Reasons Why Calgary Should Hold The Olympics

There is an argument as to whether or not the United States should bid to host the Olympic Games. There are many positive and negative reasons as to help decide whether it will be or not be a good idea. Some positive reasons would be improvements in all types of transport, increase potentially in tourism and business activity. Some of the negative aspects would be potential costs and burdens to the community and an increase in costs and taxes. Many people are going back and forth arguing over this topic. The United States should bid to host the Olympic Games.

London is currently hosting the Olympics this year and in preparation back in 2009 the event was predicted to “provide economic gold at a time of economic need,” however hosting the Olympics is an extremely costly business with the upgrades, new sports facilities, and security that it will cost much, much more than expected.

Number ONE on this list was affordability. Not willingness to play, not safety concerns, but affordability is the biggest barrier to entry. This is an extremely alarming stat because hockey has never been about who can pay the costs, but rather if you want to play the sport, then you are able to play. The direction it's trending towards is more about who can pay, and not so much about everyone being able to play. Just as the GTHL president John Gardner said “The game has changed in this respect: It used to be that you had a right to play, now it's can you afford to pay” (Mirtle, 2014). The alarming stats don't stop there. The average household pays $1500 per season, just for equipment. The average cost for a player(non goalie) is $750 per season, once again just for equipment. Not only are these costs extremely high but they increase when a player plays goalie, with just the goalie pads ranging anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $1300 for top of the line pads. Comparing these costs to other sports, it's easy to see why some parents are opting for their kids to play other sports rather than hockey. For basketball, the cost for equipment is a measly $325 per

Why is it that when I picture Canada I am able to see snow falling, the night setting, with teenagers, children, and adults walking towards a rink with their the laces of their skates tied together and thrown over their shoulders, all getting ready to play the great Canadian game. What is it that makes hockey so profoundly important to Canadian identity, and a representative of our country? To start off, all across the country, on frozen backyard ponds, community rinks and state-of-the-art arenas Canadians are playing hockey which is Canada’s national sport. I believe that hockey is a representation of Canada because, the maple leaf, a familiar Canadian emblem, is found on Canadian hockey jerseys, and major chains selling our favourite food, donuts, were started by hockey greats Tim Horton and Eddie Shack.

According to Lyle Richardson, a columnist for the bleacher report, the rosters for the 12 teams have been announced and a considerable number of NHL players made the cut. Indeed, some of these teams are entirely made up of NHL stars. Every NHL team has players headed to Sochi, with some teams seeing a significant number of stars competing in the tournament. Russia has predicted to beat Sweden for the gold in the championship game but the Sweden’s are not going away easily. Every

    In March of 2017, the U.S. National Women’s Hockey team said they would “sit out” of the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship that would take place later in the month. They threatened this because they wanted more money, which is well deserved, but USA Hockey (USAH) wasn’t willing to make a deal. The athletes were asking for a $68,000.00 salary rather than their original $24,000.00 that USAH set. The women wanted more because “the only money the players get from USA Hockey comes during the six-month period leading up to the Olympics" CNN Money reported. "The organization hasn't offered the women any money for the time the team spends training, competing and making public appearances for USA Hockey outside that six-month time frame, a team spokesperson said." (Ohikuare, Judith).

As a sporting mega-event, the Olympic Games have numerous social impacts on the people, not only on those from the host country, but on individuals all over the globe.

The pressure of maintaining the fair will be too much and it will shut down.

In 2024, or as soon as 2020, roller derby should be an Olympic sport. I find that roller derby is just as entertaining and interesting as the sports currently in the Olympics such as canoe sprint, cycling, golf, rowing, sailing, and table tennis. Those examples are from the Summer Olympics. The Winter Olympic sports include curling, luge and skeleton. Roller derby is a rapidly growing sport.

As a result of the effect that it has on the Canadian economy, hockey should be named Canada’s true national sport. Accounting for roughly one-third of the National Hockey Leagues ticket sale revenue, the seven Canadian hockey teams have a much larger market than the 23 American teams. Not including the newly added Winnipeg Jets, the six Canadian teams account for 31% of the $1.2 billion (U.S) sales ticket revenue of the NHL. This means that $341,000,000.00 (U.S) is contributing to the Canadian economy annually. The Toronto Maple Leafs has the largest franchise revenue at an estimated $119,000,000.00. The ticket revenue of the Toronto Maple Leafs is the highest in the NHL at $1.5 million per game. This is an astonishing amount in comparison to the Dallas Stars at $660,000. The construction of sport facilities could cost upwards to over $1 billion (U.S). With this in mind, Canadian hockey facilities (e.g.: the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario) revenue millions of dollars annually and creates thousands of jobs. Costing $265 million to build, the Air Canada Centre generates revenue of nearly $23 million annually. Additionally, large Canadian sponsors such as Air Canada, Molson Canadian, and Tim Hortons

Wrestling should stay an integral piece of the Olympics because it is historically rich and is still competitive.

"The Olympics are a wonderful metaphor for world cooperation, the kind of international competition that's wholesome and healthy, an interplay between countries that represents the best in all of us,” said John Williams, the composer for theme music for the Olympics (8). The Olympic Games are international sports festivals that began in ancient Greece. The first ancient Olympics can be traced back to 776 BC when people held this religious festival to honour Zeus, the father of all the Greek gods and goddesses. The participants were male citizens from Greece, and these athletes participated in only one event — foot race. Unfortunately, this ancient Olympics did not last forever. The first olympic in 776 BC in Olympia was an significant event

Every four years a different country hosts the Olympics. Every two years its either the Winter or Summer Olympics. It is two thousand sixteen and in August, everybody eyes are going to be glued to their televisions when Rio host the two thousand sixteen Summer Olympics in Brazil. Many cities around the world put bids in advance to hold the Olympics. The Olympics are a big deal and you have to have the resources to host it. You need to have facilities for the sports, transportation, Olympics villages for the athletes to stay, a stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies, and most of all money. Cities tend to lose money when hosting the Olympics. Sometimes the facilities they use get abandon and are never used again. They are many reasons for a city to host the Olympics, but there are three reasons to not. Reasons for not hosting it because it is expensive, there no guarantee of profits or increase tourism in the host city, and to many buildings being left abandoned

Ice hockey has in the last hundred years evolved to become international. Canada is in jeopardy of losing its six teams. Tradition run deep in all of the cities and also professional hockey teams create thousands of jobs and help out in the communities. Teams in the Canadian market are having trouble keeping their programs in the black because of higher taxes and a weaker Canadian dollar. In order for professional hockey teams in Canada not to relocate to United States, it is necessary for Ottawa to provide tax cuts for them.

This is estimated to generate an additional two and a half billion dollars in tourism exports (Arthur Anderson/CREA,1999, p 2). The Olympic games have also provided an important boost to employment. The Olympic Co-ordination Authority(OCA) estimates that more than 35,000 people have worked on Olympic Co-ordination Authority construction sites since the first project at Homebush Bay was started. It is estimated that since the Olympic Co-ordination Authority was formed in 1995, over twelve and a half million hours have been worked on Olympic related projects. There will also be multiplier effects. According to the Olympic Co-ordination Authority, every job created on a construction site created two more off site for suppliers, material producers and transport workers. (Olympic Co-ordination Authority,1999, p5.) The Olympics also boosted North South Wales’ employment by 5,300 in an average year of the 12 years representing the Olympic period. In addition 2,200 jobs were created outside North South Wales over the same period (Arthur Anderson/CREA, 1999, p3).