IOC Says NYC A-OK, Except for Stadium

By Tom McMorrow, Jr

The IOC today issued it's preliminary report on the five candidate cities for the 2012 Olympic games. New York City, contrary to the predictions of some on-line "experts," came out quite well, with the main exception, of course, of our lack of an Olympic stadium..

About the stadium, the report noted "As tender and approval processes were still ongoing during the Commission's visit, New York could not provide a guarantee for use of the Olympic Square site (Olympic stadium and IBC.)"Uncorrected, this will doom New York City's bid.

The report also mentions the fact that the Olympic Village site still needs to be cleared, as well as the fact that Madison Square Garden's dates still need to be negotiated.

Another element of note, elsewhere in the report, and contrary again to the predictions of our local pseudo-experts, was the following- "The bid committee considers that the total contingency of USD 492 million shall be sufficient to cover any shortfall." The committee took into account the enormous revenue potential of NYC2012 when making this assessment.

That is, in fact, New York's strong suit as far as this bid goes. Although not in the report, reading the comments of the commission, one comes away with the impression that an Olympics held in New York's proposed West Side Stadium would generate far more revenue than any other host city would generate.

Having said that, Paris's bid still looks very strong. In particular, the way the French government has acted in unison (no Sheldon Silvers or Joseph Brunos there) in planning for 2012, along with the heavy popular support for the games (85% approval,) makes them a good choice for the IOC.

New York's revenue potential is great, but without a stadium, our bid is dead.

Here is a link to the Commission's report on the NYC2012 bid. (Adobe Acrobat needed to open and read)