An Olympic bronze medalist wrestler and a Pro Bowl safety discussed the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid in front of about 60 Northwestern students Thursday.
World Sport Chicago Chairman Bill Scherr, a former Olympic wrestler, and NU Athletic Director Mark Murphy, a former player on the NFL's Washington Redskins, were the featured speakers at a business symposium at the McCormick Tribune Center, hosted by the Ayers College of Commerce and Industry.
The event, "Chicago 2016: The Olympic Bid, The World is Watching" focused on the bid's implications for the city of Chicago and NU.
Murphy said the Chicago 2016 campaign had a "heavy NU flavor to it." Murphy and University President Henry Bienen are participating in the effort. In addition, NU Board of Trustees Chairman Pat Ryan was named the head of the Chicago Olympic effort.
If Chicago is selected, Ryan Field would host preliminary matches for men's and women's soccer, and NU athletic facilities would be used as practice sites for swimming, wrestling, field hockey and volleyball, Murphy said.
"The selection of Chicago would have a huge economic impact (on Evanston)," he said. "If we're hosting soccer matches, there's going to be an enormous financial gain with restaurants and hotels."
Scherr cited statistics from the 2000 Summer Olympic games in Sydney, Australia, where 6.7 million tickets were sold, 3.7 billion people watched on television and about $7 billion flowed into the city. These numbers would be even higher for Chicago because the Olympics have been growing every year, he said.
McCormick sophomore David Wu said he thought hosting soccer matches would benefit the university.
"Especially with preliminary soccer games at Ryan and with soccer as such an international sport, NU would be getting a lot of media attention," Wu said.
Murphy added that hosting soccer matches also could be an interesting experience for residents.
"If we think that Ohio State football fans are rabid, wait until we see some of these soccer fans," he said.
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