Calgary’s potential bid for the '26 Games "survived a critical vote at city hall," but municipal leaders are now "turning to the task of improving oversight of the city’s flawed Olympic project," according to a front-page piece by Hudes & Potkins of the CALGARY HERALD. The city council yesterday reaffirmed "support for continuing work on a bid by a 9-6 margin," though it passed with an amendment to "establish a subcommittee, made up of four councillors and the mayor, which would oversee the Olympic process as it unfolds." The committee "would be chaired by a councillor" rather than Mayor Naheed Nenshi. Olympic athletes, sports organizations and business leaders "mobilized last week, urging city hall skeptics not to abandon an Olympic bid yet." The Olympic BidCo has received a combined C$30M financial commitment from "all three levels of government." Nenshi said that elected officials are "ineligible to serve as part of the BidCo" and that he "expects a plebiscite could be held between October and early 2019" (CALGARY HERALD, 4/17). The GLOBE & MAIL's Allan Maki notes bid organizers have estimated staging the Games will cost around C$4.6B and "run a deficit." City administration said that the next key date for a potential Calgary bid is in September, when the IOC "determines the shortlist of potential hosts." Calgary "would have to present its bid book to the IOC by January." Between now and then, more "fully-costed financial numbers will give council a clearer picture of what hosting the Olympics will cost" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/17).
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS: In Calgary, Licia Corbella writes at yesterday's meeting at City Hall, there were no words "about a vision for the Games -- what it would do for Calgary, its citizens and our young people." When Nenshi was asked if the bid still includes sharing the Games with Edmonton and Whistler, he replied, "All of that is to be decided." Corbella: "I am in favour of continuing down the road of an Olympic bid, but not if it means holding either Olympic hockey or Olympic skating in Edmonton. ... Calgary should either host these Games and build a new arena (which will have the added benefit of ensuring the Calgary Flames stay in Calgary) or stop this idiocy now." The announced subcommittee also "sounds like a recipe for a continued gong show." The process "should go to a stand-alone bid committee made up of people from every level of government and business, arts and Indigenous people" (CALGARY HERALD, 4/17).
