In the midst of an United States Olympic Committee (USOC) ethics controversy, New York is bracing itself for a 2-1/2 year race for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games against some of the world’s top cities.
Now that New York is the United State’s candidate city for the Games, Daniel Doctoroff, New York’s Deputy Mayor said, “we’ve got different competition now, so the strategy has to change”.
The includes raising up to $30 million for the bid alone without breaking the IOC’s post-Salt Lake City ethics rules.
The city is banking on its plan for an “Olympic X” design, setting up venues along a cross-shaped pattern. A ferry running north south and commuter rail lines running east west would carry fans and athletes.
Doctoroff said NYC2012 is making plans to raise the money it will take to woo the IOC by 2005, (between $25 million and $30 million).
He told the Associated Press the amount is “very, very doable” considering the level of interest that private groups and businesses have shown in promoting a New York Olympics.
As for the turmoil within the USOC, Doctoroff said it will be forgotten by 2005, 2-1/2 years from now.
NYC2012’s plan for staging the Games hinges on building an Olympic stadium on Manhattan’s West Side – a plan that has enraged residents who fear the neighbourhood will be disrupted.
It also requires extension of the No. 7 subway line.
Despite what some New York taxpayers feel about hosting the Games, saying it will hit them hard financially, Doctoroff insists the $5.5 billion cost will be covered by TV and advertising money, private financing and public investment in projects, like the subway extension, something the city needs anyway.
