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It's been more than 30 years since we had a chance to vote against holding the Winter Olympics in Colorado, so perhaps it's time to let bygones be bygones, and give due consideration to certain aspirations of the Metro Denver Sports Commission.
That commission has set up a committee to study the prospects of holding the 2010 Winter Games in Colorado. This committee is supposed to make recommendations by July, when the International Olympic Committee is scheduled to select a game site for 2010.
The Metro Sports Commission faces several challenges here. For starters, there's the minor matter of snow. We all know how bare our mountains were last year, which was the fifth year of a dry spell that began in 1998.
There's El Nino, a relatively short-cycled climatic
phenomenon, and then there's the long-term Pacific Decadal
Oscillation, recently studied by the U.S. Geological Survey
Earth Surface Dynamics Program. Those scientists observed
that there was a wet regime
from 1900 to 1941,
drought from 1942 to 1977, wet from 1978 to 1998, and now
drought. The report concludes that Recent trends in
southwest precipitation and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation
suggest that the climate of the region may become drier for
the next two or three decades.
Granted, our resorts can make snow, although in dry times that means dewatering more creeks. But what are a few fish, compared to the glories of the Olympics?
Another challenge is transportation. The arena events could be held in Denver, but the outdoor events would have to be scattered through the mountains, and Interstate 70 already suffers from frequent gridlock.
But the need for improved transportation might persuade us to provide a $1 billion subsidy to Vail for that high-speed monorail that we voted against in 2000, and hey, what's good for Vail is good for Colorado, right?
Those challenges can be met, at least in theory. The most daunting obstacle will doubtless be finding sufficient money for bribing the International Olympic Committee.
While it's possible that bribes may no longer be necessary because the IOC has purified itself, recent history suggests otherwise. The most notorious scandal resulted from Salt Lake City's successful bid to host the 2002 Winter Games.
The local committee found itself splurging for lavish
food and lodging for visiting IOC members, as well as
gifts
for some. Tom Welch, who once led Sat Lake's
efforts to get the games, openly admitted giving IOC
members whatever they wanted in order to buy their support
-- arranging everything from plastic surgery for a member's
wife to cash payments into bank accounts and scholarships
for relatives.
Salt Lake's total spending may have exceeded $10
million, for everything from $673 for doorknobs purchased
by IOC members on a shopping trip in Utah to an undisclosed
sum for at least two female escorts
(which at least
loosened Salt Lake's staid reputation).
The list is extensive, and Salt Lake wasn't the only player. IOC executive board member Mark Hodler said there were similar cash-for-vote abuses for the 1996 summer games that went to Atlanta and the 2000 summer games in Sydney, Australia.
There's also the internal corruption of an Olympics -- i.e., the bribing of a French figure-skating judge last year so that the Russian couple initially won the gold medal.
But that's a separate issue. The challenge here will be finding the money to purchase the IOC votes. In flush times, some Colorado cable or telecommunication baron might just write a check, but these aren't flush times.
The state treasury is low, and the General Assembly will face further budget cuts when it convenes tomorrow.
It's not an impossible challenge, though. After all,
we'd just be taking tax money from people who make $20,000
a year, and spending it to bribe the jet-set high-rollers
on the IOC. The only people who might object to that are
known as Democrats,
and they hold no positions of
power or influence in Colorado.
So the money could be doable, too. There's one other problem. In 1970, Denver was awarded the 1976 Olympics. In 1972, Colorado voters refused to spend more tax money on the Olympics. This still bothers some members of the IOC, and thus Colorado has a bad reputation there.
Considering the corruption of the IOC, it might speak well for Colorado that we're on some informal blacklist. But the Metro Denver Sports Commission apparently feels otherwise, and perhaps the Colorado games will begin -- in some IOC member's lavish hotel suite with a couple of female escorts, financed with your money and mine.
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