Why Montreal Bankrupted Itself On The Olympics

[@MrRigmunkee1]

There is a story that the IOC contacted the city of Munich to see if they could host the games again in case Montreal wasn't ready. But after what happened in Munich in 1972, they said no. According to what I have heard, Montreal was told that if the games didn't go off as planned, Canada would never get the games again. Way to go Montreal!

[@JazzJackrabbit]

Never get the Olympics again? Don't threaten the taxpayers with a good time!

[@WDI2008]

Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics and Vancouver hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics. Toronto would go on to host the 2015 Pan American Games. Canada is also co hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

[@richardross7219]

The 1976 Winter Olympics had problems too. I was a new 2LT. I took a trip home and bought my grandfather his first color TV so that we could watch the biathlon. He had been a ski trooper in the Swedish Army in WWI. The athletes skied up to the range got off of their skis, took their rifles off of their backs and then shot. My grandfather was very upset. He said "what is this BS of stopping and getting off their skis. We always shot on the fly." He was an excellent shot and was punished for it by having to guard the King.

[@jaishree701]

So you were a hot hippy guy

[@behcherry9815]

Tomas Sowel has so many great quotes. He should be president or presidential advisor

[@talia8581]

I remember it very well. The corruption was off the charts and the end product was shitty af.

[@shauncameron8390]

And Canada became the 1st country to host an Olympics and not win a Gold medal in any event.

[@baddestxoxo2love767]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@sid2112]

Canada 1976: We can make the Olympics the worst ever! Atlanta 1996: Hold my beer.

[@shauncameron8390]

Well, Canada did make history being the 1st Olympic host-country not to win Gold in any event.

[@WDI2008]

Atlanta 1996 did make a profit and the 1996 Summer Olympics helped put Atlanta on the World Map.

[@sid2112]

@@WDI2008 Atlanta was already on the map with the airport, we really didn't need more attention. The results have been horrible.

[@godwindracing6056]

Paris enters chat

[@sid2112]

@@godwindracing6056 Ain't that the God's honest truth!

[@christaverduren690]

A great idea, with the best of intentions...what could POSSIBLY go wrong?!?!

[@chthulu27]

There's a saying about good intentions. Something about paving a road as I seem to recall.....

[@shauncameron8390]

@@chthulu27 It leads to Hell.

[@chthulu27]

@shauncameron8390 , yes, yes it does.

[@bertblue9683]

Who could have guessed the government caused such a waste of money.

[@pierrep.cardin]

In 1970, the Montréal Expos had to play 12 doubleheaders in the last month of the season to compensate postponed games due to weather. They lost quite a few of them due to an exhausting schedule. Mayor Jean Drapeau of Montréal then advised to get a covered stadium to face the hardships of playing baseball in April and September in Montréal. From his past expérience of racking up fédéral funds with the International Exposition of 1967, the fédéral government quite obliged to send money for the Olympic (to be covered and completed in 1986) stadium. Calgary and Vancouver got their fair shares eventually in 1988, 2010. By the way, as of 1972, the budget for organising (infrastructures included) was 310M C$, not 180M like you are saying in the vidéo. The final expenses according to the Malouf commission were estimated to 1B$ : 3X the price, not 12X. The unionized hijack of public money is all true. À shameful remeberance of should have been a happy célébration of youth and sports.

[@Hether6971]

thanks for great video

[@Theggman83]

Its a great place to swim though.. I live in North Vermont and traveld to Montreal a number of times. The Olympic park is always one of my favorite places. ... That was before the dark times, before the Trudeau empire..

[@BS-vx8dg]

"... That was before the dark times, before the Trudeau empire." I'm confused. Pierre Trudeau *WAS* the Prime Minister who brought the Olympics to Montreal".

[@Theggman83]

@@BS-vx8dg I'm not talking about Pierre, I'm talking about Justin.

[@BS-vx8dg]

@@Theggman83 Well, it might have been good to specify, given that a) Daddy Trudeau was in office quite a bit longer than Baby Trudeau, and b) Daddy Trudeau was in office during every stage of the planning and execution of the subject of the video, the Montreal Olympics

[@Theggman83]

@@BS-vx8dg i don't think I need to specify.. you're the only one confused by it... Im guessing you're unaware of how tyrannical Justin is... How even a court ruled against his abuse of power during the trucker protests.. This is current events related.

