The Olympics That Weren't: NYC's Bid for the 2012 Games

This class is both a "what if" and "what happened" in New York before, during, and after the city's bid for the 2012 Olympics.

The bid still ended up reshaping the city in many ways, from housing to transportation to, of course, sports and recreation. We'll look at New York's history with global sports (from the Millrose Games to the Goodwill Games with a short-lived 1984 Olympic bid in between), the NYC2012 bid in its political context, and how the city might end up hosting (some of) the games in the future.

Taught by Daniel Pecoraro

Daniel Pecoraro is a historian and nonprofit manager based in New York City, focusing on urban history of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Daniel has served as a tour guide at the Louis Armstrong House Museum and the Museum of American Finance, has delivered tours as part of Jane's Walk NYC, volunteers at Interference Archive, contributes stories to Urban Archive, and has been a licensed sightseeing tour guide in the City of New York since 2019.