Oct 9, 2006 10:26 pm US/Central
Daley Heading To Athens To Meet Olympic Organizers
by Jay Levine
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
CBS 2 News has learned that Mayor Richard Daley is preparing to leave for Athens this weekend for meetings with Greek officials in charge of organizing the 2004 summer Olympics.
It's the second trip for the mayor to past and future games' organizers.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, the two groups in Athens and Beijing have several things in common.
Bright lights and Red ink. Athens spent about $14 billion on new venues, new roads and bridges, for the 2004 games and took in only about $3 billion.
Beijing, still nearly 2 years away from the 2008 summer games, is spending nearly $40 billion, though it had to start from scratch.
Alan Sanderson, the University of Chicago sports economist, will be watching Daley's trip to Athens with interest.
"I don't know what he'll learn there because he'll be told a certain story. One of the things because he'll come back and talk about increased tourist visit or the increased infrastructure," Sanderson said.
"Do I think Athens has gotten a small bounce from the Olympics? Yeah, but that it a very short-term effect," he said.
Yet mayors like Daley are racing from city to city to show the U.S. Olympic Committee they mean business. Daley visited Beijing in May. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa arrived there on Monday.
Both are banking on a 2016 games bringing glory and gold to their cities. Chicago's revenue estimates range between $5 and $10 billion, with as many as 80,000 jobs created.
"Eighty-thousand jobs or 800,000 jobs. The question is for how long are those jobs? If these jobs are parking cars or selling balloons over a 17-day period, that's a fraction of what one normally thinks of as a job as 1,900 to 2,000 hours a year," Sanderson said.
By building a temporary stadium in Washington Park, an Olympic Village along the lakefront, expanding some venues, creating others, Chicago officials say they can make it work.
"Can a Chicago Olympics ever pay for itself? Short-term, absolutely not. Long-term, as I've been quoted, maybe you break even," Sanderson said.
It was the post 9/11 security that dashed Athens hopes of breaking even.
Daley has vowed that no tax dollars will be spent on the games.
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