Sunday, October 01, 2000
Can Cincinnati land Olympics?
Logistics of bid process 'massive and complex'
By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Tonight, the Olympic torch will be extinguished in Sydney. Then, the midnight oil begins burning in Cincinnati.
Specifically in Suite 310 of the Fourth and Walnut Building, the offices of Cincinnati 2012 Inc.
With 75 days until the deadline for American cities to submit bids to host the 2012 Olympics, those lights will rarely dim.
“It's about an eleven-hundred-page document,” said Nick Vehr, Cincinnati 2012 president. “It's a lot of writing, a lot of detail. It's the foundation on which two years of advocacy and selling will occur.”
The U.S. Olympic Committee will choose its bid city in the fall of 2002; three years later the International Olympic Committee will name the 2012 host city. That means Mr. Vehr — just back from a fact-finding mission in Sydney — hopes to spend the next Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, stumping for international support.
He was part of a 13-member party that traveled to Sydney for the Games. Seven of them were Cincinnati 2012 members.
All were awestruck.
“Having seen it firsthand, I am even more convinced of the Olympics' value to a community,” Hamilton County Commissioner Tom Neyer Jr. said. “And also more impressed by the logistics required to successfully host the Games.”
Said Michael Milidonis, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Sports Corp.: “Sydney was a wonderful place. We've been trying to study the best components of Olympic games. Then we have to look at that vision and think ahead 12 years.”
The group returned claiming it can be done here.
“I came away more optimistic than ever,” local developer Bill Erpenbeck said. “I was originally more of a disbeliever than anyone. But when you see it, you think, "They really can do this.'”
Civic leaders may drool over development opportunities. But the average Cincinnatian may need some convincing.
Judy Dusing of Villa Hills, Ky., who went to Sydney separately to watch son Nate compete in swimming, stared in wonder at an
Olympic Village dining hall “the size of six soccer fields” serving 6,000 meals per hour, and at Sydney's train station, the “mass of humanity” funneling through.
“I'm thinking, "They're going to have all this in Cincinnati? Where?'” she said.
Xavier University student Thrine (pronounced TREE-nuh) Kane, an Olympic shooter, said on her return from Sydney, “It would take a lot of work. I could see (the Olympics) in Cincinnati, but it could be complicated.”
In a survey released three weeks ago, 81 percent of Greater Cincinnati residents were aware of Cincinnati 2012's efforts.
Though 73 percent supported them, those polled had been told the effort to bring the Olympics here wouldn't involve tax dollars. But word came Friday that Cincinnati 2012 plans to ask for millions of government dollars to fund the bid process. It will use only private funds to actually host the Games.
In the poll, residents cited as their top concerns traffic (74 percent) and the use of public funds (64 percent).
Seeing the mass-transit system in Sydney left the Cincinnati group envious.
“I think it's clear the transportation capabilities of this region, which we've looked at very strenuously already, need to be looked at again,” Mr. Vehr said. “We need to balance the ability to move (people) by road versus the ability to move by rail.”
One thing is certain: No U.S. city will produce a unified core of competition venues the way Australia did with Sydney Olympic Park. That's because the Sydney Games were a government-funded venture; 1,400 acres of property were acquired by eminent domain.
“I found myself just reeling the first few days from the immensity of the organization and the concentration of events at Sydney Olympic Park,” Mr. Vehr said. “It was like a combination of a massive state fair and a Disney World for sports.
“But then I realized, that's the difference between a government-run Games and a privately-run enterprise. ... Then you start to think about what the assets are that we have.”
Cincinnati 2012 incorporates a plan spreading some events to Dayton, Columbus, Indianapolis, Lexington and Louisville. Of the nearly 60 Olympic events or villages to be accounted for, Mr. Vehr says only shooting has not yet found a proposed home.
At least 11 new facilities would have to be built, though many could be temporary structures.
Despite a lengthy wish list of projects, having two new stadiums and a restructured Fort Washington Way in place are big steps.
“I just can't imagine all the work,” Mrs. Dusing said. “You know how much time and planning they put into Tall Stacks? Think of maybe even 15 times that size — and that's just on the riverfront. Right now I see a huge traffic jam.”
“The logistics issues are massive and complex,” Mr. Neyer said. “But we have some pretty smart people who have pulled off some pretty complicated projects recently, so I'm convinced that with eight years' notice, this community could pull off just about anything.”
A recent economic-impact study by the University of Cincinnati's Economic Research Group estimated a 17-day Olympiad here would bring to Ohio and Kentucky $5.2 billion.
The public survey suggests 15 percent view the Cincinnati 2012 bid “very likely” and another 45 percent see it “somewhat likely.” Ninety-three percent have “positive feelings” about the Olympics in general. TV ratings here have been 8 percent higher than the national average.
Mr. Vehr joined a chorus of millions praising the manners of the host country this past fortnight. That's a factor he feels Cincinnati would share.
“I have felt from the very beginning that our secret weapon is the people in this community and their ability and willingness to embrace and engage something like the Olympic Games,” he said.
Online poll: Should tax dollars be used to fund Cincinnati's Olympic bid?
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