Charles Moore, chairman of the USOC task force, said at a press conference following its two-day visit to the city to evaluate it as the U.S. candidate for the 2012 Summer Games, “there is no question that we would score Houston higher today (than a year ago) and we should. They knew what we liked and didn’t like, and they’ve addressed a lot of the issues. Houston has improved its position from a year ago”.
With the International Olympic Committee studying ways to downsize the expense and spectacle of the Summer Games, Moore said Houston offers a low-risk, high-reward option for the Olympic movement. “The IOC is downsizing in two ways – reducing the number of events, and also downsizing in terms of the investment and financial exposure. Houston, as you know, has all of its facilities in place, with the lowest capital budget (for venue construction) so that they should bode well for you”.
On Saturday there was a six-hour question-and-answer session with Houston 2012 Foundation officials. Bid chair George A. DeMontrond III said following the session, “I feel like I just took a six-hour, oral final exam. I think we’ve won it. I think everybody else (in the race) ought to resign”.
Moore called Houston’s facilities “not only proximate, they’re adjacent. You have a consistent, sustainable plan of civic improvement, which is what adjacency means. Your downtown development is really impressive. Your light rail commitment and other improvements are big-time, and Reliant Park is mind-blowing. It’s extraordinary. It really is extraordinary”.
The tour included stops at “celebration corridors” along Main Street and drive-bys of Houston’s other proposed venue pods downtown and in the University of Houston/Texas Southern University area, after which Moore commented, “the three-pod network? Thumbs up. Your celebration corridor? Thumbs up. To the city of Houston and the state of Texas, let me tell you that your Houston Olympic organization has done the city and the state proud. This is a competitive bid from a can-do, committed and spirited city”.
On the second day of the visit there were tours at the city’s transportation and emergency management nerve centre, Minute Maid Park, home of the Astros, and the University of Houston Athlete Alumni Center.
From their bus windows the team was shown Compaq Center, Memorial Park, the Theater District, the Texas Medical Center, the Museum District, the Brown Convention Center and nearby arena construction site, the Olympic Village site at UH and its on-campus Robertson Stadium.
Moore may have made a faux pas when he said that Houston’s sports infrastructure, not just the Reliant Park “but the whole thing in general, stacks up very well against the other four bid cities” but quickly added, “I didn’t mean to say that. The sports infrastructure stacks up very well against our standards”. Moore has said in the past that he refused to compare bid cities.
Moore called the one rail line, under construction, “a limited rail system, but there are a lot of things you have to counter that. You’ve got tight (venue) clusters, so transportation is not as much of a problem. You can walk to many of the venues, which is the best way to get there. And you have a great bus system”.
He said Houston’s sports infrastructure and the city’s commitment to the Paralympics “stand out as treasures”.
