Thursday, December 10, 2015

Olympics

I recently read an article about the cost of running the olympics, and how desolate the stadiums are after they're used (Sochi, Beijing, etc). Which makes me start to think about Los Angeles possibly hosting in 2024. That city wouldn't need as much work done as others. We've got The Coliseum, Staples Center, Honda Center, Angel and Dodger Stadium, Stubhub Center, all with hills, flatland and oceans for the summer events. Maybe even by then we'll have another NFL stadium in town, too. Traffic would be disastrous, but ultimately when it comes to cost, it'd probably be more efficient to host here without having to deal with potentially abandoning buildings after they're used. 

Now, when it comes to the other cities such as Beijing, Sochi, etc., I don't understand why people don't talk about the reason why those stadiums are abandoned after they're used. They're in countries that don't have massive sporting events like the U.S. does. Sure, Russia has hockey, and China has baseball and soccer, but are their fanbases as rabidly passionate as the U.S's are? I mean,in America, we have one day of the week dedicated to a solitary sport, with millions of dollars funneled into 32 teams every week. Soccer's close to that on a global level, but even then, teams play in other countries, and less frequently. 

So when you strap a country in to do the Olympics, why isn't there a plan of action for utilization of the properties after they're done with the events? Wouldn't countries benefit from finding a "green" alternative? For example, China's bird nest in Beijing. Turn it into offices with a indoor park. The cube: redesign it to be apartments. There's solutions to keep the buildings around, and not letting them go to waste. At least the Cube in Beijing got turned into a water park.

Also, it would keep citizens a tad happier, knowing that their taxpaying dollars aren't going to waste after the event's done. Right now, Sochi's stadiums are decaying because literally nothing has been done to them since the games. I know that if I was a citizen of Russia, and I had to pay taxes on something that wasn't being used after forking over billions to create it, I'd be pissed! That's why there should be a solution for use of the properties after they're done with the events, especially in countries that realistically, aren't going to use them after the hosting of the Olympics is done. 

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