The Chicago 2016 bid committee was taking no chances.
In case it needed to do 11th-hour tweaking on the bid book that must be submitted to the United States Olympic Committee officials by Monday, the committee had reserved an airplane seat for Sunday night to have someone carry the documents to Colorado Springs.
“The stakes are high,” 2016 official Douglas Smith said Friday morning.
The personal delivery was not necessary. The 2016 committee handed over 20 copies of the bid book, 20 DVDs and three copies of an appendix to an express delivery service after Chairman Patrick Ryan reviewed the submission for a final time Friday afternoon.
It might have taken an Olympic champion weightlifter to carry the load, anyway. The 458-page bid book weighs 10 pounds, and the 750-page appendix checks in at nearly 20 pounds.
Chicago and Los Angeles are the finalists in the U.S. bid city competition for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The USOC is expected to select a winner April 14. The International Olympic Committee will pick the 2016 host in October 2009.
In a process that mimics what the IOC used in the 2012 Summer Games bidding, Chicago and Los Angeles were asked to answer some 125 questions related to 17 themes, including finance, sports venues, security and the Olympic Village.
Chicago 2016 officials have yet to reveal details of their financing for $800 million in sports venues and a $1 billion Olympic Village. No public funding is to be used for either.
A USOC evaluation committee will visit each city for two days to gather further information based on the answers in the bid book. The Chicago visit will take place in the first full week of March.
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phersh@tribune.com
