Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Much Ado About Nothing

The article below is much ado about nothing. There are certainly several factors that give one city an edge over another, but both Chicago and Los Angeles are great potential Olympic hosts and there are factors beyond the obvious.

The bigger question is whether you go with the experienced and less risky choice of Los Angeles or the Daley-controlled-corruption version of a Chicago bid.

It is our understanding the purpose of the newspaper ads discussed below are to skew polling being done by the U.S. Olympic Committee. Hopefully for Daley's sake, they won't ask the question "do you trust the City of Chicago and Richard Daley?"

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By Kathy Bergen
Chicago Tribune

March 27, 2007, 4:49 PM CDT

The battle between Chicago and Los Angeles to be the U.S. bid city for the 2016 Olympics erupted on several fronts Tuesday.

Chicago was given a slight edge over Los Angeles by Ed Hula, editor of Around the Rings, an online Olympics news site. Chicago scored higher on leaving a lasting legacy, public support, transportation and venue plans, though lower on games costs.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles continued its final-hours offensive, announcing a partnership with the City of Las Vegas and Sam Boyd Stadium, which would serve as one of five venues for soccer.

And the Chicago 2016 bid committee announced a new print ad, with a message of "Welcome to Chicago" in 12 languages, to run Wednesday and Friday in the city's two main daily papers. The message to Chicagoans: "We thought we'd help you prepare to welcome the world . . ."

The ads, created on a pro-bono basis by Downtown Partners, aim to keep the campaign in the public eye and drive traffic to the bid team's Web site.

A decision by the U.S. Olympic Committee is expected April 14, with the winner moving to the international contest, to be decided in 2009.

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