Demise of an Olympic Stadium

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by John Picard, Jan 31, 2009.

  1. John Picard

    John Picard Vice Admiral Admiral

    http://www.yahoo.com/s/1023565

    And here everyone is afraid of China taking over the world. They're shedding jobs as bad as we are and can't even take care of their own property.
     
  2. Marc

    Marc Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    I think you'll find that the was the plan all along - the same for the the Water Cube and other Olympic facilities. It was mentioned either during the Olympic coverage or in a Nat Geo special what the plans were post Beijing Games for many of the venues some of which would be demolished.

    They a frequently built to a design and scale that means they have little use after the event and seldom survive in their Olympic form.

    Stadium Australia built of the 2000 Games in Sydney had seating capacity removed for example from 110,000 down to 83,000 - it was just too big and generally would never be filled to capacity (and the only time that happens is if there's a rugby league final there) and while it does get used it's not used every week of the year.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadium_Australia
     
  3. B.J.

    B.J. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Atlanta tore down half of its Olympic stadium, and reformatted the remaining structure into a baseball stadium. But like Sydney's stadium, that too was the plan all along.
     
  4. TheMasterOfOrion

    TheMasterOfOrion Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    JPicard I'm no fan of communism but you offer a twit solution for Chinese, selling sections off to private sectors and turning Chinese stadiums into a venue for mass consumption and venue for shopping and private business is about the best thing China could do with these big fat stadiums.

    The Chinese are doing exactly the right thing!

    A worse solution is to follow what Western society is doing lately ie Greece and Japan did with their stadiums - the Greek and Japanese fiascos opted for socialist style 'Protectioism' after the 2002 WorldCup and 2004 Summer Olympics. The Western example for stadiums have opted to become money holes, Tokyo and Athens becoming more socialist than the reds. Tokyo and Athens draining away tax payer money, some stadiums have become big government white elephants looking derelict and dilapidated and nothing like their world cup show pieces.

    Mitt Romney would be doing the exactly same thing as China and doing exactly the right thing
    if it ain't making money you should either 1 knock it or 2 turn it into an entertainment complex - NO MORE BAILOUTS!

    China's economy is becoming more free while we obsess to become more socialist - go figure!
     
  5. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I thought the original plan was for the Chinese national soccer team to use the stadium. According to that article, the team backed out of the deal.
     
  6. Canadave

    Canadave Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, Montreal's Olympic Stadium is known as The Big Owe for a reason...
     
  7. the_wildcard

    the_wildcard Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    ^^^^ I thought that was the Expos baseball team, lol.
     
  8. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Not really sure what you're getting at here; the Expos are now the Washington Nationals, and their new park is hardly dilapidated (it was only just completed last year). And I believe it's fully paid for - without taxpayer funds.
     
    Last edited: Feb 3, 2009
  9. Canadave

    Canadave Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Nope, the stadium earned the nickname Big Owe because it ended up being a huge waste of taxpayer funds. In fact, by the time it was fully paid off, the Expos had already moved to Washington. See here.
     
  10. Marc

    Marc Fleet Admiral Premium Member

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    I'm sure some people will have some fond memories of the Montreal stand - even if they are just Emerson, Lake & Palmer fans :)
     
  11. TheMasterOfOrion

    TheMasterOfOrion Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    China is doing things different to Wall St, they have major scandals but the outcome is very different the dudes behind the PetFood thing were shoot in the head, they had a quick court case and China stuck them in front of a firing squad and then charged the families for the bullets. The corrupt Chinese are not being given bonuses like the United States, too many private bankers are in control of the Fed. To cope with the economic downturn the Chinese government have given more tax cuts and has launched a 3.9 Trillion economic stimulus package to get people back to work. That is a much better idea in by book than pay 700 Billion as a reward to the Wall St crime syndicate, Obama's stimulus is too small to get everyone back to work, he should tripple its size and pass something as big as the Chinese.
     
  12. Dude

    Dude Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    DC taxpayers dropped some $600 million on the Nationals new stadium.
     
  13. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'm only going by what I read here. Specifically:

     
  14. Dude

    Dude Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    That had to do with cost overruns that the DC City Council finally said were too much. This was after the City had agreed to a slowly increasing cost (to the City) from $450 million, through the 500s, and finally to $693 million after construction materials rose in cost following Katrina.

    http://www.jdland.com/dc/stadium.cfm?tab=news

     
  15. Squiggy

    Squiggy FrozenToad Admiral

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    In their defense...it is a pretty friggin' sweet stadium.
     
  16. Dude

    Dude Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Oh, no doubt. I wasn't complaining about it at all. It just wasn't paid for by private business as was thought, was all I was saying.
     
  17. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Hmm. Interesting.

    I can see why some people might not like the fact that taxpayer dollars went to fund it. But the same people who paid those taxes can attend the games. They can get some good out of it. So I'd call it even, really.

    I also confess to some callousness, in that I want so much for new ballparks to be built that I find it difficult to *care* how they are funded.

    And it IS a sweet stadium. :techman: I was there last year...in the same week I saw games at the oldest park (Fenway) and the newest (Nats). Quite a contrast! But I had an awesome time at both.

    That being said: Riders on the DC Metro, which is how I got to Nats Park, are some of the rudest sonsabitches I have ever encountered. People think New Yorkers are rude? They've got nothing on DCers. :mad: