NYC 2012, a group "intent on luring" the 2012 Olympic
Summer Games to N.Y., unveiled a plan yesterday to use new
and existing arenas, stadiums and "other structures
stretching across the city" and from NJ to Long Island, to
host the Summer Games, according to Thomas Lueck of the N.Y.
TIMES. The athletes' village, which would "later be
converted" to 5,000 units of housing, "would be built on" a
73-acre Queens development site along the East River, across
from the UN building. The "biggest project" would be an
Olympic stadium, which "advocates hope will rise" along
Manhattan's West Side, a site that "has been suggested" by
N.Y. Mayor Rudy Giuliani for a new Yankees ballpark or
football stadium. The committee said that the Games "could
be staged across a broad urban landscape," with soccer at
Giants Stadium and boxing in Harlem, with "almost all sites"
linked by ferry, train or subway. NYC 2012 President Daniel
Doctoroff said NYC 2012 had raised $4.6M in contributions
from corporate sponsors and is seeking $2.2M in additional
investment (N.Y. TIMES, 3/15). Doctoroff said that NYC 2012
"would get" $3.1B from TV rights, ticket sales, sponsorship
and licensing, and although he was "unable to estimate the
cost of the facility projects, Doctoroff "put the cost of
running" the Games at $1.7B (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/15). NYC
2012 "must submit" a 600-page bid proposal to the USOC by
December 15 (NEWSDAY, 3/15).
SHOPPING THE MALL: In DC, Thomas Heath reported that
the Washington-Baltimore Regional 2012 Coalition (WRBC)
announced plans for its joint bid yesterday, and RFK Stadium
"would undergo a major renovation and expansion to
accommodate" track and field events. WBRC President Dan
Knise said that the group "is also proposing using temporary
structures" to save money, including 200,000 stadium seats
on the DC Mall and temporary aquatic facilities at George
Mason Univ. DC Mayor Anthony Williams and Baltimore Mayor
Martin O'Malley, "accompanied by business and other
political leaders," held separate news conferences yesterday
to "announce the specifics" of where various Olympic events
would be held under the proposed bid. One proposal for a
"hub concept" for the Games "would have simultaneous opening
ceremonies on DC's Mall and in Baltimore's Inner Harbor,
with giant screens linking the two events and more than
300,000 total spectators" (WASHINGTON POST, 3/15). Also in
DC, Eric Fisher writes that the WBRC said that "it intends
to construct only three major facilities if its bid wins,
far less than any other" Summer Games host in the past 30
years. Knise: "Our whole idea has been to build less, not
more. We want to operate within the existing resources and
the existing plans of the region and be a catalyst for those
plans to come to fruition, not dictate to everyone else what
needs to happen" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/15).
