  Tayllik Member Username: Tayllik Post Number: 13 Registered: 11-2007 |
Channel 4 did a story Saturday night that Detroit was one vote short of getting the the 1968 Olympics. I never heard of this Detroit an Olympic city in 1968? I went to the IOC web site and it turns out Detroit bid for the olympics in 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964 and even 1972. I wonder what (if any) impact might the Olympics have had on Detroit today? | ||
Richard_bak Member Username: Richard_bak Post Number: 332 Registered: 04-2008 |
There would have been a huge investment in sporting facilities, obviously, including the planned Olympic Stadium that would've been built at the state fairgrounds. That 100,000-seat facility was slated to become the new home of the Tigers and Lions after the '68 Olympics--which means the World Series that year would possibly have been held there, Comerica Park and Ford Field might never have been built, and Tiger Stadium would've been torn down a long time ago. But the most intriguing unanswered question is: Would bringing the Olympics to Detroit have headed off the '67 riot? There would have been a greater sense of civic purpose if the Games were on the way, and certainly increased job prospects. There would have been greater cooperation between the city and suburbs since the sprawling nature of the Olympics requires tremendous coordination between the host city and outlying regions. (For instance, some events at this year's Olympics are being held in Hong Kong, four hours from Beijing.) Perhaps some sort of regional light rail system would have been created to move around athletes and tourists. Would blacks and whites have come together in some sort of unifying spirit with the world's attention trained on Detroit for three weeks? Would the event have been used as a forum for protest (as was the case that year in Mexico City), increasing local racial frictions that had been building for decades? What if? What if? We'll never know. (Message edited by richard_bak on August 10, 2008) (Message edited by richard_bak on August 10, 2008) | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 2048 Registered: 04-2005 |
There's a 1965 promotional film at archive.org, that outlines Detroit's proposal for the 1968 bid. http://www.archive.org/details /DetroitC1965 | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 3343 Registered: 09-2007 |
We can only assume the possibilities. Look at what the Olympics did for Atlanta... | ||
Izzyindetroit Member Username: Izzyindetroit Post Number: 27 Registered: 07-2008 |
here is another video they used to get the bid that year. The renderings really would make Detroit an interesting place if they would have built them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =l9uWSNbHEps ^^^^^ The Detroit You've Never Met. ^^^^^^^^ Part 1 of 3. | ||
Mrsjdaniels Member Username: Mrsjdaniels Post Number: 1195 Registered: 08-2005 |
so its all the IOCs fault :-) Olympics can def make you an international city...Oh the places you can go - Seuss | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 245 Registered: 02-2008 |
Congrats! The 1,000,000th thread about this subject! But whatever, I love this topic and always wonder "what if?" We were actually 16 votes short of winning the games in '68. Mexico City had the Tlatelolco massacre 10 days before the games opened. But I think Detroit wouldn't have had the riots because we would have been too busy building our city for the world. But perhaps that would have only boiled the tensions and our riots might have came after. But hey, we have the future to look forward to, we can always bid again! | ||
Doma Member Username: Doma Post Number: 3 Registered: 05-2008 |
I believe that detroit STILL could make a successful Olympic bid. A few years from now we will have a new red wings arena, the joe will still be around. We will have 3 world class arenas in a stones throw of one another. Add the hotel/casino boom to the mix and a few other yet to be announced happenings.... Oh, Cobo could be utilized for smaller events, this could happen people, we need to pressure our leaders! | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3377 Registered: 04-2006 |
Well, the Olympic games have been held is some pretty forgetable places... Salt Lake City? Turin? Atlanta? lol But I think Detroit has the ability to host a memorable games, as they did with the Super Bowl. Just the other day I saw a guy in Brooklyn with a Super Bowl XL hat on... | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 3345 Registered: 09-2007 |
