Most Chicago 2016 employees to join the jobless starting Oct. 15

chicagotribune.com - 7 weeks ago - 125 views

Nice piece breaking down the fingerpointing, Monday-morning quarterbacking, and less than rosy future for the Chicago 2016 organization.

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by BradFlora 7 weeks 23 hours ago

The end of the story caught my eye:

Chicago's bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics was privately funded, with the team raising more than $72 million in cash donations. The team pledged to give at least $13 million to fund World Sport Chicago, an organization started along with the city's bid to promote amateur and youth sport.

World Sport Chicago, formed in 2007, has received $12 million so far, said Scott Myers, executive director of the organization. He said additional money will come to the group once Chicago 2016 closes out its financial books.

World Sport Chicago works out of the Aon Center, where the bid committee was headquartered, and will look for new offices for its staff of four full-time employees and three interns.

"We had hoped to continue on with Chicago 2016 with the Olympics," Myers said. "Now, we are planning to be a stand-alone entity."

Myers said the goal is to have 10,000 children a year involved in a sports program.

Say what you want about the Chicago 2016 people, it appears they're coming through on the money they pledged to World Sport Chicago.

by Cshess87 7 weeks 21 hours ago

$72 million is an impressive sum to have raised, especially during a recession. If Mayor Daley put just a fraction of the effort he put into getting businesses in line over the Olympics every year in order to help develop our city things there might be some concrete improvement very quickly. Then again, there probably wouldn't be the opportunity for wealth on the side that the Olympics provided.