The 2023 NFL Week 11 Roundup | The $5B Doorbuster Deal
One hundred years ago, Parisian Olympic organizers envisioned swimmers from around the world splashing about in the River Seine as they competed mightily in such revered aquatic events as water polo, rowing, team swimming and the 200/1000/4000 freestyle. But the 1924 state of the Seine didn’t quite agree with that lofty promise. Its pollution was characterized as so poisonous as to be unfit for human exposure, much less touch. Well a century later, as Paris busily prepares to host next year’s Summer Olympics, its treasured River Seine remains mired in local ridicule and disgust. Dented slim-line Orangina cans elbow aside spent bottles of lime green Roche Mazet wine for buoyancy atop the turgid surface while rusted bicycles and broken furniture sadly ornament the Seine’s underbelly and banks. What’s worse, raw sewage colors and perfumes the river on stagnant Summer days in ways that make innocent fish furious. And so, a central plank of Paris 2024 (the name of French organizing committee) is to cleanup the Seine as to be legally swimmable by next July. And for good reason. The River Seine, in an unusual twist, will play host to the Parisian Opening Ceremony complete with 100 barges and boats each hosting athletes from all around the world as they waft 6 kilometers past 600,000 onlookers assembled on overhead bridges and the river’s banks. All before the watchful eye of the Eiffel Tower and discerning fans from around the world. The Seine is supremely emblematic of the city’s pragmatic, resourceful and spendthrift approach to showcasing Parisian mystique as a gauzy backdrop and cradle to the games it’s to host with that oh-so-romantic French accent and flair. The Paris Summer Olympics begin in just 248 days, which means it’s time to check-in on how preparations are unpacking amidst the city’s frugal $5B bid to host an event that more and more cities are dismissing as wasteful, disruptive and irrelevant.
In 2015 a few years removed from London’s wildly successful, expensive and profitable 2012 Summer Games, Paris, Hamburg, Budapest, Rome and Los Angeles proudly and officially raised their hands at the opportunity to host the then-faraway 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics. After so-called Stage 1 Consideration (defining Vision, Games Concept and Strategy), the International Olympic Committee boisterously announced in September that each of the five cites had passed muster and were approved to move onto Stage 2 (capturing Governance, Legal and Venue funding). But before Mylar party balloons could be inflated and paper confetti cannons armed, buyer’s remorse quickly set in. One by one, the would-be host cities yanked their outstretched hands down. Hamburg withdrew its bid after putting its pricey proposal out to popular vote and promptly losing less than eight weeks after the IOC’s announcement. IN September 2016, Rome was forced to retract its offer because of a severe cash crunch. Budapest followed suit in February 2017 when an anti-Olympics petition gathered more signatures than needed for a public referendum. The tide had turned swiftly and angrily, leaving the IOC in a worst-case-scenario type predicament where no one seemingly wanted its wares. Luckily, the gleaming, cosmopolitan cities of Paris and Los Angeles remained, maintained and reaffirmed their host city digital applications. Afraid of the remaining cities drinking the punch and reading the room, the IOC convened an emergency meeting in July 2017 and quickly ratified Paris 2024 and LA 2028 as the winning “bidders.”
Unusual — and refreshing — in the Parisian and American bids was the approach to spend and infrastructure. Compared with the cities that had immediately preceded them ($44B for Beijing in 2008, $10.4B for London in 2012, $13.1B for Rio de Janeiro in 2016, $15.4B for Tokyo in 2020/1, last Winter’s Qatar $220B World Cup), gone was default inflationary budgeting and an arms race in the creation of institutionalized white elephants to be used for just two weeks, only to be abandoned in disrepair moments after the extinguishing of the Olympic caldron. Paris, for its part, is a prime example of how to level-up on a shoestring budget. The all-in budget for next year’s games is $5B. 20% of the budget has been earmarked for cleaning up the Seine, the world stage for the Opening Ceremonies. A permanent and evergreen vast system of pumps, tanks, channels and pipes is in the final stages of construction which will treat wastewater to within potable standards; raw discharge and bacteria all but eliminated. The river bottom and banks have been combed of unsettling and upsetting debris. The water has turned clear, the fish have returned and Parisians rejoice. It took an Olympic movement to solve for a 100 year old curse. Seine open-water swimming and the triathlon have been confirmed for July. Further, innovative is Paris 2024’s venue strategy. NO new major, permanent structures will be constructed, instead repurposing famed tourist draws as competition venues. You’ll know Place de la Concorde as the well-known French town square where Louis XVI and Mari Antoinette were beheaded in the late 1700s. Come Summer, it’ll host (in temporary structures) 3-on3 basketball, skateboarding and the Olympic debut of breakdancing. The Gardens of the Palace of Versailles (where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette resided when alive) will witness equestrian trials, Roland Garros stadium will see tennis, judo and beach volleyball will setup camp on the grounds of the Eiffel Tower and surfers can expect to crest waves in sunny Tahiti. Even archery isn’t immune from the glam-up. Competition will take place on the grounds of the Hotel des Invalides, home to France’s storied military museums and Napoleon’s tomb. Not many cities are blessed with the history, charm and allure that so imbues Paris. Olympic organizers are smartly, strategically, and cost-consciously deploying the city’s trophy assets in what is essentially a two-week Chamber of Commerce paid programming marketing campaign that just happens to coincide with the Summer Olympics. In other words, a worldwide FLEX sure to make fans and athletes happier than Pepe Le Pew.
