It’s been over eight years since I launched GamesBids.com*, a Website designed to take an unbiased and informative look at the Olympic bid process. That was shortly before the Salt Lake City vote-buying scandal and years before the Internet popularized YouTube, podcasting and even blogging.
In that time the Olympic bid landscape has changed almost as much as cyberspace – and the dry, matter-of-factual reporting on GamesBids.com has become a little outdated. It’s still a very necessary and invaluable service for those in the industry and we’re not going to change it – but as you’ve already discovered – I’ve launched our first-ever blog.
When we launched in 1998, I began to moderate a small off-site discussion forum geared to those interested in discussing Olympic bids and other geographical issues. Along with GamesBids.com, the forum grew like wildfire and it was soon incorporated into the main Website to become The Forums of GamesBids.com with thousands of members and hundreds of thousands of posts. A core group of forumers have debated bid-related issues over the years while I, in my moderator role, stood aside and held my tongue. You can’t imagine how frustrating it has been.
Meanwhile, when called upon, I give candid commentary about the current Olympic bid situation to external media outlets – and I enjoy it.
I’ll post Weekly-ish and cover topics you may not find on GB. Feel free to respond and debate the issues with me, I hope this becomes a truly interactive experience for us all.
o now it’s time for me to open my mind and let my fingers fly; not on GamesBids.com, not in the forums, but here – the GamesBids.com BidBlog.
* then known as TorontoSummerGames.com with a focus primarily on Toronto’s 2008 bid