^Yes, but we need either a strong corporate influence to butter up the sponsorship. (Atlanta had Coca-Cola) or people on the committee with a better perception of Detroit. Otherwiwes, it will never happen. | ||
Tayllik Member Username: Tayllik Post Number: 14 Registered: 11-2007 |
it will never happen | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3378 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: Detroit has corporations too. | ||
Richard_bak Member Username: Richard_bak Post Number: 335 Registered: 04-2008 |
Corporate sponsorship is crucial. Even with the Big 3 in its cash-flush heyday and the city in its prime, we couldn't bring the Olympics here. Optimism and boosterism are good things, but let's be realistic. If Detroit is to ever be a serious contender again, much less actually win the bid, it's so far down the road few of us will be alive to see it. corrected for grammar (Message edited by richard_bak on August 10, 2008) | ||
Elsuperbob Member Username: Elsuperbob Post Number: 129 Registered: 03-2007 |
Turin, forgettable? I guess you haven't been there. Or to the impressive Lingotto that, instead of being left to fall apart like our factories, has been impressively reused. Even with sponsorship, would they build the infrastructure? Would they build a transit system? Would they build a stadium that would be useless afterward or replace a couple other new stadiums we have. Like Richard said above, it's far far down the road. | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 246 Registered: 02-2008 |
Nagano?? I remember Atlanta in 96 even though I was 8, but hell if I can remember Nagano '98. But sure, we are still a long ways off from Detroit hosting the Olympics, maybe in the 2020s or 2030s, I am hoping that Rio wins 2016, so Chicago doesn't get it. I've talked to alot of native Chicagoans, and they seem very iffy and/or anti-Olympics. But we have a great sport culture here that there might be much support when we are ready! | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 3346 Registered: 09-2007 |
Ironically, all we have is sports culture. It's much more to it than that alone, which is why Chicago had a successful bid. | ||
401don Member Username: 401don Post Number: 719 Registered: 11-2007 |
Beijing spent 42 Billion. What say we tighten our belts and do it for, like, 35? | ||
Tayllik Member Username: Tayllik Post Number: 15 Registered: 11-2007 |
Lets not forget great corporate sponsors like Faygo and Better Maid potato chips. Redpop can be the official drink! | ||
Gnome Member Username: Gnome Post Number: 1607 Registered: 08-2007 |
I believe jjaba's Brennan pools were built with the Olympics in mind. Maybe the wise one will grace us with some towel snapping insight. | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 248 Registered: 02-2008 |
Maybe Marquette or Traverse City would be ideal for a Winter Olympics games in the late 2010s or 2020s. They don't have to deal with the image problems that Detroit has. Someone should mention that to the USOC... | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 3347 Registered: 09-2007 |
BTW, I meant corporate presence that has an impact on the global economy (Coca-Cola is the leading Pop manufacturer in every country). | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 3349 Registered: 09-2007 |
Dtowncitylover, the Olympics committee usually favor big cities that everyone knows about (like Chicago). Small towns like MArquette or Traverse City couldn't handle an event as big as the Olympics. | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 249 Registered: 02-2008 |
I knew I would get that answer. Lake Placid, Lillehammer, Albertville, St. Moritz, and Squaw Valley (actually not even a city or village, just a resort!) are not big cities and they all handled the Olympics fine. It seems to me they choose small and big cities. The Winter Olympics are not as big as the Summer. | ||
English Member Username: English Post Number: 779 Registered: 10-2003 |
Detroit was rejected EIGHT times as an Olympics site, according to a contemporary SI article: http://vault.sportsillustrated .cnn.com/vault/article/magazin e/MAG1078520/index.htm Wow. From my post-riots perspective, I always thought that Detroit was a national and international darling and wonder prior to '68. What gives? | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3380 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: Err... Have you ever heard of General Motors? Ford? Chrysler? Three of the largest companies on the face of the planet... Detroit today still has a lot more economic clout than Atlanta had in 1989/1990 when they won the bid. (Message edited by iheartthed on August 10, 2008) | ||
