Daley fesses up about Olympic funding
The mayor’s cover was blown last week when Bob Ctvrtlik, chairman of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s evaluation commission, demanded during a site visit here that Daley “put some skin in the game.”
On the eve of a City Council vote that’s make-or-break for Chicago’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Games, Daley denied that the $500 million city guarantee breaks his promise to bankroll his Olympic dream with “not a dime” of local tax dollars.
“No we’re not [breaking the promise] because we’re not putting any actual money up. This is in case… everything breaks down completely…This would be like an earthquake. If an earthquake takes place and I doubt if it’s gonna take place,” the mayor said.
Racing to beat the USOC’s March 31 deadline, the City Council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the city’s share of a $1.47 billion financial guarantee.
The layered guarantee assumes that a Chicago Olympics would turn a $525 million profit and that—even if it loses money--that a $200 million private sector cushion provided by Olympic Village equity and the sale of skyboxes at a temporary stadium in Washington Park would be enough to shield Chicago taxpayers.
Chief Financial Officer Dana Levenson has said repeatedly that the chances of actually tapping Chicago tax dollars are “practically nonexistent.” If the USOC chooses Chicago over Los Angeles on April 14 and Chicago is the International Olympic Committee’s choice in 2009, City Hall will start building up cash reserves to cover any Olympic shortfall, Levenson said.
Despite overruns that nearly tripled the cost of $475 million Millennium Park and $400 million in overruns at O’Hare Airport, Daley said he is equally confident that Chicago taxpayers will not be left holding the bag.
“It’s a whole process going through the U.S. Olympic Committee. It’s a whole process going through the International Olympic Committee. By the time you get there, you know every cost and figure you want out. It’s completely different than any other project you’ve done,” the mayor said.
“The U.S. Olympic Committee requires an insurance policy. In other countries, the federal government steps up and says, `We’re the insurance policy.’ Here in the United States, they’ve never done that. And that’s been a real question by the International Olympic Committee. Why wouldn’t the United States stand behind the Olympic movement?”
Pressed on whether the U.S. government should step up to the plate, Daley said, “Well, you want them. But, I can’t try to persuade them…You would never submit a U.S. city for consideration because you’d be waiting for a century to get it done.”
Earlier this week, Ald. Freddrenna Lyle (6th) used a Finance Committee meeting on the $500 million guarantee as a forum to lambaste what she called the “elite, white man’s, rich millionaire’s kind of party club” that’s spearheading Chicago’s bid.
The remark was a direct slap at insurance magnate and longtime Daley friend Pat Ryan, who’s serving as chairman of the Olympic organizing committee known as Chicago 2016.
Today, Daley acknowledged that Chicago 2016 needs to broaden its umbrella.
“The committee is not really set up. This is a temporary committee just to get…some people with money involved. It has to reflect [Chicago’s population] racially, ethnically all over the city and that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
fspielman@suntimes.com