After much anticipation, Chicago will find out Friday if the International Olympic Committee selects the city as the host of the 2016 Olympic Games over Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo and Madrid.
Members of the IOC will begin voting in Copenhagen at 10 a.m. here, and the official announcement ceremony is planned for 11:30 a.m. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle will be among the speakers for the Chicago 2016 presentation.
“It’s going to create an understanding that there’s a bigger world out there than just Evanston or the United States,” Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl said. “I think it’s going to be a tremendous thing for young people in Evanston.”
If Chicago wins the bid, Evanston and Northwestern will play a significant role in hosting the Games. NU has already reached an agreement with the Olympic bid committee to host the modern pentathlon, which consists of shooting, swimming, running, fencing and equestrian show jumping.
The events would be hosted over two days in and around Ryan Field, said University Spokesman Al Cubbage. Other NU facilities, such as the soccer fields, may also be used as training grounds for Olympic athletes.
“If we were to actually host an event, we’d be on TV in front of billions of viewers worldwide, and that alone is great exposure,” Cubbage said.
Aside from NU, the city of Evanston would also see an overflow of traffic from the Olympics. The Hotel Orrington, 1710 Orrington Ave., contracted out rooms with the city of Chicago almost two years ago in anticipation of the Olympic bid, said Randy Pluta, director of sales and marketing at the hotel.
Although the Olympics would bring more revenue to the Hotel Orrington and other Evanston businesses, Pluta is worried about bearing the costs.
However, Jonathan Perman, executive director of the Evanston Chamber of Commerce, said it’s unlikely Evanston would have to raise its sales tax or pay for the games in any other way.
“The primary cost would be security, but my understanding is that it will be reimbursed by the federal government,” Perman said. “The additional cost to Evanston would be quite insignificant.”
Cubbage also said NU would be completely reimbursed for any costs.
Since NU already has a stadium, the city would not have to build new sporting facilities, Tisdahl said. Her main concern is the congestion around Ryan Field on the two days of the pentathlon.
“That neighborhood has problems during the football games and all the graduations that occur at Northwestern, and we’re going to do absolutely everything we can to make it as easy as possible on the neighborhood,” Tisdahl said.
The pentathlon is estimated to draw the same number of people who attend a major NU football game, Perman said.
“Chicago’s proven that it can handle major sporting events,” Perman said, citing the 1994 World Cup, when some matches were held in Chicago. “And Evanston can certainly handle having two more home football games.”
Evanston’s director of transportation and engineering, Paul Schneider, said he doesn’t expect a major renovation of Chicago’s public transportation system aside from upgrades to the Purple Line and to the train stations.
“That kind of infrastructure work we’d like to see happen anyway, and with the Olympics, that might actually give us a deadline to work with,” Schneider said.
Although Cubbage said he doesn’t think having the Olympics in Chicago would boost student applications to NU, the games would still bring positive publicity to the University.
“We’re waiting anxiously and eagerly for the announcement, and if it turns out that Chicago is selected, we very much look forward to working with the Olympic planning group to have Northwestern be a part of it,” Cubbage said.
