https://eventingnation.com/how-the-no-olympic-movement-is-re-shaping-our-sport/
Very interesting read and I can definitely understand the reasoning behind it. I definitely wouldnāt want them hosted in my home town even if we did have the physical space/infrastructure needed to host such a massive number of people. Plus on a more ātemporary inconvenienceā levelā¦ The Olympics make traffic/travel such a nightmare that I knew one person in London whose family simply went to the countryside until theyād ended.
it would ruin the whole effect, but split them up. Then they donāt have to build 10 structures that will be unused.
I like the idea of events like equestrian separated from the regular Olympics. It would ease the burden on the host location building event locations, and stabling that will never be used again.
1 Like
yeah just look at how expensive the WC is! Of course the O would only need 3. They could build one or two buildings/stadium, instead of everything like brand new pools, Velodromes, etc. The cost in money and graft is just too high
I think some of these requirements for stadium size are probably inappropriate. Instead of requiring it, why not allow the proposal of a smaller event with fewer people in person and more accessing via TV? Itās fair to say youād like more seating, or to ask for an optional proposal that can add seating, but if the stadium size is one of the reasons that the venues are abandoned or existing venues canāt be used, then itās a dumb requirement.
1 Like
Virginia/DC/MD at one point was going to bid and I was firmly in the NO camp. The IOC and affiliated national organizations are just incredibly corrupt. Why does it cost $70M just to bid. Thatās a lot of corruption.
I donāt think the FEI is any better. WEG should be broken out and let the various national organizations create a World Championship for their own disciplines.
I would be firmly against either the Olympics or WEG being in my area and Iād be against a single public dollar being spent for a bid or the actual event.
8 Likes
Iāve read articles about how virtually every Olympics has lost money. Look at the empty stands at many venues. The infrastructure they needed to build in Brazil was very scary, and the number of permanently displaced people was awful.
Even the idea of building a permanent summer games location is absurd. That was proposed, but what do you do with the venues, and housing and other infrastructure between games?
1 Like
As a masschusetts taxpayer, I was damned glad that Boston dropped out of the bidding.
The whole mess is rife with corruption and profiteering.
Iād far rather the money were spent on social services.
4 Likes
LA 84 made money by using existing venues. Funding was private. Traffic was actually better than normalācommercial traffic was heavily restricted and people planned vacations out of town because they thought the traffic would be awful.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-la-olympics-elliott-20140729-column.html
4 Likes
I so regret not even trying to get tickets to any event in 84. Iāll do better next time.
1 Like
I did get to go. We stayed out at Lake arrowhead. I had a great time, but I wasāt impressed with the xc course. I went to Kyin 78. Wish I could go this yearā¦
1 Like
At the end of the day it is exactly the same for WEGā¦ currently there is no host for the next oneā¦ and event Tryon was a last minute decission. It will be interesting to see how this plays outā¦ Is this the last WEG?..
I think it is just too expensive to do it. Although I love the xc clearly the space needed for that and the driving is raising the cost of it all. Most of the rest could be done in a big open arena, or a large indoor. The endurance obviously needs to be outside, and I donāt know anything about it, but they donāt need to build jumps, just have natural land. I say split the whole thing up. Olympics and WEG. I oppose a lot of gov spending, but there are surely things more worthy than a once used galloping lane, or driving course. Things like low income housing for example?
1 Like
Bumping this because discussion of the idea is popping into other threads.
After Kentucky 2010, I love the idea of WEG and keeping it as a single event, but I still think that they need to really rethink the venue requirements and the core principles about what is important. I think the least important idea is the concept that the competition needs to move around.
I hope it does come back to Kentucky and unfortunately I imagine a big part of making that happen is changing the stateās current governor, who hates the Horse Park. I loved the 2010 event and would go back to it if I possibly could. But if it needs to be permanently at Aachen, I think that would be fine too.
I think going forward, the only way the WEG is going to stay together as it is is for 3-5 major facilities worldwide to have the infrastructure in place and rotate the games through.
Aachen has already proved it has the chops, Lexington could if the KY Horse Park gets the support. London proved it could make the most of temporary facilities for the Olympics. If Bromont could get its act together, thereās another.
Its just too much of a boondoggle for one place to invest in for a one-off event.
2 Likes
Bromont will never be in that position. They are millions in debt currently.
This actually makes very good sense. Constantly āre-inventing the wheelā by make new venues every few years that will never actually turn a profit for the hosts just means the locals end up with a big tax bill.
And then thereās the corruption. We, in the U.S., have very little idea how bad it can be in some places to ādo businessā due to a culture of āpay for play.ā And itās not just in the equestrian sports; look at the history of FIFA and the World Cup.
A ācircuitā makes a LOT of sense.
G.
2 Likes
