No Games Makes It Into History
This book examines the changing nature of opposition to bidding for and hosting the Olympic Games in contemporary American cities. It explores and critiques the process by which cities bid for the Olympics in the current context of the International Olympic Committee’s changing bid requirements and from the social justice perspectives of Olympics opponents. Using detailed case studies of the Olympic bids in Chicago, Boston, and Los Angeles, it shows how opposition to bidding for and hosting the Olympics has changed dramatically in American cities. Greg Andranovich is emeritus professor of political science at California State University, Los Angeles. Matthew J. Burbank is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah.
The chapter covering No Games Chicago is “Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid and Opposition” by Andranovich & Burbank. “Chicago’s bid for the 2016 summer Olympics began in 2006 and ended in 2009 when it was defeated in the first round of voting by the IOC. The city’s Olympic bid had the support of the mayor and downtown business leaders and appeared to provide an opportunity for redeveloping parts of the downtown core in a manner fitting with the city’s neoliberal development trajectory. Yet, the Olympic bid also generated opposition, most notably from a coalition of community activists calling itself No Games Chicago. The efforts of this opposition group helped to raise concerns about the Chicago bid in the international competition and establish a new model for effective opposition to Olympic driven development.”