The Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics was an unsuccessful bid, first recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on September 14, 2007. The IOC shortlisted four of the seven applicant cities—Madrid, Spain; Tokyo, Japan; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Chicago, United States; over Baku, Azerbaijan; Doha, Qatar; and Prague, Czech Republic—on June 4, 2008, during a meeting in Athens, Greece. This was followed by an intensive bidding process which finished with the election of Rio de Janeiro at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 2, 2009.
In Chicago's bid, the games would have been held from July 22 to August 7, with the Paralympics held between August 12 and 28. The bid plan emphasized use of Chicago Park District parks to host the games, but other existing facilities such as Soldier Field and McCormick Place would have hosted events. The bid included a plan for North Side, Downtown Loop and South Side celebration locations that would have had high-definition LED screens for unticketed visitors. The bid noted that there was a very high concentration of event locations and training facilities close to each other and that the majority of event sites were clustered together. Thus, the vast majority of athletes would have been close to their competitions.
Chicago earned a general score of 7.0 during the Applicant phase, after a detailed study of the Applicant Files received by the IOC Working Group on January 14, 2008. Between April 4 and 7, 2009, the IOC Evaluation Commission, led by Nawal El Moutawakel, arrived in Chicago to assess the conditions of the city. The Commission attended technical presentations, participated in question-and-answer sessions about the Candidature File, and made inspections in all the existing venues across the city.
Though considered a favorite entering the voting process, and despite personal appeals from such high-profile Chicagoans as U.S. President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, and Oprah Winfrey, the bid faced considerable organized grassroots opposition, including from the coalitions No Games Chicago and the Unlympics Organizing Committee. Opponents cited the history of cost overruns pervasive to Olympic bids in a time of considerable public debt and the sentiment that funds for the Olympics should instead fund public schools and public clinics. Surveys of Chicagoans in the run-up to the bid saw support for the bid fall below 50%, and Chicago was eliminated on the first ballot in IOC voting on October 2, 2009,Thế Vận Hội 2016: TT Obama đích thân vận động cho Chicago with 18 votes in a three-round exhaustive ballot of the IOC.
On October 2, 2009, Chicago was knocked out in the first round of voting, and the Olympics went to Rio de Janeiro, despite some high-profile backers, such as US President Barack Obama and Chicago-based television hostess Oprah Winfrey, going to Copenhagen to support the bid. Seven years later, the 2016 state-funded Olympics in Rio proved to be a financial disaster, and many argued that privately funded games in Chicago, where most of the venues were existing or temporary ones, would have fared far better.
The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) selected Chicago over Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco as its candidate city to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics on April 14, 2007. This is the city's third failure, after two failed attempts for the 1952 and the 1956 Summer Olympics (and fourth overall attempt, as Chicago won the 1904 Olympics, but they were moved to St. Louis, as the World's Fair was there and threatened to host a competing competition if the Olympics were not moved). Olympic Games in North America, including the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, hurt Chicago's bid. It would have been the ninth Olympics hosted in the United States, after the 1904, 1932, 1984 and 1996 Summer Olympics; and the 1932, 1960, 1980 and 2002 Winter Olympics.
After Chicago's failure, the United States will not host the Olympics until the 2028 Summer Games when Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics for the third time.
USOC city selection Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley and his staff began considering the possibility of hosting the Olympics in early 2005, during the New York City bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. After New York lost to London in July 2005, these plans were revealed to the public for the first time. Daley had previously said that he was not interested in an Olympic bid because of the cost.Washburn, Gary. "Daley considering bid to get 2016 Olympics", Chicago Tribune, July 27, 2005, Section 2, page 3. While several other American cities made formal proposals to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) in late 2005 and early 2006, the USOC told the candidates "not to spend a great deal of time and money on forming bid committees until we have made a decision about whether to proceed with a bid for 2016". Accordingly, the city of Chicago did not create a formal bid committee until May 2006.Barron, David. "USOC's tour of potential 2016 hosts starts here", Houston Chronicle, May 4, 2006, page C11.
Chicago vied for the 2016 Olympics alongside four other cities, all needing the USOC's approval to make a bid: Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. The USOC's chairman at the time, Peter Ueberroth, visited all potential host cities during April and May 2006. He visited Chicago on May 10. On July 26, 2006, the USOC narrowed its list of American applicant cities to three: Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. San Francisco withdrew its application on November 13, 2006, after the San Francisco 49ers pulled out of a deal for the construction of a new stadium that would be the centerpiece of the games.