[@BS-vx8dg]

@@Theggman83 I'm aware of Justin's abuse of power; on that we can agree, and I am grateful for the recent ruling against him. However, unlike you, I cannot claim to be omniscient. Your claim that I am "the only one" confused by your wording presumes that you can actually know this. But you are missing a) the people who read this and thought Daddy Trudeau because they know this video was about the 1970s and accepted that without commenting, and b) the people who wondered which one you meant but didn't feel it was important enough to comment on. Adam, we commit no sin in being unclear in our comments; all of us have done it. As a teacher for almost 40 years I have learned how often one can presume we are perfectly clear when in fact, we made an unwarranted assumption in our statements. I think it's almost certain that the vast majority of people reading your comment assumed you meant Baby Trudeau, simply because Daddy Trudeau left office in the early 1980s and he died over 20 years ago. But he *was* PM during the entire 1970s, he *was* involved with the 1976 Olympics, and so it's quite likely that I'm not the "only one" who at least paused for a moment at your wording. Regardless, what is the harm is trying to be as clear as possible in the face of ambiguity?

[@ericneilson1198]

the standout was Nadia Comăneci perfect 10 performance. I remember that was my sophomore year HS.

[@ellismarquez8410]

It was clear by 2008 that the IOC couldn't care less about basic human rights.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

That opening ceremony was straight out of dystopian horror novel.

[@joesakic91]

Montreal Expos: Thanks a lot, Olympic Stadium. Because of your building, we had to move despite some great times there.

[@bertilliozephyrsgate6196]

Worst Olympics ever? Seriously? I would give that title to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Or the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, where EVERYONE knew a major war would follow right after the closing ceremonies. And had Russia participating - I'm sorry, the "Russian Olympic Committee" because the Olympic Committee was too wussy to throw the cheaters out like they deserved. The Montreal Olympics were a mess but at least they weren't an apologia for Fascism.

[@incurableromantic4006]

Politicians + unions = match made in hell.

[@micheldesmarais7967]

Montrealer here that remembers the games. It cost a lot of money but it was a fantastic experience. People bitching are the ones who couldn’t get the Summer Olympics. Cry more.

[@jongreen9171]

Didn't know that but it was before I was born

[@zach185]

they gonna pay 870 million for repair of the roof

[@johnnyanderson3287]

Bob Costas sent me here

[@adam872]

Sounds like a train wreck, but it did have some pretty great performances: Nadia Comăneci's and Alberto Juantorena's 400m/800m gold medals, to name only a couple.

[@JazzJackrabbit]

The 1936 Olympics was pretty bad too

[@sid2112]

Yeah that one had a questionable guestlist.

[@sammvoyager]

Yes specific fraudulent activities like putting the German rowing boat's path on the 'inside' lane that protected em from the strong head wind. The yt documentary conveys this. May also be in the book & flik

[@bertilliozephyrsgate6196]

Indeed. As expensive as the Montreal Olympics were, at least they weren't a display rally for Fascism. How could you miss Berlin 1936, Why Minutes? Hmmm....

[@sid2112]

@@bertilliozephyrsgate6196 Worst post WWII, how's that? Still inaccurate. Atlanta had them beat in spades.

[@mikitz]

You could also spend 50 billion USD on your Olympics and decide to invade Ukraine a few months later, ruining any and all soft power the Olympics gave you.

[@srh992000]

This sounds oddly like the Vietnam War.

[@sharptoothtrex4486]

Perhaps if the 1976 Summer Olympics took place some other cities besides Montreal might get Canada away from a bad costly mistake. Looks like Canada's biggest nightmare over such an outrage paying off from 1976 to 2006 is a big problem to all Canadian's. Let Los Angeles deal the 1976 Olympics than 1984 as an alternative.

[@DannyBBom]

Pierre Trudeau was the Prime Minister of Canada in 1976. Pierre is the father of Justin Trudeau. I guess Canada in 1976 was also a crap show.

[@dipsy64]

Hold on for Paris 2024..!

[@BillMooney-r5c]

Ultimately, it was because it was IN Canada.

[@mariob4735]

Obviously, unions can be corrupt, but hopefully no one will conclude after this video that unions are bad

[@talia8581]

😂🤡

[@randomchannel-px6ho]

Woof

[@ctreid87]

Beard Wednesday!

[@legbert123]

You have big booger in your nose!

[@talia8581]

🤡

[@TheIllMip]

Ohhh noo, the government overspent 😢 maybe they were underpaying from the beginning??? $120M is an absolute joke of a budget for a literal world event. The 1972 Olympics cost $1B & the 1980 Olympics cost $1.3B. Why should we boo hoo over workers fighting for more money? Sounds like they needed the Union involvement to get their fair pay. Sorry, Nick I love your content but this one misses the mark.

[@danieldonaldson8634]

Exactly right: what a generation that didn’t experience 14 years of continuous high inflation don’t get, is that prices don’t “come down” after a period of inflation. The rate of inflation comes down, but prices stay at what they are, because the whole economy has moved to revalue prices, wages, etc., etc.. This is what happened after Montreal was given the Olympics. The timing pretty much maximized the increase in costs, but worse, it locked the financing in to high rates (which hit as high as 23%). Even 4 years of something between 10 and 20, compounded monthly more than doubles the cost: Over 30 years, it increases the cost by 200 times….