WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) - There is word today that the same folks who put in a bid to make the Washington Baltimore metro host city for the 2012 Olympics are just perhaps starting to gear up to make another run at it--this time for the games of 2024.
I've got two words for them: Please don't.
First of all, I love the Olympics and have since I was a kid. But as a grown up, I'm thinking they are way better on TV than in your neighborhood. First of all, there's the money. And you care about this because it would be your money, as in tax dollars paying for all those fancy stadium upgrades.
And beware the early estimates. In 2005, they told British citizens that the Olympics will cost 2-point-4 billion pounds. Seven years later, try 9-point-3 billion pounds, or 14 billion dollars.
But you say what about the long term benefits of all those venues? Well, for the 2004 games, Athens Greece spent 9 billion Euros to build the infrastructure. Sure Looked nice, but today much of it looks like this once state of the art pool. Abandoned and rotting.
And then there's the matter of public transit. Don't wanna pile on Metro here, but let's be real, half a million visitors or more, for three weeks? Talk about piling on the Metro.
And what if a nasty band of summer storms or even, heaven forbid, a derecho rolls through? Can you imagine? Olympic Village in the Dark: Day number 6!?? Nobody wants that.
Hey, maybe I'm getting all worked up about nothing. Hosting the Olympics is certainly a great honor. But let's be real:its an honor I'm generous enough to leave for other cities.
To paraphrase an old saying, Olympics are a great place to visit. Probably don't want them to live here.