Assuming Toronto makes the short list when the IOC votes on Tuesday, TO-Bid has planned several events.
There will be a press conference on Tuesday after the announcement, a launch party at the Capitol Theatre, Yonge and St. Clair at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, with tickets selling at $30 each, and a new series of advertisements.
Ontario Premier Mike Harris and Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman will each be spending a week in Sydney lobbying for Toronto’s bid. And federal Ministers Sheila Copps, David Collenette and Denis Coderre will spend time there, paid for by tax payers.
TO-Bid officials along with 25 former Olympians will also travel to Sydney to promote Toronto’s bid, and the cost to TO-Bid will be about $1 million.
TO-Bid Chief Operating Officer Bob Richardson said the bid committee’s biggest challenge is to make Toronto better known. He said everyone knows Paris, while Beijing is the capital of the most populous nation on earth. But cities like Toronto and Osaka don’t have the same cachet.
