KCRag Forum

I remember hearing a proposal LONG ago for KC and St. Louis to put in a joint proposal to host the summer olympics, with both cities working together to construct a bullet train so that people could be whisked back and forth between venues in the two cities in an hour.    I don't remember if it was ever truly considered by anyone or just a "wouldn't it be cool if?" scenario dreamt up by some columnist.

That would be awesome but, you probably should just stick to buying powerball tickets, you have a better chance of winning that than the olympics.

Remember KCKayakers posts?

http://www.kcskyscrapers.com/newforum/i ... pic=1145.0

If Charlie  Wheeler becomes county exec watch out!

I had heard that until Turin... Salt Lake was the largest metro which ever hosted a winter olympics.  Obviously the environmental setting plays a far greater role where the winter olympics is concerned.

As for the summer olympics... it would seem that they have been reserved for those largest of 'world class' cities.  I'd say that Atlanta landed them was pretty phenomenal.

Of course (obligatory Omaha plug) I'm just tickled to death that we landed the US Olympic swim trials.

How is it I say the exact same thing he just said, but mine got deleted?

Because eo.com was a gentleman about it.

If the Olympics were ever hosted by Kansas City and it's surrounding areas, it most likely wouldn't happen until midway through the 21st century. Why? For one, we don't have the sports facilities to do that and we have absolutely no mass transit and this city is already spread out as it is. The athletes wouldn't be able to get around without a map and a rental car. The roads here would turn into parking lots for days due to the thousands of people in the area. Not saying that it's impossible in the future but right now, definately not likely right now anyway. On the bright side, if a new baseball stadium isn't proposed downtown soon, maybe KC will host the Olympics, build the stadium downtown and then the Royals can move in to it the year after then everyone would be happy.... Or should I say most  :-k Just a thought...

Maybe KC could go for something like the Pan Am games. Seems less of a stretch.

Indianapolis did it in the late 80s or early 90s.

The thought of the Olympics makes me want to curl up on an oversized pillow and sleep.

Go USA!

SouthKC1985 wrote: we don't have the sports facilities to do that and we have absolutely no mass transit and this city is already spread out as it is.

If you talk to people in Atlanta, they will tell you that the work they had to do to get ready for the games made the city world class. the other thing was that after the olympics, atlanta had name recognition around the world. people always say stuff like this is impossible until it happens. we just need the right leadership. seriously, who of us thought the new downtown we are about to get was possible ten years ago.

AF wrote: If you talk to people in Atlanta, they will tell you that the work they had to do to get ready for the games made the city world class. the other thing was that after the olympics, atlanta had name recognition around the world. people always say stuff like this is impossible until it happens. we just need the right leadership. seriously, who of us thought the new downtown we are about to get was possible ten years ago.

Funny you say that but I just met with somebody that said the same thing.  Paraphrasing of course, she stated that Atlanta was a sleepy little southern city until the Olympics made it an international city.

Leadership and the stars lining up could do wonders for Kansas City on any front.  This would be a situation where the state of Kansas and Missouri could get together to create a setting for the olympics in Kansas City.  Two states, more revenue, big exposure...why not?

I think KC has a chance at getting the special Olympics but not the real deal.  The city is 10 years from even being considered.  Look at our airport, our non-existing public transportation, are under developed tourism industry, and the overall lack of hotels.

My wife asked me where the next Olympics will be and I knew Rio has it in 2016. So I was curious who is going to get it in 2020 and I read the three finalists are Madrid, Istanbul and Tokyo. So are cities already preparing for 2024 bids? Indeed they are! And there are several dozen cities putting together bids, but I noticed one city on there that stuck out was Tulsa, Oklahoma. Yep, Tulsa, the 45th largest city in the United States, wants to host the Summer Olympics. And good for them on dreaming big. Anyway, it just reminded me of this thread.

If the US does submit a bid it looks like SF, NYC, Dallas and Chicago would be the leading candidates.

I'm thinking there was an effort years ago (mid 90s?) to target the Olympics for entire state of MO with a high speed train between KC and STL. There are plenty of sports venues between KC/STL and Columbia and plenty of water sports could be done in the Ozarks.

It's realistically possible to do this if given enough time to fund/build a high speed rail. Between the three cities, there isn't as much a need to build more venues as most other cities need to build for Olympics. MO can focus on the transit rather than venues, except Olympic size pools I suppose. And between KC/STL, there are over 70K hotel rooms.

MO truly can have a shot at this if they emphatically focus on it. It would also bring the State of MO together. Atlanta shot up to a major city after the Olympics. I wouldn't like to see KC/STL become ATL but with smarter growth plans, it could boost MO significantly.

earthling wrote:I'm thinking there was an effort years ago (mid 90s?) to target the Olympics for entire state of MO with a high speed train between KC and STL. There are plenty of sports venues between KC/STL and Columbia and plenty of water sports could be done in the Ozarks.

It's realistically possible to do this if given enough time to fund/build a high speed rail. Between the three cities, there isn't as much a need to build more venues as most other cities need to build for Olympics. MO can focus on the transit rather than venues, except Olympic size pools I suppose. And between KC/STL, there are over 70K hotel rooms.

MO truly can have a shot at this if they emphatically focus on it. It would also bring the State of MO together. Atlanta shot up to a major city after the Olympics. I wouldn't like to see KC/STL become ATL but with smarter growth plans, it could boost MO significantly.

I'm glad that didn't happen. Sounds like a truly awful idea. If you're going to host the Olympics, at least do it within the same general area. Splitting up events all over the state makes for an underwhelming experience for both the athletes and visitors. People would be very limited with the events they could attend, as they would have to either drive, fly, or take a train over a vast area to see multiple events. And you might as well scrap the Olympic Village, as it wouldn't work very well when all the events are spread out like that. I know some events for the '96 games were held far outside ATL, but at least ATL was the focal point. KC or STL would lose out because one of them would have to host the village and the majority of the events, so you might as well not even bother with having events in the other city.

Here's a list of the cities that have hosted the olympics. Even dating back to the end of the 19th century, nearly all of the cities have been pretty large. St Louis was the host in 1904 but St Louis' stature in 1904 was much greater than it is today. Munich and Helsinki were the two smallest cities to host the olympics in the last century. While neither are that small, Helsinki is a national capital and Munich is a pretty compelling locale. I think KC, being a mid sized US city, would have a rough time getting the olympics and Tulsa or OKC would be enormous longshots - million to one chances.

SITES OF THE SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
1896 - Athens, Greece

1900 - Paris, France

1904 - St. Louis, Missouri USA

1906 - Athens, Greece*

1908 - London, England

1912 - Stockholm, Sweden

1916 - Not held**

1920 - Antwerp, Belgium

1924 - Paris, France

1928 - Amsterdam, Holland

1932 - Los Angeles, California USA

1936 - Berlin, Germany

1940 - Not held***

1944 - Not held***

1948 - London, England

1952 - Helsinki, Finland

1956 - Melbourne, Australia

1960 - Rome, Italy

1964 - Tokyo, Japan

1968 - Mexico City, Mexico

1972 - Munich, Germany

1976 - Montreal, Canada

1980 - Moscow, Russia

1984 - Los Angeles, California USA

1988 - Seoul, South Korea

1992 - Barcelona, Spain

1996 - Atlanta, Georgia USA

2000 - Sydney, Australia

2004 - Athens, Greece

2008 - Beijing, China

2012 - London, England

2016 - site not yet awarded

2016 - Rio

Interesting that the king of all cities has never held the summer olympics

IIRC, Chicago actually won the bid in 1904, but the Games got moved to St. Louis for some reason.