Flyingj Member Username: Flyingj Post Number: 290 Registered: 08-2006 |
I dunno what you all are talking about, Detroit had the Olympics for 9 years; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D etroit_Olympics | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1979 Registered: 11-2003 |
"Detroit today still has a lot more economic clout than Atlanta had in 1989/1990 when they won the bid." ^ That could be true, but Atlanta did not and does not have the horrible stigma that had/has. That Makes a difference no matter what your "economic clout" is. Beyond all of that, our city is a not ready for the games. Yeah we pulled off Super Bowl and All Star Game etc, but no dice on the Olympics. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3381 Registered: 04-2006 |
^The only stigma associated with Detroit is in the minds of Metro Detroiters...... ......so maybe you're on to something. | ||
Viziondetroit Member Username: Viziondetroit Post Number: 1982 Registered: 11-2003 |
^ Are you serious? | ||
English Member Username: English Post Number: 781 Registered: 10-2003 |
If Chicago wins their 2016 bid, we can hang up getting the Olympics here for another generation or two. Sorry, folks. If they don't win, it doesn't really bode well for the Midwest pre-2030 either. If they can't do it, and they're considered the premier city in the region, who can? | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 7601 Registered: 02-2004 |
Detroit was that close of getting the vote from IOC for the 68' Olympics. But it came with one problem, feeding the Olympic athletes. Detroit City Council told the IOC members that they would pledge $2.00 per athlete for food, while those Mexico City City Council would pledge $3.00 per athlete for food. Detroit couldn't answer that bid due to budget problems. The IOC took a vote and Mexico City won the bid for the 68' Olympics by ONE VOTE! Today, the IOC took Detroit off the bid list until the city recognizes itself with a squeaky clean economic force, building racial harmony and uncorrupted political machine. | ||
Tayllik Member Username: Tayllik Post Number: 16 Registered: 11-2007 |
First the winter Olympics is almost always held in a smaller city (lake plaid, squaw valley, Albertvile, St. Mortiz) but normally in a city that has mountains for skiing something that Michigan does not have. If Atlanta can pull off the olympics surely Detroit can. Atlanta is a predominately black city with a high crime rate yet for some reason they are considered a world class city. Here are Detroit and Atlanta's crime rate compared. http://www.bestplaces.net/crim e/?city1=51304000&city2=526220 00 | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 7602 Registered: 02-2004 |
It could be possible that Oakland County may get the 2024 Olympic bid. | ||
Dtowncitylover Member Username: Dtowncitylover Post Number: 250 Registered: 02-2008 |
Danny: Again, Mexico City won by 16 votes, not by one vote. http://www.gamesbids.com/engli sh/archives/past.shtml Tayllik, I understand your point, but maybe if we had the mountains (Porcupine Mts are all we have) those two cities would be realistic contenders in the near future. | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 3382 Registered: 04-2006 |
quote: Yes. The main impediment to Detroit being competitive for an Olympics is Metro Detroit. | ||
English Member Username: English Post Number: 784 Registered: 10-2003 |
Again, if Chicago gets the nod for 2016, we won't be looked at seriously until mid-to-late century. They seem to try not to stage games in the same region of the same nation very often. The race for the games is more competitive than in the past. More developing nations have the ability to put together attractive bids. But the bright side is that if the 2016 games are in Chicago, it'll be only 4 hours away from us. We won't get much hotel spillover, but we may get some curious visitors. (Also, we're the quickest way to get to Canada from there!) Finally, if some games are staged outside of the city, they may be even closer than Chi-town... | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 695 Registered: 02-2006 |
