By Mira Livia Berkson
People living and working in Chicago in the late 2000s likely remember Mayor Richard M. Daley’s big push for bringing the 2016 Olympics to the city. President Barack Obama, Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan, and Oprah Winfrey came out to support the city’s bid, the 2016 Chicago Olympic committee raised $95 million, and pro-Olympic billboards appeared all over the city. Why did Chicago lose this bid despite these efforts, and how is this relevant some 14 years later?
The major player in Chicago’s loss (or in another perspective, Chicago’s gain) was No Games Chicago, a group founded by Bob Quellos and Ramsin Cannon in early 2008. Tom Tresser, a co-leader, spokesperson, and website editor for the organization, details No Games Chicago’s efforts in his new book “Nobody Sent Us” How We Derailed Chicago’s Bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics, for which he has launched a crowdfunding effort to self-publish. Tresser also is a civic educator for the CivicLab organization.
The first seven chapters are available online.
One anecdote detailed in the book cites No Games Chicago’s June 2009 action at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters in Switzerland. The group barged in on a press conference and drew the press outside of the headquarters to distribute its “Book of Evidence,” consisting of reprints from Chicago newspapers documenting how bad the Olympics would be for the city.
The reporters, suspecting the No Games Chicago representatives could be spies from other Olympic contender cities, asked the group who had sent them. “That’s where I had to give a democracy lesson to the members of the world press,” said Tresser, “saying ‘In America, nobody has to send you. We sent ourselves. We speak for the people of the City of Chicago. We don’t want this. We have other problems. We don’t want to spend $10 billion on this party.’” At this explanation, Tresser recalls, the press was “dumbfounded.”
The IOC met for its final day of decision in Copenhagen on October 2, 2009. For the 70 days preceding this meeting, No Games Chicago sent emails to IOC members to state their case and even appeared at the Copenhagen meeting to deliver documents and literature supporting their cause. At 11 a.m. Chicago time, thousands gathered in Daley Plaza to watch the results broadcast on a giant television screen alongside the Picasso sculpture, adorned with its own Olympic laurel and medal. To the Daley Administration’s surprise, the IOC eliminated Chicago in the first round of voting, with the city getting only 18 of the 90 or so possible votes.
The book gives the details of these developments. “Nobody Sent Us is the gripping story of the only organized group to fight the idiotic idea of a Chicago Olympic bid,” said Ed Bachrach, co-author of the book The New Chicago Way: Lessons from Other Big Cities and founder of the Center for Pension Integrity. “It is the essential record of this important episode in Chicago history. That effort also seeded more than one reform effort in the city. Essential history well told.”
Olympics are ‘city killer’
Many cities have suffered economic and infrastructural consequences from hosting the Olympics, Tresser explained. “We call it a ‘city killer,’” he added, citing games in other cities going billions of dollars over budget, causing water pollution, and bulldozing people’s homes to make way for sports venues.
Dick Simpson, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois Chicago, agreed the city’s not getting the 2016 Olympics is for the best, as potential negative consequences would have outweighed any positives.
“The Olympics have often lost a great deal of money, and it would have been hard for the city,” Simpson said. “There was also some prospect that some housing would be torn down to make space for some parts of the Olympics.”
He noted that No Games Chicago’s work “did help point out the problems of brining the Olympics here, particularly the likely economic consequences.”
Simpson also pointed out that Chicago recently winning the bid to obtain the Democratic national convention in 2024 will get the city the same international spotlight as the Olympics—but without the same risks.
Tresser added that when details of Chicago’s 2009 bid became public, documents revealed officials had planned to use public parks to supply all venues needed for the games.
Opposition to using public lands and funds for private entities, particularly sports-related ones, sat at the heart of No Games Chicago’s fight. Plans currently on the table in Chicago relate to this same issue, proving the continued, local relevance of No Games Chicago’s work.
Tresser highlighted as examples former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed $2 billion dome on top of Soldier field, NASCAR’s planned summer races in downtown Chicago, and the deal with the Chicago Fire to build a soccer practice facility on Chicago Housing Authority land. He also noted the Chicago Bears’ move to Arlington Heights and the team’s request for the people of Arlington Heights to help underwrite costs associated with the new stadium and campus.
Simpson said he believes that No Games Chicago’s main impact was in organizing neighborhood groups in the city.
No Games Chicago is expanding on that by helping other organizations fight against Olympic games, as the battle continues in many cities across the globe. Tresser recounts speaking with organizers in Xochitl, Russia, and in Boston, and his group is talking with activists in Los Angeles, the city selected to host the games in 2028.
“Since we did what we did back in 2009, about 18 cities around the world have said ‘no’ to the Olympics,” Tresser said. “What I mean by that is, some official body within the city was trying to get the bid, but then the people said ‘no.’ So they short-circuited 18 bids, and we’ll take a little credit for that.”
Tresser wants to raise $5,000 to publish the book, and is available to speak to community groups and meetings about No Games Chicago’s successful efforts to stop the Olympics from coming to Chicago.
For details on how to support the book’s printing and distribution, visit www.nogameschicagobook.com. For more about No Games Chicago, including information on other coalitions fighting against Olympic games, visit www.nogameschicago.com. Email Tom Tresser directly at [email protected] or call him at (312) 804-3230. To reach Bachrach, log on to www.pesnionintegrity.org. For Simpson, call (773) 354-7617.