After today’s shocking loss — it’s the first time since 1980 that the US has failed in consecutive bid attempts, with New York City losing out on the 2012 Summer Olympics — people are asking, “What’s next for Chicago?” Don’t expect that answer to be another run at hosting, because this was probably a “make-or-break” situation, writes Chicago Tribune’s David Greising.
One and Done For Chicago?
Look at what it took to put this bid together — a mayor who transitioned from reluctant to obsessed, a billionaire with time on his hands, a civic community willing to pony up another $50 million for a bid campaign just a few years after digging deep for the $475 million Millennium Park — and it’s obvious another bid by Chicago would not happen any time soon.
Daley will be off the scene by 2020 and has little incentive to mount a second bid. And Chicago’s civic community is tapped out.
No one will admit it. No one wants to talk this way and risk offending the International Olympic Committee, but Chicago is a one-and-done city. Let Madrid and Beijing come back with multiple bids. Chicago will take the route of Paris and New York, both of which after an affair with an Olympics bid last time acted ashamed they had entertained such silly dreams in the first place.
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