Georgia without the 1996 Olympics

[RogerRogers]

Thoughts?

[Skill and Chance]

Basically ancient history at this point, so irrelevant.  On top of that, the average American has become much less likely to follow the Olympics over the past 25 years. 

[Non Swing Voter]

Not sure why there are so many threads on this topic?

It would probably trend the same way.  Georgia seems to be shifting because of the reverse great migration + a thriving business community, especially in film and other cultural things.  States with big cities as opposed to small ones seemed to really benefit in the last decade.  Millennials wanted to live in places like Atlanta more than say Lexington.

[JoeSchmoe]

Not sure why there are so many threads on this topic?

It would probably trend the same way.  Georgia seems to be shifting because of the reverse great migration + a thriving business community, especially in film and other cultural things.  States with big cities as opposed to small ones seemed to really benefit in the last decade.  Millennials wanted to live in places like Atlanta more than say Lexington.

But didn't the Atlanta Olympics put the city on the map in terms of what would come later? The mass immigration into places like Gwinnett and Cobb?

[Non Swing Voter]

Not sure why there are so many threads on this topic?

It would probably trend the same way.  Georgia seems to be shifting because of the reverse great migration + a thriving business community, especially in film and other cultural things.  States with big cities as opposed to small ones seemed to really benefit in the last decade.  Millennials wanted to live in places like Atlanta more than say Lexington.

But didn't the Atlanta Olympics put the city on the map in terms of what would come later? The mass immigration into places like Gwinnett and Cobb?

I mean, I guess?  It's pretty hard to prove cause and effect on this.  But it was always on the map though, it's not like Atlanta was a small city before the Olympics.  It's home to CNN and a lot of other media.  It was always a known entity.  Moreso than other southern cities also seeing growth like Charlotte and Tampa. 

It also seems like it's one of those cases of the ball is in motion so it just stays in motion.  It became a real destination point for upwardly mobile African Americans and as it gained more notoriety for that the population followed.  It seems like the real diversification with asians and Latinx has happened over the last 10-15 years though.

[Del Tachi]

Atlanta still had a lot going for it prior to the '96 games, but the Olympics were pretty instrumental in surcharging redevelopment of the city's urban core.  Projects like the Atlanta BeltLine probably never get off the ground absent an Atlanta Olympics, and the result is a Midtown area that is less vibrant and less desirable today. 

[Alben Barkley]

Not sure why there are so many threads on this topic?

It would probably trend the same way.  Georgia seems to be shifting because of the reverse great migration + a thriving business community, especially in film and other cultural things.  States with big cities as opposed to small ones seemed to really benefit in the last decade.  Millennials wanted to live in places like Atlanta more than say Lexington.

Lexington is doing pretty well for itself and has grown rapidly and substantially in recent years. Maybe not the best example though I know what you mean.

[JoeSchmoe]

Atlanta still had a lot going for it prior to the '96 games, but the Olympics were pretty instrumental in surcharging redevelopment of the city's urban core.  Projects like the Atlanta BeltLine probably never get off the ground absent an Atlanta Olympics, and the result is a Midtown area that is less vibrant and less desirable today. 

But would places like Cobb, Douglas, and Gwinnett have flipped in election years since? Or would Georgia have been another Alabama and places like Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Iowa never flip in 2016?