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| Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan. (ATR) |
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Chicago Plans to "Get Skin in the Game"
Chicago 2016 says it wil seek a package of guarantees worth up to $1.4 billion to back up its plan for the Olympics.
Staff for Mayor Richard Daley briefed members of the council Friday in private meetings on the guarantees, which would provide city funds to cover Olympic revenue shortfalls, but only in a worst-case scenario.
Speaking in a Friday afternoon press conference, Chicago 2016 chairman Patrick Ryan says the plan being presented calls for up to four levels of guarantees from the private sector that would kick-in before city money would be used.
"We think the chances of that are practically non-existent," says Dana Levenson, chief financial officer for the city.
Ryan says that the first line of protection for the budget is a $525 million surplus that Chicago organizers expect that the Games would generate. Other levels of the guarantee would include insurance against catastrophe, cancellation or a deficit.
"We believe it’s a responsible plan that addresses all the issues of the International Olympic Committee,” says Ryan.
Daley has promised that taxpayer funds would not be used to pay for an Olympics, a pledge he may be able to keep, given the structure of the guarantee. The council is to begin consideration of the guarantee next week. Newspaper reports from Chicago indicate that members of the council appear to be in favor of the mayor’s plan, as long as the city is not the first line of defense should a deficit arise.
During its visit to Chicago this week
, the U.S. Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission advised Chicago 2016 that some sort of guarantee on the part of the city would be needed by March 31.
Chicago has a construction budget for the 2016 Games that calls for a $360 million temporary stadium. Rival Los Angeles will spend less than a third of that to renovate the Coliseum used for the 1932 and 1984 Olympics and plans to build only one permanent venue, a shooting range.
New Location for Swimming Center
A new location fo the aquatics center in the 2016 bid: Douglas Park, on the west side of the city.
Chicago 2016 chair Patrick Ryan says the new location will make the venue “more available to the youth of the city”.
Chicago 2016 director Doug Arnot says the 180,000 square foot aquatics center will cost the same price and have the same facilities as was planned for the original location on the campus of the University of Illinois Chicago campus.
The venue move was presented to the U.S. Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission this week during its visit to Chicago this week. Ryan says the change was warmly received by the commission.
He says that USA Swimming, which has been consulted on the venue shift, is also in favor. Ryan says the swimming body believes that the aquatics center could become “a Midwest center of excellence for swimming”.
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