Chicago is a safer bet, the Chicago machine does not fail
Chicago is a safer bet, the Chicago machine does not fail
The Chicago machine has failed to pay the guaranteed profit margin (aka "deposit") to the IOC. The USOC started a TV channel w/o the approval of the IOC. Obama has pissed off the 100 Islamic members of the IOC. I think you can forget Chicago.
I think you nailed it, especially about their alternating between Europ and the rest of the world. Plus, quite a few of the comnpanies in the TOP programme are US-based; the IOC still cares about its income, after all. When they did their site visit of the 2004 Olympics (Rio bid then as well), they had serious concerns over the crime rate, which is why they didn't get it, no matter how much Samaranch wanted to have the Olympics hosted in South America - or Africa, for that matter. Cape Town didn't get it either that year, in large part because of its crime rate.