Successfully snagging hosting duties for the Olympic Games is one of the toughest things a city can do. Here in Chicago, we just spent nearly $50 million on our bid for the 2016 Summer Games, and even that eight-figure budget couldn’t grab the rings. Of course, that $50 million pales in comparison to the cost of actually hosting the Games, which run into the billions for construction and operating expenses.
Still, even though the Olympics are expensive and have a debatable long-term effect on a city’s economy, most places are dying to get them. After all, what could be cooler than spending two weeks as the center of the world’s attention? If you lived in Denver in the 1970s, your answer would have been “all kinds of things.”
In May 1970 the International Olympic Committee awarded the 1976 Winter Olympics to Denver, which edged out Sion, Switzerland, Tampere, Finland, and Vancouver. Denver’s politicians and media rejoiced; getting the Games was a major coup for them. Colorado had been trying to nab the Winter Olympics for nearly 20 years.
The Opposition
Denverites and their fellow Coloradoans, on the other hand, were less than thrilled. They quickly realized that hosting the Olympics is a really, really pricey venture and that the cash to cover infrastructure costs would likely be coming from their paychecks. On top of that, the environmentally conscious populace worried about the impact of bringing thousands of people into proposed Olympic venues that stretched over 150 miles from Denver to Steamboat.
By 1972, a charismatic young politician named Dick Lamm had begun publicly opposing the Denver Games, and he soon became the torchbearer for the no-Olympics-in-Denver movement. This strong opposition put Denver’s hosting committee in a delicate situation. The IOC had long asserted that it wouldn’t hold the games in Denver unless public money was available to help foot the bill, so unless the people of Colorado would change their minds, the Olympics were going elsewhere.
It sounds like an almost trivial amount of money now, but Denver ultimately ended up losing the Games over $5 million. In November 1972, the state’s voters weighed in on whether they would authorize a $5 million bond issue to help finance the Games. There was only one problem with this $5 million estimate: it was probably far too low. Even then, hosting the Olympics was wildly expensive, and previous host cities had ended up shelling out several times more money than they thought would be necessary to run the games.
What happened? The voters didn’t just shoot down the bond issue; they overwhelmingly rejected it by a nearly 60-40 margin. A week after the vote, Denver officially relinquished its status as host city.
Now it was the IOC that found itself in a sticky situation. It needed a new venue for the 1976 Games, and it only had a little over three years to pick a city and get its infrastructure up to speed. The IOC offered Whistler, where many of this year’s events are taking place, the first crack at the Games, but the Canadians graciously declined. Salt Lake City offered up its hosting services, but the IOC wasn’t going to fall for Americans’ tricks twice in a row. Eventually, Innsbruck, Austria, stepped in as host. Innsbruck had hosted the 1964 Games, so it could handle the fast turnaround.
Second Thoughts?
Don’t think Denverites hate the Olympics, though. The city actually expressed interest in making a bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee turned the city down, though, so it could focus on Chicago’s failed bid for the 2016 Games. Many local politicians and athletes blamed the city bailing on the 1976 Games for the USOC’s lack of enthusiasm for a 2018 bid.
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I have lived in Denver all my life and I would love to have the Olympics here. Denver is an amazing city and the mountains in Colorado are the most beautiful in the world. I wasn’t alive in 1976, so I don’t know what the political climate was like or what anyone was thinking. I do know that after the DNC in 2008, I think that the city would be willing and very able to host the Olympics. We know now that it can be done and that it would be great for Colorado. Maybe one day!
posted by K on 2-18-2010 at 1:18 pm
It should be mentioned that Montreal hosted the Summer Olympics in 1976 and the good people of Quebec took 30 years to pay off the debt for being the host city; it put Montreal in financial ruin for years. So, maybe Denver made the wise choice.
People around my hometown get excited excited about bringing the Winter Olympics back to Reno/Tahoe (First held here in 1960). I always oppose it. I just don’t want to deal with the years of construction and the potential crushing debt load. Hosting the Olympics is quite a feather in your cap, but it is not all upside.
posted by n2y2 on 2-18-2010 at 1:18 pm
Love the sub-hed on the Rocky Mountain News: “Mrs. Shroeder defeats McKevitt for Congress”. I had forgotten how sexist we in the media were about female politicians back in the day. Although given her influence in Congress, I’d say Pat Shroeder had the last laugh
posted by Capital Cat on 2-18-2010 at 1:31 pm
@CapitalCat: that actually was the first thing that caught my eye in that clip and I agree-Mrs. Schroeder did have the last laugh!
