Oslo Tells the Olympics to F-Off

[JPhillips]

Oslo pulled out of the bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics. They also leaked a list of some of the demands the IOC made.

They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception. Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee.
Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.
A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members' rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge...)
The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours "extra late" and the minibars must stock Coke products.
The IOC president shall be welcomed ceremoniously on the runway when he arrives.
The IOC members should have separate entrances and exits to and from the airport.
During the opening and closing ceremonies a fully stocked bar shall be available. During competition days, wine and beer will do at the stadium lounge.
IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel.
Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times.
The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC members might "risk" having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics.

http://www.businessinsider.com/olymp...ympics-2014-10

(The list came from a different source.)

[panerd]

Seems like a pretty tame list of demands. (Except the road one which was pretty outrageous) Justin Beiber probably gets better ones from the venues he plays at.

[Buccaneer]

If authentic and given past history, I would say that the IOC will go down as one of the most corrupt entities since the 19th century.

[ISiddiqui]

Good for Oslo!

It seemed that both major parties were against spending the $5billion to hold the games. Beijing and Almaty (sp?), Kazakhstan are the only two bidders for the 2022 Winter Games left.

[molson]

But remember, one of the reasons everybody crapped on Sochi was because it wasn't fancy enough.

So they're down to 2022 Winter Olympics Almaty and Beijing. Kazakhstan has been building up to this for a long time apparently, hosting several other international winter competitions. Maybe with only one competitor, they can scale things down a little and the whole Olympics thing can take on a new character. Of course, we'll still have to live through months of condensing media and blog reports about how they're all a bunch of backwards hicks and everything.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by molson

But remember, one of the reasons everybody crapped on Sochi was because it wasn't fancy enough.

Eh? I don't recall that. People crapped on Sochi because the Russians spent over $50bil transforming a summer resort town into a Winter Olympics setting.

[molson]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

Eh? I don't recall that. People crapped on Sochi because the Russians spent over $50bil transforming a summer resort town into a Winter Olympics setting.

Remember all the twitter posts and blogs about the "horrible" conditions the athletes and media were living in? The media was expecting western luxury, they got temporary dorm-like accommodations, and they were not happy.

[Buccaneer]

And I don't think they even did that good of a job given the amount they spent (but I'm sure Putins's cronies did well though).

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by molson

Remember all the twitter posts and blogs about the "horrible" conditions the athletes and media were living in?

You mean doors that didn't open and water that was brown? I'm not thinking that's asking for luxury....

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by panerd

Seems like a pretty tame list of demands. (Except the road one which was pretty outrageous) Justin Beiber probably gets better ones from the venues he plays at.

I think most of them are outrageous given these are essentially board members of a non-profit.

[molson]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

You mean doors that didn't open and water that was brown? I'm not thinking that's asking for luxury....

The complaints went way beyond that.

I know I'm in the minority on this. But look at any thread here when a non-Western country gets awarded one of these things. And then stay tuned for the Borat jokes and months of general mockery if Almaty gets this.

Edit: But I see it as a potential opportunity. Maybe the bidders can call the shots a little and scale things down some. They'll be mocked at first but maybe a place like Almaty is just what the Olympics need. You don't need to spend $50 billion to put on an Olympics. Almaty already has much in place, competition wise. There will be less demand for media and spectators to go there. And yet it's a pretty cool place with an interesting history and culture. Maybe Sochi can be the high water mark of this craziness and we can have some sanity going forward. But we have to get past the idea that only the U.S. or Europe or Japan is capable of hosting it. And we may already be going in the right direction. South Korea isn't going to spend anything close to $50 billion in for 2018.

[Galaxy]

And I thought the IOC was pretty desperate for Oslo to stay in due to the poor quality of bidders. Now you got just two bids left.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by panerd

Seems like a pretty tame list of demands. (Except the road one which was pretty outrageous) Justin Beiber probably gets better ones from the venues he plays at.

+1

I've seen worse demands from 2nd/3rd tier bands than these frankly. And generally higher expectations from clients worth quite a bit less revenue.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by panerd

Seems like a pretty tame list of demands. (Except the road one which was pretty outrageous) Justin Beiber probably gets better ones from the venues he plays at.

I think that "Games Lanes" are pretty standard now in major sporting events. They have been used at the Olympics since Sydney, and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month had plenty of lanes blocked off to regular traffic.

[ISiddiqui]

And the cost wasn't that extravagant in costs - $5.4 billion. Countries are realizing that it isn't worth it even for that little, though.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

I think that "Games Lanes" are pretty standard now in major sporting events. They have been used at the Olympics since Sydney, and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month had plenty of lanes blocked off to regular traffic.