Detroit could bid again for the Olympics if Chicago doesn't get the 2016 games. And if so, Detroit needs to have an All-Star committee (i.e. Dennis Archer, Roger Penske, Bill Ford ect..) Detroit and Windsor form an International Agenda for a joint host city Olympics, the possibilities are endless. I agree with Danny, Detroit's political leaders are too corrupt! The reason Detroit bid for the games in the first place was because city leaders put the city first and saw something bigger than Detroit. (the leaders today, said to say, never saw anything bigger than a high school football game). <313> | ||
Dannyv Member Username: Dannyv Post Number: 319 Registered: 08-2007 |
Well, the one thing Detroit now has that other competing cities don't is plenty of space to build the necessary structures for the Games. I guess the only Olympics city that compares to Detroit would be Sarajevo. And they had ethnic cleansing. Our ethnic cleansing was of a voluntary sort. | ||
Ltorivia485 Member Username: Ltorivia485 Post Number: 3031 Registered: 08-2004 |
Detroit will never be an Olympics destination until it gets its act together. That includes a booming population, efficient mass transit, healthy economy, racial harmony, and non-corrupt leadership. We don't even have an elite tourist-destination mall in the downtown area. Imagine if the Olympics was held in Detroit in 2008??? | ||
Danny Member Username: Danny Post Number: 7607 Registered: 02-2004 |
Beijing spent about 42 billion dollars on building Olympic venues. I don't know what billions of dollars Detroit would spend if the city get the bid. As for right now Detroit is broke! we can only spend millions of dollars and squander it around. That's why I'm pushing to have Oakland County for the Olympic bid for 2024. Then the Tri-county area and all of the endownments and super corporations will spend billions of dollars of security, promotions and athletes. | ||
Izzyindetroit Member Username: Izzyindetroit Post Number: 31 Registered: 07-2008 |
^^ You make it sound like the people of Oakland County, which constantly refer to themselves as Detroiters, wouldn't spend billions on the building if it was stationed in Detroit. Also, Detroit isn't as broke as people make it out to be. | ||
Danindc Member Username: Danindc Post Number: 4712 Registered: 10-2003 |
More bread and circuses. Hooray! Who needs employment and education? | ||
Detroitpetanque Member Username: Detroitpetanque Post Number: 138 Registered: 09-2006 |
Not all cities benefit automatically from the Olympics... Sarajevo had the 1984 Olympics... and then it became a hell-hole due to the Bosnian war. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 8123 Registered: 10-2003 |
Do the feds pitch anything in for Olympics in the US? China obviously has the luxury of the central government paying for everything. | ||
_sj_ Member Username: _sj_ Post Number: 2419 Registered: 12-2003 |
As with wondering if the Olympics were held in Detroit would the '67 riots still have occurred. If the '72 Olympics were held in Detroit would they have suffered another blackeye? | ||
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw Post Number: 543 Registered: 07-2005 |
I don't think they pick the location based off which city is the best, I think they pick it based on which city is the most meaningful, and the most conducive to running the event. I do think it's realistic for Detroit to someday host the Olympics, but first we need to be healthy enough to pull it off, and healthy enough to not embarrass ourselves (I think visitors might notice our empty lots and burnt out shells). | ||
Detroit313 Member Username: Detroit313 Post Number: 697 Registered: 02-2006 |
I have no doubts that if Detroit won a successful bid for the games, that American corporations would spend billions to promote their names. And even if, or when the games are here GM, Ford and Chrysler would contribute to their hometown first. (by then the big three will be known as General Motors-Ford-Chrysler LLC.) <313> | ||
Raptor56 Member Username: Raptor56 Post Number: 410 Registered: 05-2007 |
The US Ski and Snowboarding Hall of Fame is in the Marquette suburb of Ishpeming. One of the world's largest Ski jumps is a relative short distance away in Ironwood, along with a number of very good ski hills. I wouldn't be surprised by a U.P. Winter Olympic bid. Their only real issue is lodging. http://www.copperpeak.org/ http://www.skihall.com/skihall .asp | ||
Faygoredpop Member Username: Faygoredpop Post Number: 16 Registered: 03-2008 |
