How did Atlanta get selected in 1996?

Atlanta is an international city, and it has the Olympics to thank for that

There is a reason we host all of the conventions and sporting events that we do. We're damn good at it.

Now, saying that, downtown needs a facelift. Badly. Midtown is great, but the heart of downtown is in decay. The convention area of Downtown, where the hotels, MBS, State Farm, Centennial Park, and the museums are located, is good. But the core of downtown is bad.

And Billy Payne, Andy Young, and Maynard Jackson (RIP) were the main cogs behind Atlanta getting the Olympics.

Huge international airport
Airport, downtown, and main sporting venues were all extremely close together for a city that size. Many large cities their airports are WAY away from downtown.

Did they have Marta at that time or built for the olympics? Its a crappy metro for a city that size internationally but still.

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We're damn good at it.

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New Orleans enters the chat…

As stated above...corporate sponsorship but also there was arrogance with the Athens submission. Sort of .. It's the 100th anniversary of the rebirth of the games...we (Athens) are entitled, and so their submission effort was crap ( now read that how you will given the reputation of the IOC)

LA and ATL are two games that actually made money

from wiki

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Atlanta was selected on September 18, 1990, in Tokyo, Japan, over Athens, Belgrade, Manchester, Melbourne, and Toronto at the 96th IOC Session. The city entered the competition as a dark horse, being up against stiff competition. The US media also criticized Atlanta as a second-tier city and complained of Georgia's Confederate history. However, the IOC Evaluation Commission ranked Atlanta's infrastructure and facilities the highest, while IOC members said that it could guarantee large television revenues similar to the success of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, the most recent Olympics in the United States.[7] Additionally, former US ambassador to the UN and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young touted Atlanta's civil rights history and reputation for racial harmony. Young also wanted to showcase a reformed American South. The strong economy of Atlanta and improved race relations in the South helped to impress the IOC officials. Coca-Cola, a long-standing partner of the Olympics, was also a strong advocate to bring the Games to its hometown. The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG) also proposed a substantial revenue-sharing with the IOC, USOC, and other NOCs. Atlanta's main rivals were Toronto, whose front-running bid that began in 1986 had chances to succeed after Canada had held a successful 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and Melbourne, Australia, who hosted the 1956 Summer Olympics and after Brisbane, Australia's failed bid for the 1992 games (which were awarded to Barcelona) and prior to Sydney, Australia's successful 2000 Summer Olympics bid. This would be Toronto's fourth failed attempt since 1960 (tried in 1960, 1964, and 1976, but was defeated by Rome, Tokyo and Montreal).

Greece, the home of the ancient and first modern Olympics, was considered by many observers the "natural choice" for the Centennial Games. However, Athens bid chairman Spyros Metaxa demanded that it be named as the site of the Olympics because of its "historical right due to its history", which may have caused resentment among delegates. Furthermore, the Athens bid was described as "arrogant and poorly prepared", being regarded as "not being up to the task of coping with the modern and risk-prone extravaganza" of the current Games. Athens faced numerous obstacles, including "political instability, potential security problems, air pollution, traffic congestion and the fact that it would have to spend about US$3 billion to improve its infrastructure of airports, roads, rail lines and other amenities". Athens would later be selected to host the 2004 Summer Olympics seven years later on September 5, 1997.

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The popular international sentiment was to allow Greece to host them due to the centennial of the original 1896 Games and their ancient predecessors and everybody just assumed that's what would happen.

But Greece submitted a very poor bid, was undergoing a lot of political and economic instability and it was obvious they didn't have their sh*t together and the games would be a mess. So Atlanta (boomtown) was a dark horse that sort of won by default and the IOC worked with Athens, Greece to host a future games.

Oh, and of course there was bribery involved.

There’s no better city for a sporting event than New Orleans. Once you travel to sporting events in other cities, you realize that very quickly. Hotels, restaurants, transportation all within walking distance & an international airport right up the road.

oooooooh ok I see, I missed that point originally my bad

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Atlanta as a second-tier city

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Oops

In all seriousness, back then it was. But the Olympics vaulted it into a top-tier, international city.

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huh?

Did Athens having an 86K seat stadium to play soccer in not have anything to do with it?

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Can't stop laughing at this.