ReCaptcha: as fancier
I know plenty of ppl I’m just as, if not, fancier than but its creepy when my G1 seems to recgonize it. Probably cuz I have a G1 to begin with! Lol. I kid, I kid.
posted by KillerQueen11 on 2-18-2010 at 3:07 pm
I agree with K. I am a Denverite as well (though not a native… don’t hurt me!) and I think our beautiful city could definitely handle such an event now. One of the major objections to hosting in 1976 was that the actual city of Denver is too far from where many of the events would be held- Vail, Beaver Creek, etc., and the cost to provide transportation to and from these places would be too great. Vancouver has a similar issue but they seemed to have overcome it. Also, Coloradoans have approved several major and costly but environmentally-friendly public transportation funding bills over the past several years. I have no doubt that if the improvements and associated costs that are required for Olympic venues can somehow be incorporated into the future infrastructure of our state, especially if they involve mass transit systems to and from the mountains, they would be approved today without much thought.
Denver in 2022!!!!
posted by BorgQueen on 2-18-2010 at 3:36 pm
@K:
I am a native Coloradoan who also knows that Denver is an amazing city and our mountains are the most beautiful in the world. I was, however, alive in 1976 (7 years old) and I appreciate the wisdom our fellow Coloradoans exhibited in in not supporting us hosting the Olympics. Call me a curmudgeon and an elitist, but why in the world would we spend exorbitant amounts on money so that we can spend the next 30 years digging our way out of debt and cleaning up the tremendous mess that is left behind? Ugh, no thank you!
recaptcha: blackens Governor
posted by Heaz on 2-19-2010 at 12:05 am
Too bad folks from Colorado don’t see the benefits of showing off their beautiful state and our country.
Why is it always about the money?
posted by DownriverDem on 2-19-2010 at 10:47 am
Interesting that you point out that you’re here in Chicago (as am I) for this post.
Although Chicago just spent tons of money to try to host the Olympics, it also spent money to host the 1904 Olympics. We won that bid, but relinquished the games to St. Louis.
posted by Steven on 2-19-2010 at 12:06 pm
@Downriver Dem
Why is it about money? Because in a lot of cities (like my hometown and its failed bid) taxpayer money and other investments go to staging an athletic event that grinds the city to a halt. Wasting $50 million on the Olympics (the down payment) is not nearly as favorable as seeing that money spent in the neighborhoods that need development, or on teachers, schools and emergnecy services. Or fixing roads. Or hiring prosecutors to clean up our government, or rehabilitiating criminals… or ANYTHING that is more important than a huge advertisement opportunity around second-tier sports (who watches luge or curling more than once every four years? I mean, NOT wearing liederhosen). Hell, buy everybody in Chicago a pizza and a six-pack of Canfields.
recaptcha: voiced drachmae!
posted by Chicago ExPat on 2-19-2010 at 12:28 pm
I have often wondered if the trade off was worth it for those companies that did end up hosting. Maybe you could dig into this a little more for us and let us know how much an average city spends to prepare and hold the Olympics, how much they earn from all the people hanging out there for a couple weeks, and what is the cost after the fact? And what do they do with all the stuff they build just for the two weeks?
posted by Hyacinth on 2-19-2010 at 1:07 pm
@DownriverDem:
When it’s not your money, it’s easy to ask why it’s always about the money, isn’t it?
It is also about not spoiling our beautiful state and natural resources for the ephemeral enjoyment of people who don’t even live here.
Many of us choose to live here for the outstanding quality of life we enjoy and we want to protect that.
posted by Heaz on 2-20-2010 at 12:53 pm
I live in Denver now, but lived through the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Not worth it. Most of the things that they promised the city never came to fruition. It was a mess!
posted by Marie on 2-20-2010 at 8:09 pm
I have lived in Denver all my life and actually voted in the Olympic election. It was my first time voting just eighteen years old. I was deeply disapointed in the outcome, I was excited about the opportunity to hoast the Olympics. I think it was a shame and wrong for the city to let the opportunity go. I hope we get another chamce but I ecpect that will never happen.
posted by Duame on 2-20-2010 at 9:46 pm
It should be noted that the terrorist attacks of the 1972 games in Munich took place just before this election. This may have had an effect on the negative outcome.
posted by Tex on 2-21-2010 at 11:36 pm
I worked for then the Youth Steering Committee Denver 76 in Colorado Springs. I trudged through snow to get citizens to petition to save the Winter Games. It was Citizens to Retain the Winter Games Committee. The bid was lost due to two events. The Israeli hostage crisis and the high unemployment rate in 72. Richard Lamb distroyed the opportunity for the games and his political goal to be governor. His goal was to help Colorado not to grow along with John Denver. But it did grow anyway. What a disgrace to the People of Colorado during its Centenial and our Bicentenial.
posted by Mark on 1-25-2012 at 3:59 pm