Chicago’s price tag would be much less

From combined dispatches

CHICAGO | When it comes to spending money on the Olympics, Mayor Richard Daley gives China a gold medal.

Daley said Thursday that prospective host cities like Chicago can’t compete with the money China spent on the Olympics, a spectacle he called that country’s “coming out party.”

China invested $40 billion to build infrastructure for the games. Chicago is bidding for the 2016 Summer Games, and Daley said city taxpayer money won’t be used.

“Ours is completely different,” he told reporters. A Chicago games would rely on money from the private sector and some money from the federal government for infrastructure and security, Daley said.

Daley is back in Chicago after traveling to China with a contingent that tried to win support from international sports officials for the city’s bid.

Chicago’s plans include more than a dozen new permanent and temporary venues and money to make existing venues Olympic caliber at an estimated cost of $900 million. There’s also a $1 billion athletes’ village that would be a public-private partnership.

Chicago is vying with Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 games. The International Olympic Committee will pick the host city next year.

Phelps fuels Web traffic

NEW YORK | Michael Phelps is dominating digital interest in the Olympics as much as he is the gold medal count.

More than 2 million people have clicked on NBCOlympics.com to watch a video replay of the thrilling men’s 4x100 swimming relay, in which the Americans scored a come-from-behind victory over the French. Phelps won gold for his role in the relay, although it was teammate Jason Lezak’s surge at the end that was the indelible image.

That race accounts for more than 40 percent of the nearly 5 million video on demand orders from the Web site, NBC Universal said.

Four of the five most-ordered clips are Phelps gold medal races. The only non-Phelps video is a collection of highlights from last Friday’s opening ceremony.

Empire Multi-state Building

NEW YORK | The Empire State Building is shining with Olympic spirit: Each of its top four sides are being lit with the different colors of 66 competing countries.

The Empire State Building’s manager says it is the first time the iconic building has split the tower’s sides with four separate country’s lights.

The lighting honors the top 66 countries taking part in Beijing, based on the number of athletes from each country. The lights began Aug. 7 and continue through the end of the games Aug. 24. The first and last day’s lights honor the U.S. and China.

On Wednesday, the Empire State Building was lit from sunset to midnight to salute Cuba on its north side, Slovenia on its west side, Ukraine on its south side and Spain on its east side.