Olympic love.....cost 875 million

You could hold them in Hazeltucky. : :

 

But don't the TV adds make you want to believe again?

 

I had thought for the most part that the budget for the games was very reasonable, until this happened. The plan that VANOC brought to the table for venues was very cost effective, instead of build 32 different venues, I think they built one permanent venue in Vancouver (the speed skating oval) and the ski jump out -- I think -- by Whistler, everything else was refurbished. The other part I liked about the bid was that it made some infrastructure upgrades actually happen, like the sea to sky highway (personally never driven it myself but I have friends that drive it several times a year) - my understanding was that was long over due.

What was the original budget $1.6 billion? compare it to other recent games past and future, that's a mere drop in the bucket.

The athletes village, I didn't realize they originally planned to spend $750 million on (a cost that has increased to $850 million), even if it wasn't supposed to be on the tax payers' tab and not part of their original budget with it being privately financed. With the company backing out this close to the games, at the end of the day there's got to be some sort of legal action they can take, even if for now they have to cover the cost.

But that's a hell of a kick in the nuts to the bottom line.

 

All this is just more ammo for the "Bread Not Circuses" people next time Toronto thinks of applying for the Summer Olympics.

 

The other thing that surprised me is I orginaly thought the Olympic Village was supposed to be turned into low income housing for Vancouver following the games. Didn't think the private financier was going to be selling to the highest bidder afterwards. Disappointed by that.

 

On the good news front, Vancouver just announced that all of their tickets for every event have been sold more than a year ahead of the Opening Ceremonies.

 

Will never happen. We've screwed up two bids

Hell, we can't even get the World Junior Hockey Tournament

 

Junior hockey's a no-go in the GTA. Steve Simmons said so.

 

There's nothing Simmons wrote in that column that's not true.

Except for the comment about the Battalion uniforms. I continue to insist they're the best jerseys in the league.

But, seriously, not enough people in Toronto and the immediate surrounding area give a shit about junior hockey. Sorry, but it's a known fact.

And the problem isn't affecting just the OHL. Fans aren't flocking to watch the Tier II brand either. The 37-team Ontario Junior Hockey League, aka the GTA Glorified Junior B League, boasts an average attendance this season of 222 fans.

Occupying spots 31 through 37 in the attendance lists: Dixie (Weston), Toronto, Upper Canada College, Mississauga, Streetsville, North York and Bramalea, with a whopping 65 paying customers per game. Wow. Just.....wow.

http://ojhlsite.stats.pointstreak.com/attendance.html?leagueid=231&seasonid=3248

 

Brampton gets around 2200 plus a game. Now, given the big stage that Hodgson just performed on and the fact that they're one of the four best teams in the league, maybe attendance will bump up from now until the end of the regular season.

Junior hockey in places like Brampton doesn't have the same pull that it does in say, Sudbury, for a host of reasons.

1) Nothing else to do in Sudbury.
2) The Greater Toronto Area is multi-cultural. Brampton has a huge population of South Asians, many of whom don't give a fig about hockey.
3) Brampton's rink confirms Gertrude Stein's observation that "there's no there there" It's in the middle of nowhere beside Highway 407 and doesn't have much connection to the community. The rink is OK but there's not a helluva lot of atmosphere. A rink in the centre of the city might draw more people
4) This is a personal observation based on my life as a former hockey parent: when my kids played, I was out maybe four or five times a week. The last thing I wanted to do on a Sunday afternoon was to go to another rink.

 

The OJHL is a fucking joke and I will not recognize these new Dixie Beehives, playing in fucking Weston for chrissakes.

The Bramalea Blues need to go back to Vic Park Arena. For some insane reason they are playing in the Powerade Centre.

 

How much longer with all this "global warming" before they can host the Winter Olympics in Texas or Florida?