Los Angeles Battles Chicago for Olympic Glory

Posted on Apr 12, 2007

Left: wikipedia.org / Right: hellochicago.com

Two of America’s great cities are going head to head for the opportunity to host the 2016 Olympic Games. With radically different cultures, Chicago hopes its work ethic and business savvy will impress the U.S. Olympic Committee,  while L.A. is banking on experience and Hollywood-caliber glitz.

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Financial Times via MSNBC:

Chicago has been unashamed in promoting the potential economic benefits of hosting the games, using it as a springboard to revitalise parts of its lakefront and south side.

The focus of a Los Angeles bid will be to reignite interest in sport, rather than the economic regeneration which has fired Chicago’s mayor, Richard M. Daley, to galvanise the local business community. “We want to bring audiences back to the Olympics,” says Barry Sanders, executive counsel at law firm Latham & Watkins and chairman of the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games.

“I think that Chicago, being a city of celebration and celebrating sport, there will never be an Olympics with so many people involved,” countered [Pat] Ryan this week, as both teams put the finishing touches to their presentations. [Ryan, a businessman, heads a panel trying to land the Olympics for Chicago.]

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