State of Florida Offers to Host 2021 Olympics Should Tokyo Cancel Them

by Jack McCormick 97

January 27th, 2021 Coronavirus, News, Tokyo 2020

While talks of the cancellation of the already-postponed 2020, now 2021, Olympic Games have appeared frequently since last summer, Florida has volunteered to host the Games after multiple news sources reported last week that the Games were going to be canceled.

Following the reporting of rumors that members of Japan’s government had conceded that the Games were unlikely to occur this summer, the Chief Financial Officer of Florida, Jimmy Patronis, sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee offering to move the Games location to Florida. While the Japanese government has since claimed the reports of cancellation “categorically untrue”, Patronis continued with his effort to convince the IOC of Florida’s viability as a host. In his letter to Thomas Bach, President of the IOC, Patronis wrote:

“With media reports of leaders in Japan “privately” concluding that they are too concerned about the pandemic for the 2021 Olympics to take place, there is still time to deploy a site selection team to Florida to meet with statewide and local officials on holding the Olympics in the Sunshine State. I would welcome the opportunity to pitch Florida and help you make the right contacts to get this done.”

As part of his proposal, Patronis cited the state’s ability to host the NBA “bubble”, UFC, and NFL competitions successfully, as well as their ability to keep Disney Parks open throughout the pandemic. Patronis also included that the state had multiple high-quality athletic facilities across the 12 major universities in the state. He concluded his letter by saying, “Whatever precautions are required let’s figure it out and get it done.”

In response to the Tampa Bay Times’ inquisition on Patronis’ letter, the IOC media team reported that they had yet to receive it. The IOC went on to cite their statement from last week where they reaffirmed their commitment to ensuring that the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games take place in Tokyo as scheduled. Thomas Bach’s video on the IOC’s commitment to the games from last week can be found here.

There has been some speculation among Olympic organizers that the anonymous “source” that shared the initial information about the government’s plan to cancel the Olympics had ulterior motives, perhaps wishing to destabilize the government ahead of an upcoming general election in Japan.

With new case counts still riding high in the state, and with relatively-few protocols in place, it’s unlikely that most of the world’s countries, especially those like New Zealand and Australia that have all-but-eliminated the spread of the virus, would be willing to send athletes to Florida under current circumstances.

The state of Florida currently has recorded 1,658,169 cases of COVID-19. Florida recorded nearly 9,500 cases on January 26th, making them one of just 5 states to record over 5,000 cases for the day.

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Sunshine State
3 years ago

Florida! We are open for business!

Floater
3 years ago

Joe Biden has a plan.

STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
3 years ago

This has to be some kind of joke, right? In per capita terms Florida has had about 40 times the number of cases and deaths as Japan. The world knows the management of this health crisis has not been the USA’s finest hour and Republican run state governments like the one in Florida have been the worst of the lot.

Admin
Reply to  STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
3 years ago

I don’t know if it’s a joke, per se, but I think this gentleman might need to change his pants if Bach showed up at his office tomorrow and said “ok, you’ve got 6 months, sign the contract and let’s get to work.”

It’s definitely not going to happen, though, and I hope that someone in the position at the scale of Patronis has enough self-awareness to acknowledge that at least privately, if not publicly.

DrSwimPhil
Reply to  STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
3 years ago

Why is this a comparison of FL vs Japan? It’s not “FL steals Olympics from Japan”.

And your last line is pretty damn laughable. NY, NJ, PA, CA, IL, MI, etc etc…all worse than FL. FL is actually below the average per capita of the entire 50 states, all while a) having an older age group and b) keeping its economy from completely tanking.

But yeah, again, the hell with the actual data!

STRAIGHTBLACKLINE
Reply to  DrSwimPhil
3 years ago

And Florida has a lower population density and a warmer climate than most of the states you mentioned. The Governor of the state is widely acknowledged by the experts to have been pretty gung ho. The point is that if Japan should not play host due to medical reasons it would be breathtaking to give it to Florida.

QuestLove
Reply to  DrSwimPhil
3 years ago

I pulled up the actual data on your point b). The most recent data for state-by-state is through Q3 2020. Combined Q2 + Q3 results, of the states you named, IL and MI had a slightly better net economic result, PA and NJ were slightly worse (but still net positive), NY & CA were worse.

https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2020-12/qgdpstate1220_0.pdf

Based on percent change from the preceding period in Real GDP, there doesn’t actually seem to be a very strong correlation between the strictness of a lockdown and economic performance.

My hypothesis would be that there’s probably a netting-out effect that happens: locals are able to spend more money, but non-locals probably don’t want to go there as… Read more »

Last edited 3 years ago by QuestLove
CouchSwimmer
3 years ago

Riddled with COVID19…run by DeSantis, arguably one of the most corrupt Republicans in America. One…he couldn’t organise a vaccine rollout let alone an Olympic Games…Two…bolstering his personal coffers is a definite NO.

Olympunks & Gamester Bullies
3 years ago

Well ol’ Jimmy’s a good ol’ boy ain’t he now…that’s just straight up a dumb idea.

Tm71
3 years ago

Heat and humidity will be awful in mid summer

Sam
Reply to  Tm71
3 years ago

Some sweet tea and it’s all good bud

Stinky
3 years ago

They’re refining their protocols to be ready if needed:
“Florida Super-Spreader Wrestling Tournaments Caused At Least 79 COVID Infections, 1 Death, CDC Says”

https://www.newsweek.com/florida-super-spreader-wrestling-tournaments-caused-least-79-covid-infections-1-death-cdc-says-1564729

swimfan210_
3 years ago

I just don’t see this happening