The last time Chicago had an event as large as the Olympics was in 1893. When the 1893 Worlds
Fair came to town. It was called the White City. And if you ever want to know more about an
amazing event just check out the book Devil in the White City.
Back in 1996, ahhhh, the 90s, the good times. Shit, sorry, I was daydreaming about better
days. Much better days. The days of opportunity for a small business like mine. Just your
good old mom and pop operation.
When the Summer Games came to Atlanta, so did a boon for the Southeast. It helped
not only in 1996, but for years afterward. It was like the beanie baby boon, except for
rental and party supply companies.
We had purchased a tract of land on a 4 lane several years before the Olympics ever came
to Atlanta. Of course we would love to have a nice big shiny warehouse, and new offices.
At the time we were operating out of a house and a hay barn.
One of the best contracts I snagged was with NBC. And then they told me NBC would be
launching a new station called MSNBC, and they would need mucho more equipment.
It was a great gig, if not a major pain. But NBC paid very well, and they were great to
work with, the entire time. At the end of the gig when it was all over, I even received a
denim jacket with the NBC logo and 1996 Olympic logo, along with a thank you letter for
all the hard work.
That wasn't our only gig, we did all the tents/flooring for the volleyball venue, along
with the soccer, which was located in my home city of Birmingham, AL.
The money was spread out all over the Southeast, with a tent venue for the kayaking
in Tennessee. My company did not handle this venue, but I know the one that did,
and they did really well.
The official tent supplier for the Olympics was actually a company out of Germany.
That always kind of pissed me off, but I got a fair share. I heard they gave the Olympic's
4 million to do the work. WTF. I thought that was weird, and I sure don't have 4 million
to pay off someone to work for them.
Also had some big companies come from California and suck up things like the
Coca Cola area, or the main Festival area.
Even so, the scraps were like prime rib, and we did well enough to build that
warehouse and office we were dreaming about. The Olympics are a huge money
pit for plenty of people to stick their shovel.. But if you are a vender suppling
something, it can be a tremedous boost to the bottom line.
So give it your best shot. getting the Olympics to Chicago would be wonderful.
It wouldn't just help Chicago, but the whole Midwest, and hell could even spill
into the Southeast, the Northeast, etcs.
We gotta do something. President Obama is a salesman, let's see if he can
sell Chicago for these games. Frankly, we need the business. And providing services
is one area kind of hard to out source to Asia.