The final stage of the USOC internal selection occurred on April 14, 2007, at Washington, D.C.'s Embassy Row Hotel, where the two remaining bid cities, Chicago and Los Angeles, made a last 40-minute presentation to the USOC board members. At about 21:00 UTC, Chicago was announced as the winner of the United States bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics by Ueberroth. The vote totals were not disclosed.Hersh, Philip. "Chicago scores U.S. 2016 Olympics bid; Next step: Persuade world to bring Games here", Chicago Tribune, April 15, 2007, Section 1, front page and page 25.
Bid details
Chicago had prior experience with Olympic bids. In 1901, the city was unanimously chosen by the IOC to stage the 1904 Summer Olympics, but the Games were moved to St. Louis to coincide with the 1904 World's Fair. Chicago also bid for the 1952 and 1956 Summer Olympics, without success. Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley visited Beijing – host city of the 2008 Summer Olympics – on May 15, 2006, where he collected information on hosting. The bidding process for the 2016 Summer Olympics was officially launched on May 16, 2007.
In June 2007, Olympic bid committee chairman and CEO, Patrick G. Ryan announced that David P. Bolger was appointed chief operating officer and Rick Ludwig as chief financial officer.
The Chicago 2016 Olympic bid committee announced the details of the Olympic bid application on January 15, 2008. 22 of the 27 Olympic venues were to be in four clusters within 15 km of the Olympic Village. Five new venues and eleven temporary venues would have been built for the games at a cost of $49.3 million; these construction costs, and the costs of the games were to be borne by the private sector, with the government financing the infrastructure.
The bid committee filed a 600-page candidacy file with the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland on February 12, 2009. The file responded to 227 questions given to each candidate city. On February 13, the candidacy file with the final version of Chicago's 2016 Olympic plan was publicly released.
Chicago's bid was supported by major preliminary corporate commitments, philanthropic efforts by wealthy Chicagoans, promised planning participation by a wide range of community and government leaders, and the enthusiasm of the citizenry. Local support for the bid on the South Side, particularly in the Washington Park and Woodlawn community areas, was divided. Ben Joravsky, a Chicago Reader columnist, was one of the strongest critics of the Chicago 2016 bid. However, 2007 opinion polls indicated 76 percent public support.Chicago Bid book, page 53. Survey by Zogby International, April 2007 In 2009, as the final selection approached, opponents of the bid became vocal even though organizers seemed to be pleased with the bid's progress and presentation. Peter Ueberroth stated, "Chicago is going in the right direction, and we are impressed by that."
Long-time Chicago resident and then current President of the United States Barack Obama was a supporter of Chicago's bid since its inception and noted his support during his Presidential election victory speech in Grant Park.Chicago 2016: Candidate City (V1), p. 2-3 President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama traveled to Denmark to support Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Michael Jordan was an unofficial spokesman for Chicago's bid. Chicago media mogul Oprah Winfrey and Olympic champion Michael Phelps had been widely promoting the bid since the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The bid plan emphasized use of Chicago Park District parks (Washington Park, Burnham Park, Lincoln Park, Douglass Park and Grant Park).Chicago 2016: Candidate City (V1), p. 8-9Chicago 2016: Candidate City (V1), p. 33 In addition, existing facilities such as Soldier Field and McCormick Place would have hosted events. In addition to the event sites, the bid included North side, downtown Loop and South Side celebration locations in Lincoln and Grant Parks as well as the Midway Plaisance respectively that would have had JumboTrons for unticketed visitors. The bid noted the high concentration of event locations; the majority of event sites would have been clustered together.Chicago 2016: Candidate City (V1), p. 31Chicago 2016: Candidate City (V1), p. A2-A7
Financing
Ueberroth and members of the national committee met with Daley on May 10, 2006, for the initial assessment. Daley appointed business executive Patrick G. Ryan of Aon Corporation, part-owner of the Chicago Bears, to lead the city's bid process, especially in areas of corporate participation in fundraising.
Mayor Daley said on May 10, 2006, that the Olympics "cannot become a financial burden to the taxpayers of Chicago and Illinois." "The goal is to have the Olympics be totally privately funded and we have unparalleled support from the business community," a mayoral spokeswoman said in July 2006. Daley insisted that no tax money would be used to pay for the city to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and said funding from the private sector and federal dollars for security and infrastructure would cover the costs. "Tax money isn't paying for it," Daley said on February 7, 2009. "The federal government pays for security, which is the highest cost of the Olympics ... The other thing they pay for is infrastructure ... There's no city tax money whatsoever ... We are very strong in that position ... in the regard to having that be sponsored by the private sector and others." In previous years, Daley opposed possible bids for the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics owing to former international committee financial-guarantee requirements. The 2016 financial guarantee requirements were not initially formalized.