerson]

That's very easy to answer. U.S. Olympic bids are formulated by major cities, in which the city government and a goodly number of the major business players all sign on, and with the blessing of the state government. And with the understanding there is going to be a lot of cash flow, with the chance of making a profit.

Any U.S. "city" bidding on the World Championships would be a small group of activists with little city support forthcoming other than a letter from the mayor saying, "welcome to East Poughkeepsie." They'd have a significant sponsor, but probably only one. And there would be no guarantee it wouldn't lose (big) money.

And the federal government would be about as interested as it would be in sponsoring the World Synchronized Bungee-Jumping Championships.

Truly a case of apples & oranges.

I still find that truly bizarre. Behind the Olympics and the Football (soccer) World Cup, the World Championships are the next biggest sporting event world-wide. There is plenty of money there. Do Americans not see this?

Of course they don't. Why would they? It's big worldwide but not in America. Chances are, if something has a large worldwide appeal, it's probably not that popular in America. Hockey and basketball are probably the most global of the major US sports, in addition to tennis and baseball to a lesser extent, with followings in the Caribbean and parts of Asia.

The most popular sports in America are American football, basketball and baseball. Americans will fill up stadiums to watch their regional team take on another regional team and millions more will watch on tv. There's little appeal to watch an American sprinter take on a Jamaican sprinter, and no appeal to watch a British triple jumper or an Ethiopian distance runner, outside of the Ethiopians living in America. The World Championships of Track and Field mean about as much as the World Championships of Curling in the US.

[gh]

....
I still find that truly bizarre. Behind the Olympics and the Football (soccer) World Cup, the World Championships are the next biggest sporting event world-wide. There is plenty of money there. Do Americans not see this?

Ask the Swedes about "plenty of money"; it's only 14 years since their federation was bankrupted by Göteborg's hosting of the meet.

[Daisy]

....
I still find that truly bizarre. Behind the Olympics and the Football (soccer) World Cup, the World Championships are the next biggest sporting event world-wide. There is plenty of money there. Do Americans not see this?

Ask the Swedes about "plenty of money"; it's only 14 years since their federation was bankrupted by Göteborg's hosting of the meet.

IAAF needs to ask themselves if it has to cost more than the USATF olympic trials is it worth it. What are all their extra expenses?

[gh]

...
IAAF needs to ask themselves if it has to cost more than the USATF olympic trials is it worth it. What are all their extra expenses?

It would be easy to understand the difference if you were able to walk around a WC setup and the OT setup. The former is a small city and the latter is a tiny village is the best nutshell I can give you.

Re Göteborg: their over-run (not their cost; their cost over budget) for air conditioning the sponsor/VIP village was said to have been one million dollars.

[Daisy]

if you were able to walk around a WC setup and the OT setup.

Admittedly I have to plead ignorance in that department (I have been to the trials but not a WC). I did attend the Euro's in Split which did not seem that much bigger. But i might well be looking at the wrong things.

[gh]

Yeah, what you don't see is all the places you aren't allowed to go. That includes acres of space around the stadium, accompanying buildings, and even what's inside the stadium itself.

The infrastructure at one of these things is stunning. When I said "small city" I wasn't being remotely hyperbolic.

[Halfmiler2]

Logan admitted in his interview that the loss by Chicago made having a WC in the USA more difficult, but he did not throw in the towel. Said that there were three other possibilities. Any guesses?

[gh]

I have no guesses to which 3 sites Logan might be referring. I do know I hope he's right and I'm wrong!

It might help that I've been told the IAAF is likely to start taking a softer stance on seating requirements, and might drop as low as 30,000.

So for a moment, to simplify this whole thing, let's remove several of 500-pound gorillas from the equation. We'll pretend the host doesn't have to provide the TV signal, and that hotel space isn't a crucial issue. And we'll ignore the problem of finding an LOC willing to take on the burden of hosting it. We'll assume Indy has all those covered somehow.

So we'll talk about just the "physical plant" itself.

Where in the U.S. is there (or is there hope that in the next few years somebody would build):

•30,000-seat stadium

•all the long throws inside

•non-crowned field

•is available essentially for most of August

•has/can have a warmup track no more than a 5-minute walk away

•has a couple of acres of open space (parking lot is fine) right next to the stadium for the TV compound

•has within 5-minutes walk a building with floor space the size of 2-3 basketball courts that will serve as the press center

•has within the stadium enough "office space" for medical, physio, drug testing, call room, technical delegate office, IAAF offices, LOC offices, international TV production

•as VIP/VIP space, if not basketball-size area in the stadium, then in an air-conditioned tent right outside the stadium.

And I'm probably missing some crucial stuff, but that's a fairly heft shopping list to start with.