Poll: Sponsorship Appeal and Olympic Host City Selection

In today's Chicago Tribune, Philip Hersh discusses the impact of one of Chicago's key "selling points" -- that the 2016 bid city has the most commercial (read: sponsorship and TV) appeal. Tomorrow, Chicago 2016 along with the three other cities will make their pitch to the IOC in Lausanne, Switzerland. On the issue of commercial appeal, IOC marketing director yesterday had this to offer:

"I’m the IOC marketing director, and I’m not going to them (the four candidate cities) asking what kind of sponsorships we can get and what kind of TV deals we can get. I would like to keep commercial aspects out of the race as much as possible.’’

Here's Chicago 2016 CEO Patrick Ryan's take:

"We will certainly highlight the marketing opportunity and the sponsorship opportunity that is presented by the Fortune 500 and international (corporate) headquarters concentration in Chicago and the Midwest. Chicago and the Midwest [offer] a unique opportunity for sponsorship support that will be lasting and an opportunity for the Olympic movement to establish long-term relationships with this corporate world."

What say you? Yes or no - should sponsorship appeal be a key consideration in the selection of the 2016 Olympic host city? Cast your vote below.