Vulgar Display of Orange
08-04-2009, 05:29 PM
Committee eyes possible Tulsa bid for Olympics (http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090804_11_0_TheTul998361&allcom=1&sortcom=r)
The Tulsa 2020 Committee on Tuesday presented the City Council with the idea of the city making a bid to host the 2020 summer Olympic games.
Seriously.
“A lot of you are probably thinking what I thought the first time I heard this, 'Tulsa? Olympics? Are you out of your mind?’?” said committee member Michael Jones, an attorney.
“That’s exactly what everyone said about Atlanta when they started proposing the same thing,” he said.
Atlanta was awarded the 1996 summer games.
Much of the committee’s presentation centered on the similarities between Tulsa now and Atlanta in 1989 and 1990, when it was making its bid.
Committee member Neil Mavis, an expense reduction analyst, lived in Atlanta at the time it made its bid and began talking to people he knows about Tulsa’s possible shot.
“Everyone loves an underdog,” he said.
Lake Placid, N.Y., has hosted the winter games twice and has a population of less than 3,000, Mavis said.
The International Olympic Committee’s packet for applying host cities specifically states that, “Bigger does not necessarily mean better.”
The committee said it would raise private funds to conduct a campaign — Atlanta spent about $7 million 20 years ago — but it would need the mayor and council’s approval to apply to be
a host city.
Such a campaign would focus on the Tulsa area’s American Indian heritage and the fact that the state has produced numerous Olympians, from Jim Thorpe to Shannon Miller, and many more.
The committee won’t move forward until at least the Oct. 2 decision on which city will host the 2016 summer games.
If it goes to Chicago, which is one of the four worldwide finalists with Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro, the games wouldn’t come back to the United States four years later.
In order to host the games, Tulsa would have to build an 80,000-seat Olympic stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field events, an aquatics center, a velodrome for track cycling, additional dorm infrastructure to house athletes, and temporary structures for road courses.
This infrastructure would be funded by the IOC through broadcast rights, commercial sponsorships, ticket sales and other means, Mavis said.
Tulsa already has a number of venues that could be used, he said, including the BOK Center, the Tulsa Convention Center, Expo Square, the Mabee Center and the new Drillers ballpark, and park areas such as Mohawk Park, River Parks and Turkey Mountain.
And as has happened with Atlanta and other host cities, events could be held throughout the region, including utilizing venues on the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, University of Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State University campuses, Mavis said.
One area of concern is the low number of quality hotel rooms in Tulsa, which is estimated at 13,000 but needs more analysis, he said. The Olympic benchmark is 40,000 rooms.
If the total can be spread over the region where all events take place, it would be easy to meet, but that, too, needs further study, Mavis said.
One idea to alleviate the hotel need is to bring in shallow-draft cruise ships to the Port of Catoosa to house up to 150 visitors each, he said.
It also needs to be determined whether Tulsa International Airport has the capacity to handle the air traffic for such an event, Mavis said.
The worst-case scenario is that Tulsa loses its bid but benefits from multiple years of campaign publicity to be the host city, he said.
But, if it won, it would realize a multi-billion-dollar economic impact.
Other members of the committee include Councilor John Eagleton, Paul Wheeler of Accent Realtors and Jennifer Jones of Seed Technologies.
Eagleton said when he first heard the idea, he thought “not a chance.”
“The more I’ve looked at it, the more optimistic I’ve become,” he said, adding that taxpayer funds will not be used to pursue the effort.
By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
The Tulsa 2020 Committee on Tuesday presented the City Council with the idea of the city making a bid to host the 2020 summer Olympic games.
Seriously.
“A lot of you are probably thinking what I thought the first time I heard this, 'Tulsa? Olympics? Are you out of your mind?’?” said committee member Michael Jones, an attorney.
“That’s exactly what everyone said about Atlanta when they started proposing the same thing,” he said.
Atlanta was awarded the 1996 summer games.
Much of the committee’s presentation centered on the similarities between Tulsa now and Atlanta in 1989 and 1990, when it was making its bid.
Committee member Neil Mavis, an expense reduction analyst, lived in Atlanta at the time it made its bid and began talking to people he knows about Tulsa’s possible shot.
“Everyone loves an underdog,” he said.
Lake Placid, N.Y., has hosted the winter games twice and has a population of less than 3,000, Mavis said.
The International Olympic Committee’s packet for applying host cities specifically states that, “Bigger does not necessarily mean better.”
The committee said it would raise private funds to conduct a campaign — Atlanta spent about $7 million 20 years ago — but it would need the mayor and council’s approval to apply to be
a host city.
Such a campaign would focus on the Tulsa area’s American Indian heritage and the fact that the state has produced numerous Olympians, from Jim Thorpe to Shannon Miller, and many more.
The committee won’t move forward until at least the Oct. 2 decision on which city will host the 2016 summer games.
If it goes to Chicago, which is one of the four worldwide finalists with Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro, the games wouldn’t come back to the United States four years later.
In order to host the games, Tulsa would have to build an 80,000-seat Olympic stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies and the track and field events, an aquatics center, a velodrome for track cycling, additional dorm infrastructure to house athletes, and temporary structures for road courses.
This infrastructure would be funded by the IOC through broadcast rights, commercial sponsorships, ticket sales and other means, Mavis said.
Tulsa already has a number of venues that could be used, he said, including the BOK Center, the Tulsa Convention Center, Expo Square, the Mabee Center and the new Drillers ballpark, and park areas such as Mohawk Park, River Parks and Turkey Mountain.
And as has happened with Atlanta and other host cities, events could be held throughout the region, including utilizing venues on the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, University of Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State University campuses, Mavis said.
One area of concern is the low number of quality hotel rooms in Tulsa, which is estimated at 13,000 but needs more analysis, he said. The Olympic benchmark is 40,000 rooms.
If the total can be spread over the region where all events take place, it would be easy to meet, but that, too, needs further study, Mavis said.
One idea to alleviate the hotel need is to bring in shallow-draft cruise ships to the Port of Catoosa to house up to 150 visitors each, he said.
It also needs to be determined whether Tulsa International Airport has the capacity to handle the air traffic for such an event, Mavis said.
The worst-case scenario is that Tulsa loses its bid but benefits from multiple years of campaign publicity to be the host city, he said.
But, if it won, it would realize a multi-billion-dollar economic impact.
Other members of the committee include Councilor John Eagleton, Paul Wheeler of Accent Realtors and Jennifer Jones of Seed Technologies.
Eagleton said when he first heard the idea, he thought “not a chance.”
“The more I’ve looked at it, the more optimistic I’ve become,” he said, adding that taxpayer funds will not be used to pursue the effort.
By BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer