Philly Olympic 2016 bid!

Stan Hoffman mentioned on Daily News Live yesterday that if they were to build an Olympic stadium that it could potentially be used as a professional soccer stadium. But that would kind of not make much sense if the Glassboro stadium gets built.

 

I wouldn't think so. When talking about Olympic Stadiums you're usually talking about the big track and field venue. Traditionally, Opening and Closing Ceremonies also occur in the Olympic Stadium. I'd think that would hold, at a minimum of 50k. Now that venue can be downsized after the games have completed, but it wouldn't seem to be Rowan.

 

I'd imagine soccer to be played all up and down the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast USA venues. Rowan among them.

But there's no 'World Class' Track and field venue in the area. I wouldn't think that Franklin Field, for all it's glorious history, is viable.

 

There has been much talk of the OhhLympiques coming to Philly for a while now and I think that would be kickass, though 10 years away seems like an eternity. I don't like the idea of building 2 stadiums at the Navy Yard. A better option would be the Build a Track and Field Stadium at the sports complex that seats 30-35 K, with temporary seating that could add another 20 K, that can be removed after the Olympiques while holding Opening and closing events at teh Linc, which by the way is probably not totally suited for Olympique soccer, but I guess teh width wouldn't matter as much in the Olympiques as say the WC. Does Penn currently have the Swimming Facilites? dcajedi? Overall, it would be great for the city and we have just a good of a shot than Chicago IMO. LA? Give me a break, twice already call us back when 2116.

Edit: the Arthur Ashe Center that is under construction right now ( a few blocks from my house) is awesome, but not Awesome enough for the Olympiques. There will not be a stadium large enough for crowds, and the Parking, well. Let's just say that it's laughable. Although it is a short walk from the R6 Wissahickon Stop...

 

Looper, I'm pretty sure that there would be only one stadium built at the Navy Yard but it would be used for bothe T&F along with the cerimonies. Traditionally I believe that the soccer games are held there as well but seeing as how they would want the Linc to be used for an event such as the olympics they need to put something there.

I'm guessing one of the things Philly might have going for it in this bid is the lack of having to build completely new stadiums in order to accomodate the games. Assuming that those venues marked with a * are venues that need to be built you are only looking at about 4 venues that need to be built. Of course I'm trying to figure out if they are going to make the swimmers swim in the Schuylkill for the trialthalon. Probably not one of the places I'd want to be swimming in.

 

track and field is the marquee event internationally at any olympics...

having a stadium which seated 70,000 minimally would be needed....

it's use AFTER any olympic games is problematic...

still, glassboro could be a philly venue...say do womens matches....don't forget soccer matches get farmed out to other locations too....

personally, chicago and san francisco are the real competition....

 

Bob Ford wrote a pretty pessimistic article concerning the olympics today...
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14540567.htm

 

I hope you are right. The DN has 2 bubbly things there denoting stadia...

 

adam's right that 70k is the minimum for a track stadium and with a US games you might need 80k...

as for swimming i don't know specifically what new athletic facilities are going in the postal lands but the current sheerr pool is way too small, obviously. if they build a new pool knowing the olympics were coming they could put the capacity in.

(and if they did it could become a place for the u.s. national championships and the duel in the pool against australia and such things. which would be really awesome.)

 

the Daily Fishwrap and Birdcage Liner just makes me want to laugh.
Is rugby even an Olympic sport? I don't think it is, yet they have a venue all picked out for it; nothing less than Franklin Field. (someone correct me please if rugby is an olympic sport.) Then they have the Palestra selected for wrestling. Hello, how about using that for...basketball? Last I checked, that was still an Olympic sport.
Then they have the brilliant idea to put the Olympic Village by 30th Street station. Bad idea; put it in the Navy Yard, right near the main olympic venues, and then turn them into market rate housing after the games. Move the Olympic stadium to FDR park and make it an sss after the games, which is a drum I have been banging for over a year now.

