Chicago, IL

Despite U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth’s previous comments that Chicago is “lagging behind” the other cities in contention for the 2016 summer game Olympic bid, apparently the city is doing okay so far. Gerhard Heiberg of Norway, an International Olympic Committee executive board member said that Chicago is among three other cities as the front runners. The other main cities in contention are Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro.

All of this talk has come as a result of the IBA World Boxing Championship getting underway in Chicago. I posted previously that I did not believe that this event, although an event of international stature, would really give the Olympic committee an accurate gauge of what the city could do with the Olympics. I now realize that the event will not show definitively that the city can handle the Olympics, but it may be able to show that it cannot.

If the city fails at its task of hosting this minor (in comparison to the Olympics) event, then it will surely drop from contention. If the anything goes wrong with the lodging or transportation for the boxers, or if something happens with the venue, then it could come back to haunt the city in their bid.

My main concern about Chicago hosting the event is cost, transportation, and whether they will be able to do all that they have claimed in terms of building venues. The city has a history of going over budget and past the due date on projects before and I do not see how this would be any different. Also, the perennial problem that is the CTA could make or break the city’s bid. I would think that the state of Illinois would be working to get funding for the CTA so that Chicago can show the committee that they are serious about public transportation reform.