I used to live in Chicago and honestly, I think it would not have been a good idea to have the Olympics there. We'd have to build all of this new stuff (which would have created jobs) but there's no way that the city could ever afforded it. When I lived there sales tax was creeping towards 10% and, from what I hear from my family that still lives there, it's over 11% now. It would have skyrocketed if the city had to get the money to pay for it all. Sure they'd bring in revenue from the events, but Athens was in huge debt after hosting the Olympics in 2004.

Also, maybe it's because I'm not from one of the nicer areas of the city, but I think everything would have looked really out of place.

Not to mention, this country has hosted the Olympics so many times, let some one else have a turn.

Exactly..I mean LA and Atlanta both had one recently, let someone else wreck their city!

Congrats, Rio! I've never been, but probably anyone who's ever seen the movie Black Orpheus has wanted to go there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0jZRkFtksI

I definitely think Rio was the right choice.

But I am completely amused by the FB posts I've seen by some conservative friends who are blaming the loss on Obama, saying that it was his speech that caused Chicago to not get it. :rolleyes:

Did Rio officially win it?

And Salt Lake City had the winter Olympics recently...so for me it wasn't that much of a surprise that they would go to another country.

Many of my college friends are in the Chicago area (went to school in WI) and the multitude of Facebook messages are mixed. Some were really rooting for Chicago and were absolutely crushed, while others vehemently opposed it and are extremely pleased that the Olympics won't "ruin" the city. Their words, not mine!

Personally I've been hoping for Rio the whole time... and not just because my husband is from Brazil :-) I think it's great that they are FINALLY expanding it to South America for the summer games. And to be honest, it kind of bothered me that Chicago put in a bid. As a country, we've hosted the Olympics many a time (8 according to Psi_U_MC_Vito) including Atlanta very recently, and that's plenty for right now. If it's truly an international event, there should be an effort to share the love and let the other countries have their time to shine. Not just from the committees, but from who applies.

For some countries hosting the Olympics will truly make a difference- I look forward to going back to Rio to see it post-games. Sometimes the Olympics are just the push that certain areas need. And I'm not just talking third world! The Vancouver 2010 Olympics have done wonders for some of the major roads up in BC, and even in WA they're prepping for it. If anyone's ever been to Whistler, they're completely redoing the Sky to Sea Highway to add lanes and beef it up a bit. As someone who's driven on it at night while it was snowy and icy, it's much needed for safety & will be a benefit to the hundreds of thousands of people who go to the area each year.

Yeah, and those of us who live just across the border in Seattle found out a long time ago that going to the Vancouver Olympics (less than 3 hours drive away) was either going to be impossible (due to lack of tickets available to the general non-Canadian public, or lack of hotel rooms) or prohibitively expensive. It sucks. A lot of us in Washington state were so excited when we found out the Olympics would be in our back yard, but it turns out most of us won't be able to go.

Yep, it was between Rio and Madrid.


Chicago "the city of shattered dreams" really CBS? The Olympics are cool, but they aren't that big a deal.

I was rooting for Chicago because I always root for the USA, however, I am happy that if we werent picked, that Rio got it. South America is due for an Olympic games.

Congrats to Rio!!

maybe they can COB?

(so sorry about that terrible joke, but it was the first thing that came into my mind when I saw the title of the post)

I laughed.

I was always on the fence about the whole olympics thing because taxes are pretty insane right now (sales tax is 10.25%, not QUITE the 11% that someone stated) but so are the amount of unemployed people. I would happily pay higher taxes for someone out there to have a job- though who knows how long it would have lasted.

I'm not going to lie though, it was kind of anticlimactic to be kicked out in the first round.

hahaha, awesome

hahaha, awesome

There's always AI.


(Nooooo! Sorry! Running away now!)

Haha but seriously, Bostongreek, you made me laugh so hard I snorted. I'm gonna think of that randomly later today or while I'm trying to go to sleep, and I'll start cracking up all over again.