Do you think any future Olympics will be hosted in Orlando ?

[pooh2001]

Do you think any future Olympics will be hosted in Orlando ?
I would assume summer Olympics - not winter Olympics

All comments welcome.

 

[chesterpdt186]

orlando lackes to many facilties to host the olymics in full.
Tampa has a possiblity which would result in part of the games being held in orlando.

if the high speed corridor between orlando and tampa is completed. I believe that is one reason tampa has been denied before

 

[skiingfast]

I don't see it as impossibe, but it has a big problem. The hotels don't have much extra capacity in the summer.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) Orlando is too smart to hold an Olympics.
2) With very few exceptions, Olympics lose MILLIONS of dollars for a city.

 

[mitros]

Besides, who needs a zillion more bodies in Orlando. It's crowded enough already. A big NO vote from me.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

I wouldn't be against it, but it will not happen. In all honesty the mass transit system and hotel accomodations are insufficient to host an event like the Olympics.

 

[DVCconvert]

If so...it will be only the wallet dump event.

 

[Donut23]

Orlando would have to build the venues - and as others have said, it is NOT a $$ making event.

They have enough airports nearby - Orlando, Sanford, Tampa/St. Pete, Jacksonville, West Palm....even Ft. Lauderdale/Miami if necessary and they certainly have hotel rooms. If it were held in September many families would be back at home with children in school.

Oh boy....can you imagine an Olympics held in Orlando with a storm like Charlie flying through!

I suspect the Olympic Committee would probably not take the option seriously. I remember how worried they were about the heat in Atlanta. As it turned out for good reason!

Interesting question though!!

 

[skiingfast]

I wouldn't be against it, but it will not happen. In all honesty the mass transit system and hotel accomodations are insufficient to host an event like the Olympics.

Have you ever been to Salt Lake City. The freeways went from 2-3 lanes to 4 or 5. The put in a lighrail down town, and a standard gage commuter train.

Most of the facilities used already existed, college dorms and stadiums.

Granted this was Winter Olympics but Salt Lake is little compared to Orlando.

 

[Metro West]

Besides, who needs a zillion more bodies in Orlando. It's crowded enough already. A big NO vote from me.

Exactly...just imagine what I-4 would look like!

 

[jlewisinsyr]

Have you ever been to Salt Lake City. The freeways went from 2-3 lanes to 4 or 5. The put in a lighrail down town, and a standard gage commuter train.

Most of the facilities used already existed, college dorms and stadiums.

Granted this was Winter Olympics but Salt Lake is little compared to Orlando.

And winter Olympics are NOTHING compared to the amount of tourists in the summer Olympics.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

To me Orlando hosting the Olympics would be akin to saying that Las Vegas could. They are both fairly large cities but they draw in tourists not athletes. Where would you do the rowing events? Just doesn't make sense to me. Besides, the Olympics have been disappointing for cities lately. They spend a ton of money to bring the event there but rarely see a return on their investment.

 

[TisBit]

Where would you do the rowing events?

Bay Lake

 

[daber]

The could hold the winter Olympics at Blizzard Beach!

 

[Golf4food]

The could hold the winter Olympics at Blizzard Beach!

And there are plenty of mountains for the skiing events:

Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain
Everest




If Orlando hosted an Olympics they would have to build a new stadium (the Citrus Bowl needs to be replaced anyway) and all sorts of other things and many events would be held in other locations, much like they did when Atlanta hosted and some events where held hours away in Savannah.

 

[plutospup]

Interesting thought of Central Florida hosting the Summer Olympics.

Honestly, I think it could be done quite successfully. There are a number of existing venues that could be used. The Chicago 2016 plan also included a number of temporary venues.

Two primary issues... heat/humidity, and how spread out the events and athletes village would be.

As for making or losing money on an Olympiad - Take note of the Olympic games that netted LARGE amounts of money: Los Angeles, Atlanta, Salt Lake City. A huge amount of IOC corporate sponsors are from the USA. After the debacle with the Chicago 2016 offer(The IOC chose Rio instead), it will be interesting to see how U.S corporate support wanes.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

As for making or losing money on an Olympiad - Take note of the Olympic games that netted LARGE amounts of money: Los Angeles, Atlanta, Salt Lake City. A huge amount of IOC corporate sponsors are from the USA. After the debacle with the Chicago 2016 offer(The IOC chose Rio instead), it will be interesting to see how U.S corporate support wanes.

Huh?!? Atlanta netted $10 million but that figure did not account for the expenses of the city operations. I don't know about you, but $10 million of profit for an event like that is nothing to write home about especially considering that it is more likely that we lost money with that. We are still paying off debt through taxes from the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

The Los Angeles and Salt Lake City Olympics figures are skewed and also don't account for the additional expenses the taxpayers ended up covering. The only benefit of hosting an Olympics is getting recognition for your country. Otherwise, total waste of money and effort. It has turned into a competition for who can spend the most instead of being practical.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Interesting thought of Central Florida hosting the Summer Olympics.

Two primary issues... heat/humidity, and how spread out the events and athletes village would be.

I lived in Atlanta during the 1996 olympics and it was pretty crazy. The argument about the events and village being too spread out doesn't hold. For the Atlanta olympics, some of the events were held outside of the city, including Athens (72 mi.), Savannah (249 mi), Polk County, TN (127 mi), Birmingham, AL (145 mi.), as well as Washington D.C., Orlando and Miami for Soccer events. So, distance seems to matter very little.

Personally, I think Orlando, or central Florida will eventually bid and host the olympics sometime in the future. The entire region continues to grow, thanks in part to Disney and Universal. So, it may not be soon, but my guess would be within the next 20 or so years.

 

[doconeill]

More and more bids are being put to the IOC for multiple cities - even in different countries - to hold a particular olympiad. So it is certainly possible for a Tampa/Orlando games, or even including Miami. The IOC is probably going to have to deal with it at some point as it becomes too expensive and complex for a single city to host the Games.

The IOC has generally said that they want the Games kept within a metro area though. I think Tampa/Orlando could be within their requirements, but no such proposal has made it as far as the USOC AFAIK.

It is not unusual for some preliminary games to occur at distant venues though. The LA 1984 Games included soccer games all over the country - I was at several games at Harvard Stadium in Boston.

 

[skiingfast]

And winter Olympics are NOTHING compared to the amount of tourists in the summer Olympics.

This is why I noted the disparity in size of SLC and Orlando.

BTW how big is Lake Placid compared to Salt Lake? They hosted the olympics there right?