FIFA had the same demands for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

[gstelmack]

There was an article on this a while back, and it was mentioned that the NFL makes similar demands of Super Bowl host cities. FIFA is the same - most of the revenue from the World Cup goes to FIFA, not the host nation or city. All these events end up being net revenue losers for the host cities / nations, only the group being courted (NFL, FIFA, IOC) makes money on it.

[molson]

Originally Posted by ISiddiqui

And the cost wasn't that extravagant in costs - $5.4 billion. Countries are realizing that it isn't worth it even for that little, though.

I've always heard the $50 billion number, but I guess it's complicated:

Did the Winter Olympics in Sochi really cost $50 billion? A closer look at that figure. - The Washington Post

[Andreh]

I say F*** FIFA and the IOC. I live on the next Olympic Parc street and am really not happy for the amount of money wasted and robbed here.
Yes, this is XXI century and some level of luxury and technology needs to be met, but they are just corrupt entities looking for easy money.
When Volcke said that making FIFA WC at less democratic countries was better he was not joking.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by molson

I've always heard the $50 billion number, but I guess it's complicated:

Did the Winter Olympics in Sochi really cost $50 billion? A closer look at that figure. - The Washington Post

For Oslo, not Sochi.

[stevew]

Like my daughter said, if you win the least amount of medals(and we'll say medal%), you get stuck hosting.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

I think that "Games Lanes" are pretty standard now in major sporting events. They have been used at the Olympics since Sydney, and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow last month had plenty of lanes blocked off to regular traffic.

I don't mind lanes for the athletes, but this says IOC members. If you Google that list it isn't athletes, it's the IOC Board members. I think it is outrageous for them to ask for their own lane outside of what may be provided to the athletes.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by stevew

Like my daughter said, if you win the least amount of medals(and we'll say medal%), you get stuck hosting.

Dammit! A Jamaican winter Olympics again?!?

SI

[Autumn]

Yeah, at least the angle those demands presents is that the IOC is just ridiculously full of itself. Nobody gives two shits about them, and they don't get to pay people to smile at them and give them their own door. The Olympics are about the athletes, not a bunch of stuffed shirts. At least if a band asks for this shit people are actually coming to see the band.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Autumn

Yeah, at least the angle those demands presents is that the IOC is just ridiculously full of itself. Nobody gives two shits about them, and they don't get to pay people to smile at them and give them their own door. The Olympics are about the athletes, not a bunch of stuffed shirts. At least if a band asks for this shit people are actually coming to see the band.

The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.

Last I checked that was the IOC. Oslo (or anybody, or everybody) can choose not to play but this is no different than any other business, the same sort of thing is commonplace, not sure why there's relative outrage on this compared to any other time it occurs.

[gstelmack]

Yup, this only gets better when others stop playing their game, and it looks like that is starting to happen.

[mrtourette]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.

Last I checked that was the IOC. Oslo (or anybody, or everybody) can choose not to play but this is no different than any other business, the same sort of thing is commonplace, not sure why there's relative outrage on this compared to any other time it occurs.

I guess people expect the likes of the IOC (also the same applies to these points about FIFA) to be above bullshit like demanding that they be greeted with a smile at their hotel or having a separate exit from an airport.

[flounder]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

The Golden Rule: He who has the gold makes the rules.

Last I checked that was the IOC. Oslo (or anybody, or everybody) can choose not to play but this is no different than any other business, the same sort of thing is commonplace, not sure why there's relative outrage on this compared to any other time it occurs.

Except that the IOC doesn't have the gold. They're trying to extract the gold from everyone else.

[stevew]

The Olympics is the gold. Nobody is going to care if Oslo throws some major event if the ultimate prize is not an Olympic Gold Medal™

[flere-imsaho]

The gold, in this instance, is the product. The IOC controls (at least for now) the product.

They're finding, of course, that the demand really isn't there for the Winter Olympics, so maybe they'll end up changing their tune (although Beijing & Almaty will probably still pony up, so maybe not).

It's a supply and demand thing. Sure, the IOC board members maybe haven't done anything to deserve to control the supply, or product, but that's by-the-by.

[cartman]

Almaty for sure will, they've been jonesing to host the Olympics for a long time. It will be the subsequent games bid that will be interesting.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

The gold, in this instance, is the product. The IOC controls (at least for now) the product.

Thank you.

It's always nice when at least somebody understands my shorthand.

[flere-imsaho]

Enmity breeds familiarity, I always say, Jon.