 

There was another picture I found on philly.com (which now I can't find) that was the same as the above picture but had an explanation of several things in the lower right corner. First was that they were assuming that baseball, softball, and I think something else were being eliminated while rugby and golf would be added by the 2016 Olympics.

The Palestra would never be used for olympic basketball because it only seats 8,722. The IOC would expect (and hope) for more fans than that to show up for the basketball games. However I would think that would be more than big enough for wrestling.

I agree that the olympic village seems to be a bit far from what most people would consider the "main event" areas. But it seems that it is pretty central to most of the sports locations, so that makes it a bit more convinient than the downtown location for the athletes. And I'm going to have to think that the city is going to leave FDR park alone because it is the only piece of open land that they have designated in the entire downtown area. While it might not be the best park it is at least a little open space that the people of the city have to go to. To pave it over for abother monstorous sports venue (which is what this is going to be going by historical size standards) is something that really shouldn't be done.


Here is a look at the capacities for stadiums built specifically for the olympics along with their capacity for use after the games (if applicable).

1980 - Moscow - 103,000 - 81,029 (soccer)
1988 - Seoul - 100,000 - 69,000
1996 - Atlanta - 85,000 - 45,000 (baseball stadium)
2000 - Sydney - 110,000 - 83,500 or 73,000 (depending on configuration)
2008 - Beijing - 100,000 - 80,000
2012 - London - 80,000 - 25,000

 

FDR Park is not downtown, and most people avoid it because its like a dirt field more than anything else. And it would be no great loss to the golf community if they got rid of the course as well (except fot the kids clinics that place is a dump).

 

Could the stadium be a replacement for Franklin Field? I mean Franklin Field is going to have to be replaced some day, and why not replace it with the olympic stadium? The stadium could be located in South Philly or maybe by Penn somewhere (I doubt that there is any real estate available for such an endeavor), and it could be used as a college stadium perhaps. Temple and Penn could play football games there, while the Penn Relays could be held there every year. Just a thought.

 

Even the "extra" matches at LA and Atlanta drew really well. Any stadium in either Harrison would be out of the running. This would strictly be a Linc, RFK, Giants Stadium type dealie. You may see the odd women's match at a small stadium, but that's about it.

Sachin

 

okay i know no one gives a damn about penn football but at least a few people on campus do. if the stadium was in south philly they'd draw even worse than temple. seriously. and i bet if temple played football on campus more people would care because the undergraduate population would be able to get there more easily. not saying they'd be better, just that more people might go. people go to penn football games because they can get up at 11am hungover for a noon game, roll down spruce street or locust walk and get there in time for kickoff.

and as for all the housing near 30th street station... my guess on that is that it has to do with all the drexel and penn dorms. in '02 a lot of athletes stayed in university of utah dorms and those kinds of rooms -- especially the air-conditioned high rise rooms at penn -- are probably just the sort of thing the IOC would want in the athletes' village.

 

I meant downtown as in the southern part of the city (sorry for the confusion). Anyway, I would have to hope that the city has something better to spend their money on than another sports stadium. We have already seen them spend about 1 billion on 2 stadiums I really don't think we need to see another billion spent on a sporting event (though they probaby heard what Rowan wants to do and figured they had to upstage a place like Glassboro. I mean if they spend a billion on a project Philly would have to spend at least that on something )

 

2 things:
one: I always thought this city went wrong when they decided to demolish old stadiums. from Shibe park to JFK and even the vet, I always hated it when an old stadium fell. I always felt that a part of the city's history dies when they tear down a building, which is why I dont think that knocking down Franlkin field is a good idea. even if we got the olympics I dont think that they would do this but the fact someone considered it makes me worry. I think I am going to cry the day someone calls to bring down the palestra.

two: I think the wachovia center is gonna need a bit more than 20 years on it before the sixers or flyers decide to move to a new building. the old spectrum had 30 when the teams moved accross the lot.