By Elliott Almond, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Oct. 27--The Bay Area took a major step toward winning the 2012 Summer Olympics on Friday when San Francisco -- with a proposal that includes sporting venues from Sacramento to Napa to Monterey -- became one of four finalists for the U.S. candidacy.
Houston, New York and Washington also advanced as the U.S. Olympic Committee halved the field to four. The USOC expects to name its candidate in November 2002. The International Olympic Committee plans to select the host city from a field of about 10 three years later.
Cincinnati, Dallas, Los Angeles and Tampa, Fla., were eliminated after mounting campaigns that began as early as 1996. San Francisco seemed like a long shot because of early financial troubles but rebounded to devise a formidable bid.
The USOC executive committee took recommendations from a site evaluation task force in making the cuts Friday in Salt Lake City. Evaluators rated New York -- the sentimental favorite after the Sept. 11 attacks -- San Francisco and Washington the highest, sources said this week.
'I am absolutely convinced that what set us apart is our technology piece and our environmental piece,' said John Marks of the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau at a news conference.
Technology became one of the bid's centerpieces when lead USOC evaluator Charlie Moore told the group during an August visit, 'You have raised the bar in offering the first interactive Games. You should be proud of that kind of innovation.'
Moore was referring to a proposed interactive handheld device for athletes and spectators, though no one can predict what kind of gadget will be available in 2012.
Houston is the only finalist to have met the next, and perhaps most important, requirement: government financial guarantees. The other cities have until Nov. 30 to submit a document showing their state and city governments understand that the IOC will not underwrite the Games if there is a financial loss. The cities unable to meet the deadline will be eliminated.
Robert Weikert, a San Francisco lawyer, said the Bay Area Sports Organizing Committee plans to obtain a $250 million insurance package to meet the requirement.
'We are going completely the private route,' he said. 'There is no component from the public. No taxpayer liability.'
Bid committee officials said they anticipate no trouble meeting the deadline.
The Bay Area bid has seen little local opposition, but that could change, said Richard Marquez of the Mission Anti-Displacement Coalition in San Francisco. He said he doubts the committee's assertion about the use of public money. 'No way will the city get away without investing one cent,' he said Friday. 'It will come at the expense of balancing the budget on the backs of middle-class and working-income San Franciscans.'
San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly said he hasn't decided if he will support the bid but said it has many unanswered questions. He is considering drafting a resolution asking the Bay Area to defer to New York because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Before the attacks, New York faced an uphill struggle to make the cut because of political infighting between New Jersey officials and the fact that few of the New York mayoral candidates strongly supported the bid.
But shortly after Sept. 11, Rome's mayor said other bid cities should step aside to let New York use the Olympics as a vehicle to celebrate its rebirth. The Big Apple has become the sentimental favorite. Its bid received a boost this week when New York lawmakers approved a $250 million guarantee if the games lose money.
'It's a very significant step toward the city winning that designation,' Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told reporters.
Houston was a surprise finalist. 'We're the best-kept secret in the country,' bid leader Susan Bandy said. 'Not that there is a bad image, but there is not enough of an image.'
San Francisco is one of the world's most popular tourist attractions. But it had to overcome serious deficiencies to advance.
'They said we have too much traffic,' said Kim Carlisle, an Olympic swimmer from 1980. 'We have too much political infighting.'
San Francisco lost out in trying to bid for the 1996 Games, which were held in Atlanta. But this time leaders were better organized.
The Bay Area organizing committee is a group of local sports, business and political leaders. It has a few major donors, including Knight Ridder, the parent company of the Mercury News and 31 other newspapers.
Officials said they need to raise $1 million in the next year to fund the campaign. They said they have raised $1.8 million so far.
Although many of the potential venues are in place, Bay Area bidders still must address the reality of building a facility to replace Stanford Stadium. The bid proposal calls for a $300 million stadium to be used for opening and closing ceremonies, and track and field competition.
Anne Cribbs, organizing committee president, said evaluators were satisfied with the stadium proposal. In the next year the committee must develop a detailed plan for the Paralympics and show the USOC how a proposed Athletes' Village at Moffett Field will benefit competitors, Cribbs said.
And although Bay Area officials say they believe having four Olympic hubs -- Berkeley-Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento -- works best, the plan might eventually be scrapped.
'Of course there is some concern that our venue plan is too spread out,' bid director Bob Stiles said.
But he defended it as the best way to alleviate traffic concerns and handle security. Even before the attacks, the committee decided it would be easier to protect against a terrorist threat by having venues throughout the region instead of clustered in a dense area, as Sydney had last year.
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(c) 2001, San Jose Mercury News, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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