As I look at the emotional wreckage that is Chicago's stunning loss of the 2016 Olympics, and with Madrid and Rio remaining in the IOC vote competition, the remains reveal that Chicago politics and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley Jr.'s remarks which led to a skirmish with Rio, may have been the factors behind Chicago's first round ballot loss.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Mayor Daley has at first not promised the blanket financial guarantee the IOC wanted, then did a reverse and made such a promise, and the got Chicago alderman to vote for it 46 to 0.
But knowing this game bids issue as I personally do, I really don't think that was the problem. My gut tells me it was the story of Mayor Daley's comments regarding Rio's bid that were taken as an insult by Brazil. According to GameBids.com, the IOC has a rule against rival bidders making derogatory comments about Olympic bids. GameBid reports:
Daley was reported to have said last week that hosting the World Cup, as Brazil will do in 2014, was not the same as hosting the Olympics.
That comment, not officially recorded and appear to be from a single source from my web search, caused Rio to file a complaint with the IOC Ethics Commission.
That happened just last week and I think poisoned the water before the IOC vote. Now the question is did Mayor Daley really say that, or was it a stunt to pull off an upset vote and swing the decision to South America.
I'm thinking it was the latter.
Stay Tuned.
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