CHICAGO, ILL (WBBM Newsradio 780) -- Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics moved to first place in a new online ranking of the four candidate cities released Monday. At the same time, a former top Olympic executive, who usually speaks cautiously about the city’s chances of landing the games, thinks Chicago now has the advantage in the race for the 2016 Olympics.
“You are the leader,” said Peter Ueberroth about Chicago’s bid in an exclusive interview with WBBM. “As I talk to people around the world, Chicago is now being considered very positively,” he told Newsradio 780.
WBBM’s Steve Grzanich reports:
This was one of Ueberroth’s first interviews since stepping down last October as United States Olympic Committee Chairman. His comments coincided with the release of the Around the Rings Olympics Power Bid Index, which ranked Chicago first, followed by Madrid in second place and Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro tied for third.
According to Ueberroth, Chicago’s bid has everything the International Olympic Committee looks for in a host city and he said members will be impressed by the city’s geography, cultural diversity and passion for sports.
“Chicago is a sports fan’s town and embraces sports,” he said. “Chicago has tradition. You’ve got the best mayor, the most recognizable mayor other than maybe New York, who is respected around the world. You can find enclaves of every possible nationality you can possibly list and so I think Chicago can introduce the Midwest to the world through the Olympic movement.”
Peter Ueberroth Newsradio 780 Interview:
Ueberroth also said Chicago has an economic advantage over its competitors because of its potential to make a lot of money for the Olympic movement as the 2016 host city. The Evanston native said Chicago would generate significant revenue, thanks in part to its location in the center of the country. That, he said, would be a boon for ticket sales and help boost North American television coverage.
“There’s no question that if you take any of the four bid cities, economically, the worldwide Olympic movement will do much better with the influence of Chicago and all the corporate communities around Chicago,” said Ueberroth who noted the pool of potential Olympic Corporate Sponsors headquartered in Chicago and its suburbs, included 29 Fortune 500 companies. “You have more companies that are headquartered in the Midwest than any place else.”
Ueberroth knows a thing or two about running a successful Olympics and generating revenue. He served as president of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics which generated a $200 million profit and predicted a Chicago Olympics would easily outdo Los Angeles and perform even better. The Chicago 2016 bid included a $3.8 billion revenue projection and $3.3 billion in operating expenses. If the city’s estimate holds true, a Chicago Olympics could bring in at least $1 billion more than each of its three competitors.
In the Around the Rings rankings, Chicago earned points because of the revenue projection. Madrid lost points because of the “absence of any compelling reason to bring the Games to the city” so soon after London in 2012. Chicago also earned points because the website said the city seemed “to have the clearest idea among the four on how to leverage the Olympics for the benefit of youth sport.” The index gave Chicago a score of 80, Madrid 78, Tokyo 77 and Rio 77.
Despite the expiration of his term as USOC Chairman, Ueberroth still has an active roll in the organization and will continue helping Chicago secure the 2016 games. Even though he considered the bid to be very strong, there are several weaknesses including the lack of familiarity with Chicago among some IOC members.
“Chicago is the best city in our country but in the rest of the world they would probably be more familiar with cities like Miami and certainly San Francisco with its skyline,” Ueberroth said. “Well, the Chicago skyline is every bit as good but it just hasn’t been promoted in the same way in the past 20 or 30 years.”
Ueberroth urged Chicagoans of every ethnic background to get involved and reach out to IOC members in their countries of origin or heritage with personal communication or a letter writing campaign.
“Pick a country. If there’s an IOC member from the Ukraine, then the Ukraine community, the average ordinary citizens, should be the proponents directly to the (IOC) voters. That’s the great advantage for Chicago,” he said.
Ueberroth’s term as USOC chief ended last year and has been followed by several other high profile staff changes. Larry Probst took over as chairman and Stephanie Streeter became C-E-O replacing Jim Scherr who held the post for six years. Scherr and Ueberroth became well established leaders of the USOC after a tumultuous period that saw six presidents and C-E-O’s, financial hardships and scandal.
Ueberroth, 71, rejected any notion that the USOC leadership changes might negatively impact Chicago 2016. “That is absolute nonsense,” he told Newsradio 780. “The key people in the international department are all in position, they speak lots of languages and they, together with the people who are working under Pat Ryan, are going to do their jobs. I’m still involved and Larry Probst is a terrific leader.”
On July 18, Los Angeles will commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the 1984 Olympics with a gala celebration at the LA Coliseum and Ueberroth will be a guest of honor. As Los Angeles Olympic Committee President, he led thousands of volunteers and others in staging one of the most successful Olympics ever.
“People often forget the fact that Los Angeles was the only bidder,” said Ueberroth. “And then after it won the bid, the voters by an 83 percent majority, voted not to put up any money for the Olympic Games. Thus, we couldn’t use government money in any way. We could only have sponsors, television rights and ticket sales. So we budgeted that way and we were very frugal.”
Ueberroth’s leadership and the successful 1984 games transformed the modern day Olympics into a revenue-producing mega-event and arguably the biggest sports competition in the world. Not bad for an event that came very close to being cancelled.
“The doomsayers were saying we were going to fail and fail miserably, globally and in Los Angeles. Nobody wanted to touch the Olympics.” Then in May of 1984, just months before the opening ceremonies, the Soviet Union announced a boycott of the summer games and released a list of roughly 100 countries that had pledged to join the boycott.
“That fouled up our planning and we thought they just might shut down the Olympic movement,” said Ueberroth. “In the end only about a dozen countries didn’t come and only four or five that were important, so the games went off very well.”
‘Very well’ – by any measure – understates the history. American athletes like gymnast Mary Lou Retton captivated spectators and television viewers alike and earned 80 plus gold medals. Following the games, Ueberroth often found himself being called the ‘man with the Midas touch who brought honor to America.’
“We wanted the games to great for the athletes of the world and we wanted it to be an event that would make U-S Citizens proud and proud of their country and we stuck to those goals religiously.”
After the success of the ’84 games, Time Magazine named Ueberroth “Man of the Year” and later in 1984 he went on to become the sixth commissioner of Major League Baseball. After so many accomplishments over so many years, Ueberroth looks back on recent memories as some of the best.
“If you take a look at the last four years, the thing I am proud about is we took a team to China and more athletes than ever before came back with medals around their necks in a much more competitive environment. We did well in all kinds of teams and women led the way.”
Peter Ueberroth’s life and legacy could easily fill the airwaves for much more time than we can offer but there is one additional tidbit that must be included as a footnote on his story. Turns out that Ueberroth was born on September 2, 1937 – the same day on which the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, died.
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