NYC 2012: Thanks a Billion

by Marc Bloom

From the outset, the New York City 2012 summer Olympics bid has left me cold. The city's various running factions have jumped on the bandwagon, and that's understandable. There's probably a lot of money to be made if the Games do come to New York. And it's hard not to want to feel like we're all one big happy Olympic family, let's get the Games and celebrate.

But I wonder. Many cities seek the Olympics to add to their luster as a major capital. New York is the major capital, so what do we need to prove? Then there's the long shadow of 9/11. Do we really need to attract the terror-minded, as well as every kook in the world? Imagine the security nightmare. If the Olympics came to the city, I think most New Yorkers would want to get the heck out of town, and those of us who live in the outskirts wouldn't want to go near the place.

This past week, the International Olympic Committee representatives have been viewing New York, as they have other 2012 contenders like London and Paris, considered the favorite. The New York bigwigs created a slick campaign, as orchestrated as any Bush press conference, to wine and dine the IOC folks and not let a contrary word get in the way. Champagne and caviar, that's the image.

That's the problem too. The people behind this are billionaires. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire who bought his office by using his own fortune to outflank his opponent in the last election. The 2012 bid is spearheaded by Wall St. banker and deputy mayor Daniel Doctoroff, described in the papers as a multi-millionaire, and not someone accustomed to taking no for an answer.

Call me a cynical journalist, but I just don't trust billionaires, especially when they say how much the Olympics will mean to New York. Billionaires did not get to be billionaires by thinking of the little guy. For a NYC Olympics, I keep thinking corporate sponsors, VIP this and VIP that, private limos (helicopters?) for the well-connected, the high and mighty housed in luxurious ships in the harbor. and everybody else stuck in traffic, checked twenty times by security people at each venue, and the city a disaster area for weeks on end.

Oh yeah, then there's the stadium controversy you probably heard about. New York would need a new main stadium and the mayor and his comrades want to build one on the west side of Manhattan, where people live in a neighborhood they hope to develop. How about a new gigantic stadium right there where you live-a city unto itself plopped into your neighborhood-to be used as a future professional sports home after the Games are over. Now there's a competing bid for the land and NYC 2012 may not even get the property. So we have a war going on among billionaires. One thing's certain: whichever billionaire wins will screw the little guy.

If you ask me, the Olympics are passé anyway. Like the Super Bowl, it's not the game that anyone really cares about. It's all a made-for-TV celebrity spectacle. Super Bowl commercials get more ink than pass plays. The half-time show is more important to many-you know this is true-than a presidential election.