Could the Olympics see Chicago through the recession?

Mayor Daley and Chicago 2016 say the 2016 Olympics are just the stimulus Chicago needs to ride out the current economic recession, according to a story in today's New York Times:

"To hear Ms. [Lori] Healey and other bid leaders tell it, there is no downside. If the International Olympics Committee were to choose Chicago over Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo on Oct. 2, advocates predict the Games would not only break even but would also make money (as have, they say, earlier Olympics in the United States), generate more than $22 billion in indirect economic impact on the city and create $1 billion in new tax revenue. Many of the sites needed for the events would not require construction because they already exist."

I've met Chicagoans who agree with Healey's statement, and others who hear Chicago 2016 officials speak and instinctively clutch their pocketbooks tighter.

George Tolley, prof. emeritus of economics at the University of Chicago, is one South Sider who is still hesitant to say that Chicago will not have to draw from tax dollars to finance the bid.

"I don’t know what [Daley] really has in mind...he might be able to line up enough commitments from the private sector, if they're willing to commit themselves in a legally binding way," he said. But Daley "still has quite a bit of time to figure it out."

Butler Adams, a resident of Woodlawn, just southeast of the proposed Olympic Stadium and Aquatic Center sites, has been optimistic of the bid from early on—and his support remains strong, despite the weakened economy.

"You’ve got to spend money to make money. Its like an investment. If you put enough heart and spirit into that stock, there’s a greater chance you’ll be a beneficiary," he said.

Adams would like to see the city prove naysayers—and the groundswell of opposition that has formed in response to Mayor Daley's promise that Chicago will cover all potential losses for the International Olympic Committee—wrong.

"Chicago held the 1933 World’s Fair during the Great Depression, and it was so successful it was held over to another year. That could happen again."


UPDATE: Chicago isn't the only city rethinking its Olympic dreams in the face of an economic downturn; according to BBC News, London may move some 2012 Olympics venues to stay within its approximately $10 billion budget