Chicago touts $1B safety net for 2016 Olympics bid
Chicago Olympic organizers said Friday that they have at least a $1 billion safety net if the 2016 Summer Games go over the estimated $4.8 billion price tag.
Organizers released their bid book Friday offering the most comprehensive details to date about plans for a Chicago Olympics. The bid already had been delivered to the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland.
"Our aspirations for welcoming the world to Chicago and the United States are represented in nearly 600 pages in this three-volume document," Chicago 2016 leader Patrick Ryan said at a news conference.
The IOC will choose the 2016 host city in October. Chicago is competing against Tokyo, Madrid, Spain, and Rio de Janeiro.
Chicago organizers said their safety net for the games includes a $450 million "rainy day fund," as much as $375 million in IOC cancellation insurance, another $500 million in insurance coverage -- and a "last-resort" $500 million guarantee of taxpayer money from the city of Chicago.
Olympic games are notorious for busting their budgets.
The 2012 Olympics in London will cost an estimated $16.5 billion, three times its original estimate.
Chicago's Olympic organizers, meanwhile, expect to make a $500 million operating profit on the games that would run from July 22 to Aug. 7. The paralympics would run from Aug. 17 to Aug. 28.
Still, the ongoing economic crisis has cast its shadow over the city's bid. Ryan has said the bid committee was forced to adjust its surplus estimate from $725 million to $500 million because the sale price of the Olympic village to a real estate developer for mixed-use housing may not be what was expected.
Organizers are looking to bring in $705 million in revenue from the sale of 7.6 million tickets.
They're also counting on $240 million in private donations that include non-Olympics related naming rights for permanent structures or other building projects.
Chicago is nearing the end of its quest to lure the games to the middle of America. The next major dates for the city are April 4-7, when the IOC's evaluation commission is scheduled to visit.
In April 2007, Chicago's bid to hold the 2016 games took a giant step forward when the U.S. Olympic Committee selected the city over two-time host Los Angeles.
While Los Angeles already had most of the venues in place and Chicago needs to do a lot of work -- include building a temporary Olympic stadium -- the USOC seemed particularly impressed with what Chicagoans love to brag about: Lake Michigan.
"For the Olympic Games to be a success we have to recreate a certain magic, a certain celebration center," USOC international vice president Bob Ctvrtlik said at the time, "and the waterfront location, right on the lake, we felt could do that."
As it goes up against three international city, Chicago is emphasizing the lakefront -- starting with the fact that most of the venues are clustered along it.
Chicago also takes every opportunity to reminds the IOC that the planned stadium is not too far from the home of President Barack Obama.
Obama has made no secret of his support for Chicago's bid and while other cities vying for the games have downplayed his impact on the city's candidacy, they don't discount it.
"I would have preferred that in the moment of the decision that (President) Bush would have been in office since he's been so bad for the world," Spanish Sports Minister Jaime Lissavetsky said earlier this month.
<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=271851">Chicago unveils bid book</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>