Title: Gold Without the Games
Description: Contemporary scholarship on the Olympic Games has turned to consider the negative long-term effects associated with hosting the Games, but has not looked at unsuccessful Olympic bids. Since bidding for the Games is expensive and time-consuming, cities will only bid if it can be shown to provide positive outcomes. This paper responds to the question “Did the unsuccessful Olympic Bids of Toronto 2008, New York City 2012 and Chicago 2016 act as policy windows for public policy or development projects?” It finds that that Toronto’s and New York City’s bids did function as policy windows. To bolster the likelihood of future Olympic Games bids functioning as policy windows, the paper proposes three recommendations: 1. The United States Olympic Committee and the Canadian Olympic Association should mandate that all future bid organizations will be public-private partnerships. 2. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) should amend the Olympic Charter to require cities to include a detailed legacy plan with as a part of an Olympic Bid. 3.

The IOC should amend the Olympic Charter to require that comprehensive legacy plans are accompanied by the creation of a nonprofit legacy organization.