Chicago Olypic bid news

from Crain's Chicago Business

Guv offers $150-million backing for Olympics
By Greg Hinz
April 11, 2007

(Crain’s) — "The city of Chicago isn’t the only area government that could have “skin” in the chase to host the 2016 Olympics.
When Chicago's delegation makes its final pitch to the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) this weekend in Washington, D.C., one of the things they’ll have with them is a letter from Gov. Rod Blagojevich promising to push for $150 million in state guarantees that may be needed if a Chicago Olympics runs a financial deficit.

The previously unreported letter says the guarantees would have to be approved by the Illinois General Assembly and would be employed only if the city runs through other contingency and back-up funds, including $250 million of its own money.

The March 28 letter was addressed to Pat Ryan, who heads Chicago’s Olympics exploratory committee. It has been sent on to the USOC, which this weekend is scheduled to decide between Chicago and Los Angeles as the American contender to host the 2016 Summer Games. ".....

"As have Mr. Ryan, Mayor Richard M. Daley and others, the letter strongly suggests that the state money never may be needed.

Specifically, it says, the guarantee would come into play only if Chicago games lose money rather than make a projected $500-million profit, that the loss exceeds $200 million budgeted for contingencies, and that the loss exceeds $250 million in guarantees that already has been approved by the Chicago City Council.

The city also has offered a second $250-million guarantee, which would come after the state’s $150 million. ".....

"The chance that local government money may be needed is more than theoretical. Taxpayers in Montreal only recently finished paying off billions of dollars in debt left by the 1976 games.

The combined $650 million in guarantees from Chicago and Illinois is somewhat larger than $250 million in guarantees being offered each by California and the city of Los Angeles." ....

"In addition to Chicago guaranteeing up to $500 million in cost overruns, the Chicago Park District has agreed to spend $15 million for a West Side aquatics center that would be used for the games. Officials also have said they need to line up an additional $100 million in guarantees from a private or public entity that has not been named." ....

for the complete story see: http://chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=24553



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