[URBAN NOTE] "Let the Pan Am Games begin, already"

[rfmcdonald]

Sarah-Joyce Battersby in the Toronto Star reports on the Pan Am Games, something that has been surprisingly low-key in Toronto and associated with scandals. That its backers seem to think of it as testing Toronto's ability to host an Olympic Games terrifies me, frankly.

Though the opening ceremony, featuring a special performance from Cirque du Soleil, is one of the hot items, ticket sales for the Games have been so-so.

At last count 800,000 of the 1.4 million available for both the Pan and Parapans were sold. Organizers aren’t worried.

“This is absolutely normal. What happens in these games: the long build-up, you’re only dealing with the promises,” said organizing committee chair — and former premier — David Peterson. “The critics’ noises are loud until everybody buys into it and says, ‘Isn’t that fun.’ ”

In the six years since Toronto won the bid, critics have made noise about organizing committee executives’ spending scandals, the estimated $2.5 billion taxpayers have shelled out to fund the Games and delayed venues.