Unit 1: The nature and Importance of Economics

Ch. 1: Scarcity and Decision Making

Toronto will not bid for 2024 Summer Olympics

Mayor John Tory decided at the last minute not to enter Toronto’s name into the race to host the Summer Games.

Steve Russell / Toronto Star

Mounties lower the Olympic Flag during the closing ceremonies of the 2015 Pan Am Games at Rogers Centre in Toronto in July.

By: Betsy Powell City Hall Bureau, Jennifer Pagliaro City Hall reporter, Published on Mon Sep 14 2015

Toronto will not be hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics with Mayor John Tory deciding not to enter the city into the competitive bid process, the Star has learned.

The mayor’s office would not confirm Tory’s position ahead of the deadline to submit a formal letter to the International Olympic Committee by 6 p.m. Tuesday. But two sources with knowledge of the decision say after weeks of deliberation the talks of a bid are now over.

Tory is scheduled to make the announcement standing in front of city hall Tuesday morning.

The decision was made after Tory received a lack of corporate enthusiasm and without firm support from the province. Key potential sponsors have also been lukewarm to backing a Toronto bid to host the mega event.

And timing is also working against the mayor. The IOC’s application deadline came just two months after Toronto successfully hosted the Pan Am Games and revived talk of a bid. The federal election campaign also created uncertainty.

Tory has spent the last few weeks consulting and gathering information on the pros and cons of mounting a bid, which he has said should be “largely financed by the private sector.”

Just the bid alone could have cost Toronto up to $60 million.

Premier Kathleen Wynne remained uncommitted Monday on the critical issue of who will pay.

“Ontario is not going to put itself forward and be on the hook for all of the costs,” she said.

“We need to understand where the other levels of government will be. He (Tory) needs to know where we and the feds would be; we need to know where the feds and the municipality would be.”

Wynne added “we also need to know where the private sector would be on this and how much enthusiasm there would be in the private sector” to subsidize the bid.

The biggest booster of a Toronto Olympic bid has been the Canadian Olympic Committee and its president Marcel Aubut.

“We have always been crystal clear in our intention to lead, advocate and prepare for a possible 2024 Toronto Olympic bid,” a COC spokesman wrote in an email. Representatives of the national sports federations voted unanimously last week to back Toronto.

The “vote recognizes the tremendous opportunity a bid would represent for a world-class city like Toronto and for the future of sport in Canada.”

Last week, Hamburg and Rome formally submitted bids. Budapest, Paris and Los Angeles have also entered the race.

Summary

In an article published by the Toronto Star on September 14th, we learn that Toronto Mayor John Tory has chosen not to submit a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. John Tory made this decision after receiving a lack of enthusiasm from the public, as well as the absence of a firm backing of support from the provincial government. The deadline for the International Olympic Committee’s application was also working against Tory as the due date for the submission was September 15th at 6 PM, which is two months after Toronto hosted the 2015 Pan-Am games. Tory has spent the past few weeks debating and weighing both the pros and cons of hosting an Olympic games, as well as consulting with other people of higher power such as the Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne. The ultimate decision came after an uncertainty as to who would provide the finances required to host such a large event. The bid alone could have cost Toronto up to $60 million, and both Tory, and Wynne was unsure as to whether the public was supportive of such a large capital investment. Hamburg, Rome, Budapest, Paris and Los Angeles have all entered the race for the chance to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

John Tory stands in front of city hall where he announced on Tuesday, September 15th, 2015, that he will not submit a formal application to the IOC to host the 2024 Olympics.

Economic Concept

The article discusses the various concepts covered in class. The topics of opportunity cost and decision making has been covered. Opportunity cost is the loss of choosing one thing over another, which directly relates to decision making, which is the process of making choices on various topics and issues. In this article, John Tory is using his decision making skills to determine whether to submit a bid for the 2024 Olympic Games. He must weigh the opportunity cost of choosing to submit a bid, and not submitting a bid. He must list the advantages, and make an ultimate decision. Psychological Wants are wants or things that are not essential to life. Hosting the Olympic Games is not essential to life, which is an aspect John Tory must take into account when weighing the opportunity cost. Scarcity is the concept that there are limited resources available to satisfy our unlimited wants. This is where effective decision making comes in to be able to allocate the resources efficiently. Hosting an Olympic Games is expensive, and will require a lot of resources. Submitting a bid can cost $60 million for Toronto, and this will mean there are scarcer resources available for other projects.