A long opinion piece, here:
Reopening the bidding process would also allow further public scrutiny of Nike and its role in Eugene’s candidacy: welcome in light of the new I.A.A.F. president Sebastian Coe’s longstanding commercial ties to the company that he only recently severed; welcome, too, in light of Lananna’s connections even if Lananna says that Nike, based in nearby Beaverton, played no formal role in the bid.
Eriksson wants a full accounting of 2021, preferably from the French police. No evidence has surfaced publicly that Diack’s interest in and connection to Eugene was corrupt. But the process, even if it proves free of corruption, was flawed, and with Coe and the I.A.A.F. scrambling to institute internal reforms and external oversight, allowing a process like Eugene 2021 to stand seems badly out of tune with the times. Why clean house and skip a room?
It’s hard to see how a do-over can be avoided, if Seb Coe is going to keep claiming he’s trying to clean up the IAAF. And his future hangs on that claim.
Meanwhile Lananna still has not shown UO President Mike Schill what UO will be required to do and pay for, in exchange for the privilege of hosting these games.
A rebid means a public debate about what the games are really worth to the state, the university, Nike, and boosters like Lananna – and who should pay to get those benefits. The UO Board of Trustees, the UO Foundation, the UO Public Records Office, and former Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber have done everything they could to avoid having those questions addressed in public.
Register Guard reporter Diane Dietz has done everything she could to bring the hidden deals out into the open. My money is on Dietz and a rebid.
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