Event, Image, History and Place: How the NYC2012 Olympic Bid Constructed New
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Event, Image, History and Place: How the NYC2012 Olympic Bid Constructed New York City A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Michael H. Koch August 2012 © 2012 Michael H. Koch. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled Event, Image, History and Place: How the NYC2012 Olympic Bid Constructed New York City by MICHAEL H. KOCH has been approved for the School of Media Arts and Studies and the Scripps College of Communication by Joseph W. Slade Professor of Media Arts and Studies Scott Titsworth Interim Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii ABSTRACT KOCH, MICHAEL H., Ph.D., August 2012, Mass Communication Event, Image, History and Place: How the NYC2012 Olympic Bid Constructed New York City (251 pp.) Director: Joseph W. Slade This dissertation examines the bid book produced by the NYC2012 organization as part of its effort to have New York City named host of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. The NYC2012 bid book, like any other Olympic bid book, is a unique, complex document. It is both a blueprint or future vision of a city, and an extensive, carefully- constructed piece of place-marketing aimed primarily (but not solely) at the elite decision-makers who control the Olympic Movement, along with all its economic and cultural power. Using a qualitative approach, drawing upon cultural history, urban studies, political economics, and other perspectives, this work identifies and discusses the key themes in the NYC2012 bid book: New York City’s cosmopolitanism; its urban needs and networks; its renascence and recaptured traditions; and its drama and spectacle. These themes, articulated explicitly and implicitly in the bid book’s overarching narrative of New York City at the start of the new millennium, parallel themes embedded in the story of the contemporary Olympics, permitting an evaluation of how the interests of a modern “entrepreneurial city” are tied to the interests of a globally-mediated “mega- event.” Such attempts to attach the interests, images and symbols to each other may or may not prove successful (as NYC2012’s effort was not) but remain viable, concrete sites for urban and cultural scholars to interpret. iii Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Joseph W. Slade Professor of Media Arts and Studies iv DEDICATION To Henry and Connie Koch, my parents, for all their encouragement and faith in me. May it all be repaid and then some. To K. & K. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My journey with this work – from the first spark of an idea to its final punctuation mark – has been a long one, spanning five years, three institutions, and countless long weekend nights and summer afternoons of “chipping away at it.” I would like to thank the members of my doctoral committee - Dr. Julie White, Dr. George Korn, and Dr. Roger Aden – for their patience and understanding over the long haul of dissertation work, as well as for their influence on my development as a thinker, academic, and educator throughout the time I have known and learned from them. A special thanks is reserved for my adviser and doctoral committee chair, Dr. Joseph W. Slade for his help and guidance throughout my career at Ohio University, and whose input and support on this dissertation was essential and inestimable. I felt from the start that the work I had in mind could prove a little unorthodox in its scope and interdisciplinary approach. Happily, my committee seemed to get what I was trying to do from the start. For that I am grateful. It is hard to imagine how much harder it would have been to reach this point without supportive colleagues – if it would have been possible at all. I must thank my colleagues at Goucher College – Dr. Shirley Peroutka, Dr. John Turner, and Dr. Daniel Marcus – for taking a fledgling ABD out of a graduate program and into their department, and giving him a warm, welcoming home for what would be a very important year, personally- and professionally-speaking. Likewise, I want to thank my current institution, Marist College, and all my colleagues there for providing a supportive, friendly environment over the past three years. I would especially like to thank my department chair at Marist, Dr. Keith Strudler, not just for encouraging me to get this work done, but keeping my departmental burdens fairly light so that I could so. vi I would also like to thank my many friends, supporters and comrades-in- commiseration along the way, from my fellow MA and doctoral students at Ohio University, to all the students I have worked with and learned from (especially in Marist COM319 – Olympics And Media), to our little cohort of Marist visiting assistant/affiliate professors – Yasmin Gopal and Kevin Lerner – for all the support, laughs, feedback and drinks. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Why it is Important ........................................................................................................10 Principal Question and Strategic Themes ......................................................................12 The Bid Book .................................................................................................................14 Chapter 1: Olympic History, Olympism and Cosmopolitanism ....................................... 17 In The Age of Exhibitions ..............................................................................................17 The Mega-Event as Mass Medium ................................................................................20 Mega-Events Are Intrinsically Modern .........................................................................21 The Olympics: A Relic with Appeal ..............................................................................24 de Coubertin: Internationalist And Nationalist ..............................................................26 Idealism, Hellenism, Olympism ....................................................................................28 Olympism Defined .........................................................................................................30 Critical Views.................................................................................................................32 A Living Ideology ..........................................................................................................38 Time and Development ..................................................................................................40 The Olympics and International Public Culture ............................................................45 Exhibitions Fade and the Olympics Rise .......................................................................49 Touristic Consumerism and the Fabrication of Uniqueness ..........................................51 The Cultural Power of the Olympics .............................................................................56 Chapter 2: The Post-1980 Olympic Landscape ................................................................ 57 Crisis, Renaissance, Corruption and Reform .................................................................57 From Nadir To Los Angeles ...........................................................................................59 Modernizing the Olympic Movement ............................................................................63 Atlanta’s “Greed Games” ...............................................................................................75 Scandal in Salt Lake City ...............................................................................................82 The NYC2012 Bid Begins .............................................................................................89 viii Effects of the Three Post-1980 American Olympics .....................................................96 Chapter 3: The Postindustrial City: Needs and Networks ................................................ 97 A Parallel Competition ...................................................................................................97 Contemporary Urban Discourses ...................................................................................99 What Is A City? What Is The Image Of The City? ......................................................101 Deindustrialization As Key Feature of Contemporary Cities ......................................103 Cities-as-Systems in a Global System ......................................................................... 112 NYC2012: Needs and Networks .................................................................................. 119 Addressing Concerns (Before They Are Concerns) .....................................................121 Transportation: the Olympic X ....................................................................................123 Green Water .................................................................................................................125