Burnham, 76, one of San Diego’s most highly regarded business and civic leaders, already has spoken with International Olympics Committee President Jacques Rogge and Baja California Gov. Eugenio Elorduy Walther, who were both “very much interested” in staging the summer games across the controversial international border. A competitive world-class yachtsman who chaired the 1992 America’s Cup regatta in San Diego, which university researchers estimated added $500 million to the regional economy, Burnham also was a primary force behind the formation of the new San Diego International Airport Authority and in 1986 helped establish the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. With thousands of athletes, hundreds of thousands of spectators and a worldwide television audience in the billions of people, the summer Olympics would present the hosts with enormous challenges never faced before by San Diego or Tijuana. Such a spectacle also would deliver unprecedented economic benefit to the region, easily in the billions of dollars, yielding improved highways, border crossings, sports, meeting and hospitality operations. Culturally and historically, the benefits of working together on such a project could reduce the mutual suspicion that sometimes taints relations between San Diego and Tijuana, and between the U.S. and Mexico. “There has never been a binationally hosted Olympics in history,” says Burnham. “If you think about the spirit of the Olympics, what better way of bringing two countries together than hosting an international Olympics in San Diego and Tijuana? That has a lot more extra appeal than any single country would have.” The summer Olympics offer competition in 28 sports, with multiple venues for some, including aquatics, archery, athletics (track and field), badminton, baseball, basketball, boxing, canoeing and kayaking, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football (soccer), gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, volleyball, weightlifting and wrestling. The 2004 summer Olympics will be held in Athens, Greece, with 2008 scheduled for Beijing, China. (San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp. is handling security in Greece.) The International Olympic Committee will decide the 2012 venue in 2005. The 2010 winter Olympics have been awarded to Vancouver, Canada, and because the International Olympic Committee often rotates hemispheres, the U.S. bid for a summer Olympics in New York City in 2012 may be jeopardized by the Canadian winter location. Indeed, London or Paris seem to be the favorites for the 2012 summer games, as expressed in the international press and by the president of the international committee, Dr. Rogge, says Burnham. If that is the case, the U.S. Olympic committee likely again would have to choose between New York and other U.S. bids, and that’s where the sizzle of San Diego/Tijuana’s binational proposal would be brought to bear first. As attractive as some may find the cultural and historical milestone of a San Diego/Tijuana venue, others in the U.S. and Mexican Olympic communities may find the cost-savings of splitting the expenses even more compelling. Organizers in Monterrey and Guadalajara, Mexico, already are active in trying to persuade the Mexico Olympic Committee to select them as host venues. The only Latin American Olympics were held in Mexico City in 1968. The last U.S.-hosted summer Olympics were held in Atlanta in 1996, preceded by Los Angeles in 1984 and 1932 and by St. Louis in 1904, the first Olympic games in the U.S. While based on ancient Greek games, the modern Olympics were established in Athens in 1896. New York has never hosted the summer games, nor has San Francisco, a runner-up to New York’s bid to compete for the 2012 games. Jeffrey Davidow, president of the Institute of the Americas on the UCSD campus and a former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, arranged the meeting between Burnham and the Baja California governor who “was impressed by the enormity and visionary nature of the idea,” says Davidow. The three met for lunch on Sept. 19. “I think it would be great for international relations because it would demonstrate once again that the futures of the United States and Mexico are inextricably tied,” says Davidow. “They’re our second largest trading partner. Our demography is influenced by Mexico. So much of what happens in the U.S., and particularly in Southern California, has a Mexico connection. Certainly from the point of view of the region, it would be helpful if it could improve the border crossing. It would mean a good injection of funds in both Tijuana and San Diego. Politically, it would be very useful to direct the gaze of San Diegans southward and the gaze of Tijuanans northward.” Davidow says he has notified the Mexico Olympic Committee in writing of Burnham’s intentions to advance a Tijuana/San Diego venue. The luncheon with Davidow and Gov. Elorduy followed by one year Burnham’s September 2002 dinner meeting with International Olympic Committee President Rogge in Luzon, Switzerland, the headquarters of the Olympics. Burnham and Rogge met at the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City earlier that year. Burnham says Rogge at first looked excited, “kind of opened up his eyes to say, ‘Wow,’ and then he said, ‘That’s never been done before. But why not?’ We continued to discuss it. He certainly was not discouraging in any way.” Presiding over an international committee, Rogge must not promise anything prematurely. Then again, “he’s very perceptive about what’s going on around the world and in the Olympic movement, and I don’t think he’d be giving me the P.R.-good-ol’-boy answer,” says Burnham. Burnham says he’s shared his ideas with some members of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce CEO Roundtable and a few others, but not with San Diego Mayor Dick Murphy nor any California governor, yet. He says his next step, in early December, “depending on the reaction that comes out of the Metropolitan story,” is to take the concept to the San Diego International Sports Council “and get their feedback, and I hope, their leadership.” Burnham once chaired the council’s Olympic Committee and has served since 1981 as a trustee of the San Diego Hall of Champions in Balboa Park. “The obvious next near-term step is to form some kind of committee or organization that would take charge.” Would he accept a draft as the initial chairman of such a committee? “This needs a lot of work and a lot of vision over a long period of time,” says Burnham, who is retired from the operation of the real estate and insurance businesses that still bear his name. “I’d like to be part of the early effort. Whether I chair it or not is immaterial to me. I think I have a loud enough voice that I’ll be heard wherever I am in the early stages. Long-term, my style is to turn these things over to other people who have better skills at organizing and running a project on a day-to-day basis. I will not walk away from this effort if there truly is a need for my ideas. I’ll be there to help.” Burnham would be 89 years old during the 2016 Olympics, “but I always think 20 years younger.” Davidow, who says he’d “be delighted” to help organize a San Diego/Tijuana bid, concedes, “I don’t know if it’s doable. “But if you stop and don’t try because you think it’s not doable, then nothing ever gets done. So let’s try. We may succeed.” Malin Burnham talks about his investments, the Burnham Companies, fatherhood and more on the 2016 Olympics in the January 2004 edition of the San Diego Metropolitan and sandiegometro.com. Also in the January edition, the Metropolitan publishes its signature "Future Visions of Economic Development." Petco Park and U.S.S. Midway fans, beware. |
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he world’s first binationally hosted Olympics should be staged in Tijuana and San Diego in 2016, says Malin Burnham, expressing his willingness to lead a formative effort.