Jun 22, 2009 6:43 pm US/Central
Chicago 2016 Bid Boss Explains New Taxpayer Risk
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Pat Ryan, head of Chicago's efforts to land the 2016 Olympics, faces reporters Monday June 22, 2009.
CBS
Chicago is proud of its pitch to get the 2016 Summer Olympics. But when Mayor Daley and bid leader Pat Ryan went to Switzerland last week and signed an agreement to have Chicago financially guarantee the games, let's just say they have a lot of explaining to do.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine explains.
With Mayor Daley still out of the country Monday, it fell to Chicago 2016 bid chairman Pat Ryan to explain the mayor's surprise guarantee to the International Olympic committee that could put us on the hook in the event of catastrophic financial losses.
Last week, Daley announced Chicago would sign a contract it had been trying to avoid and left many Chicago aldermen and taxpayers up in arms.
Ryan faced reporters for the first time for what was billed as a debriefing on the recent presentation in Switzerland. But it was clear from the start that this was damage control.
"We did not do the best job of communicating the enhancements to our guarantee," Ryan said.
Mayor Daley last week announced we'd sign the formal Host City contract which says "...the financial responsibility for the planning, organization and staging of the Games...shall be entirely assumed...by the City...."
Ryan claims Chicago was first led to believe its original plan to amend the contract with a different kind of guarantee was sufficient. He said once they got to Lausanne, they learned otherwise -- and that a superior plan, with a compact venue map and a rich legacy, wasn't enough.
"It became clear that they wanted this host city contract signed," Ryan said. "They don't want to be faced with 'Why should I choose Chicago over Madrid or Rio or Tokyo when they'll all give me the comfort that they will deliver the games and Chicago won't?'"
Ryan, taking the heat for the mayor, who's still overseas at a mayor's conference in Jordan, promised that the new plan putting $2.5 billion between the proposed Olympic budget and any new Chicago city dollars would be revealed late this summer.
"We anticipate presenting a plan to city council that will address their concerns and satisfy them that any remaining financial risk is small enough and improbable enough for them to be comfortable," Ryan said.
The plan will include $1 billion in insurance against everything from natural disasters to contractors failing to complete work on time and on budget.
Ryan says it's possible the City Council could turn thumbs down on the plan, which would probably doom Chicago's bid.
But given the creation of jobs, tax revenue, and increases in tourism and convention business, Ryan believes aldermen will ultimately agree that the potential benefits far outweigh the risk.
Daley's response last week raised concerns that
taxpayers may end up with a huge tab if Chicago gets the games and they turn out to be a financial flop.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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