Well if Detroit was ever to try again for the Olympics, we should try bidding with Windsor. It would be the first truly international Olympics. Opening ceremonies in one city and closing in the other. The two cities would divide which events each one would get and both would benefit. | ||
Border5150 Member Username: Border5150 Post Number: 214 Registered: 03-2004 |
Danny, Remember the Sarajevo Olympics were in 84, almost a decade before Milosevic, the civil wars and the ethnic cleansing. Of course, after being bombed to SCHITT for years, Sarajevo probably looks a lot like some parts of Detroit. | ||
Cabezon Member Username: Cabezon Post Number: 5 Registered: 07-2008 |
Detroit's window of opportunity for hosting the summer olympics closed many years ago. Maybe someday it will open again, but I doubt that will happen during the lifetime of any DYers. I would also put the "joint bid" dreams to bed as well. If Chicago falters and loses to Rio, the Canadian Olympic Committee will keep their full attention on Toronto's 2020 bid. The closest Detroit could come to being an Olympic city would be in the event Chicago wins the 2016 games, Detroit could be used as an additional site for soccer/baseball/softball. | ||
Peachlaser Member Username: Peachlaser Post Number: 208 Registered: 08-2006 |
Atlanta has Coca-Cola and Andrew Young. Atlanta hasn't stopped booming since the Olympics. The Games put Atlanta on the map. Back in my early days as a computer consultant, I was consulting with the Coke VP of Corp. Communications, the point man for Coke's Olympic support (which is huge). This was in the early days of the PC (1987) and I had this idea to hold a competition in Atlanta called the 'Computer Olympics' where teams would compete building solutions. This was in the early days of the PC and most of the experimentation was occurring in customer's offices after purchasing all the various pieces. My idea was to hold competitions so that the real solutions could be seen. Anyway, I gave a short presentation on the Atlanta Computer Olympics to Jim Ruwoldt, VP of Coke and his associates. One of them replied, "We'll need to get in touch with the IOC to see if we can get permission to use the Olympic name. Let us get back to you." They never got back to me and then a little bit later I heard rumblings about Atlanta going for the real Olympic games and the rest is history. You'll only hear this story from me as Billy Payne gets the credit for bringing the games to Atlanta, I think (know), though, that I was the first to start putting the words Atlanta and Olympics together for the first time. I then worked for the Ga. Dept. of Industry, Trade and Tourism and I built a database of 25,000 of the top business leaders in the world that the state and top corporations used to attract new industry to the state. This one database was built from about 30 databases supplied by the economic development depts. of about a dozen of the largest corporations in Atlanta. This database was used before, during and after the Olympics to attract new industry and jobs to the state. It still might be used. | ||
Peachlaser Member Username: Peachlaser Post Number: 209 Registered: 08-2006 |
I should also mention that Atlanta has GA Tech. Tech put together a very professional and technically advanced presentation using Laser Discs which were advanced technology at the time. I saw a late prototype version at a presentation at Ga. Tech. The presentation had computer renderings of all the Olympic venues that could be interactively explored. It was a very impressive piece of work. So, I will say, Atlanta has Coca-Cola, Andrew Young and Ga. Tech. Coke HQ's are located just across the street from the Tech campus. Supporting all of this is Atlanta's spirit of doing things as a community on a big scale. A lot of self-promotion and people willing to take risks. Centennial Olympic Park is a lasting legacy. I really think Detroit has an opportunity to do something big and bold with all of the empty space that is currently surrounded by existing infrastructure and close to architectural gems. Someone has to think big to fill that space while it is available. Roger Penske seems to be someone who is thinking in this direction. All of you who are preservationists should be given gold medals for keeping Detroit functioning with its treasures long enough that something big is still possible. Hopefully, all of your hard work will pay off in the not too distant future. I've been and continue to be a cheerleader for Detroit. From my earlier comments, you can also see that I've been a cheerleader for Atlanta for a long time. I like seeing people with vision and courage. |
