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Originally Posted by Alf
Dola, I'll be happy with any choice but New York (so that we can see the Games live here in Europe)
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They're giving the report of the sites they visited. Lots of pagentry and babble right now, all the cities have ended their presentations.
From what the NY Times said, NYC's bid presentation was well received, while Madrid's wasn't. London spent a lot of time focusing on youth and what their bid would do for them - and youth sport there - while the French essentially apologized for being snooty and not speaking English in past years.
Which is bizarre.
Madrid has the best public approval ratings of any of the cities and is the most "cost-effective" of all the bids. As the only major European capital never to host, it might be interesting to see people get behind them.
But I'd be surprised if London or Paris didn't get it.
But New York could emerge as a dark horse. Dan Doctoroff the guy who has basically handled most of the heavy lifting on the US bid, seems hellbent on winning and despite all the talk of "avoiding corruption" I have a hell of a time believing that all the money that New York is swimming in hasn't been used to pad someone's pockets or "change hearts and minds."
That said, seems like New York - as crowded as it is - is a turnoff for most people interesting. I think all the buildup would be a waste if NYC lost the bid.
President Rogge just told the visitors that they could come back at 1900 local for the announcement of the city. They're at a break now and that's in about an hour and a half local time (it's almost 530pm now)
Most are saying there hasn't been this sort of deadlock over who was going to win in years, so it's a real tossup at this point - which plays into New York's favour. I think Madrid will have to wait until 2024 or something, I think it's just too soon for them.
So...we'll see. After this break, they're going to start voting. I'll post when I find out..