Rio de Janeiro Wins! Chicago Stunned.

Shocking to many Americans with so many positives echoed throughout the media and odds-makers about Chicago’s chances, Rio de Janeiro earns the honor of hosting the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.  As the first round of voting concluded, the entire city of Chicago watched stunned as it received the fewest amount of votes and was eliminated first.  Losing the games to Rio de Janeiro was always deemed as the largest threat, but getting so thoroughly trounced by the IOC in voting, Chicagoans are finding themselves at a loss for what really happened with their bid.

The 31st addition of the games will make its first trip to South America to the country of Brazil and it’s largest city, Rio de Janeiro.  Brazil will also host the World Cup in 2014 making the continent a focus of world sporting events in the upcoming mid-decade.

As Chicago sits back and figures out what went wrong with their bid for the games, the city will begin to ponder what the real estate landscape might have been if the games had come to town.  No Olympic Village, no redevelopment of Monroe Harbor, no transformation of southside Washington Park…  Now all can wonder is what might have been.  Will Chicago push for 2020?  Only time will tell as the city comes to grips that its Olympic-sized dreams have now become Rio’s.