$1.1B will be spent on the athletes village in Saint-Denis, about nine miles from the Paris’ city center. It was strategically built in the city’s poorest arrondissment and will serve as permanent social housing (sans air conditioning) for hundreds once the noisy Olympic flotilla has move on. Transporting the flocks of tourists expected will fall upon the city’s dense thicket of Metro lines, suburban trains and buses. An express train from Charles de Gaulle airport to Paris is woefully behind schedule and won’t start ferrying passengers until 2027 at the earliest. Metro 17, a line that promised to whisk athletes from the airport to the athletes in village? Yah, that’s not coming online until 2026. Line 14, which runs from Orly airport to Saint-Denis, happily is set to open a month early. But all-in-all, city officials boast of their readiness to quickly convey more than 800,000 visitors daily to and from the 31 competition venues peppered all around the French capital. New bike lines already augment a bike-first metropolis and organizers promise 10,000 parking spaces for bicycles that will in sum ring each of the venues. Private automobile use will plummet 40% from London. Looking for a place to stay? The Paris tourism office boasts of 262,000 rooms (traditional hotel, private rental homes via Airbnb/VRBO/etc, campsites) available throughout the ceremonies across a myriad of pricepoints. They’re projecting a modest 75% occupancy rate city-wide, a pinch busier than a typical Summer and nothing the city can’t accommodate. Those bedbugs? Well that’s still a work in progress. Ticketing is another fan-first initiative. 10 million tickets were made available for sale and 7 million have already been snapped up (as part of bespoke travel packages). One million additional tickets have been pledged to sell for $55 or less and are available on a first-come first-served basis. Seeing Victor Wembanyama play for Team France in Lille or Kylian Mbappe in Nice and Marseille on the cheap are distinct possibilities. Finally, an Olympic Games designed to appeal to the senses as much as the pocketbook. Leave it to the elegant French to put on a competition intelligently drawn for the masses. Who’d have thought?
And so the Paris 2024 Olympic effort efficiently barrels forward on a modest budget making use of the city’s priceless and much-treasured landmarks in ways that make those who went before envious and remiss. The water will be clean, the sun bright, the skies blue and the clouds billowy as the Opening Ceremonies sail forth along the River Seine past the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elyssees, Jardin des Tuileries and Notre Dame in eight months. Paris is proving that parsimony is sanctity. And that reaching for the Olympic stars needn’t bankrupt the visionary. Already Los Angeles is shrewdly adhering to the example set by the City of Light, if not by design than by fiscal reality. The IOC looks on in admiration as Paris and Los Angeles set about clipping coupons while upscaling experiences and enshrouding the Olympic mission (hopefully casting away its wasteful, disruptive and irrelevant reputation) . Let’s see if this gold medal model retains is luster come July 28th and beyond. Come for the Games, stay for the experience, leave without turning your pockets inside out.
Looking back now at Week 11 gameplay, there were plenty of teams who came for the competition and took home the trophy. There were scores of others who were turned away at the door, emptyhanded. From the latter, none more so than the Bengals who endured the devastating loss of QB all-star Joe Burrow to a season-ending wrist injury. He landed on his wrist awkwardly in the second quarter and a play later literally head it pop sending the ball drooping to the ground. He next hustled off to the sidelines where Amazon’s cameras captured yet another test-throw attempt where the QB was unable to maintain any semblance of grip. Emotional, performing mental calculations in real time, he dissolved into tears. He pinched them away and jogged off into the locker room. A torn ACL in 2020, a throat, pinkie and twin knee injuries sprinkled across 2021, appendicitis last Summer (losing 20 pounds), last December’s elbow problem and this Fall’s calf strain that chewed up four week of this Season. And now, Burrow’s wrist. Cinci fans weep alongside him in sympathy as a surefire playoff march to the Super Bowl is off the table for now, if not years due to complicated financial math and difficult roster decisions in the years ahead. But for today, the Ravens had their hands all over the controls and levers in landing a 34–20 WIN over their now AFC North also-rans. Over in the Cleve, things are beginning to unravel for the Steelers whose 6–4 record betrays the team’s true state of affairs. PIT’s Offense is in a state of disarray with hometown favorite Kenny Pickett failing to measure up to dreamy Steel City expectations; his surrounding line doing the Team no favors. The Browns DEF easily picked off the rusting Steelers, 13–10, despite their own offensive landmines.
Up in Detroit, Lions QB Jared Goff engineered quite the late 4th quarter comeback in spite of a a horrendous prior 3. It’s quite the testament to CHI QB Justin Fields and squad’s secondary to apply such unexpected pressure to the League’s scrappiest and surprising team. The Lions escaped for the WIN, 31–26, bringing their stellar record up to 8–2. In DC, the Commanders managed to make the lowly Giants look towering. A devastating game for WAS that ran more like a bloopers reel and which managed to highlight Big Blue’s third string QB in Tommy DeVito, who pulled out quite the showout (18/26 246 yds 3TD s 0 INTs). The Giants needed the (moral) victory while Washington’s revision to the mean limped along unimpeded. Giants 31, Commanders 19. Riverboat Ron’s time in DC has all but run out. At NRG Stadium in Houston, no shortage of electricity where Texans QB CJ Stroud cements his 2023 Rookie and MVP frontrunner status with a 21–16 victory over ARI. Sure there were offensive foibles around him and including him that need tending to, but CJ’s larger clean and tight play is something to behold. The Cards, at 2–9, could only look on in envy as they accepted their 16–21 defeat. ON Sunday night, might a renaissance in Denver be taking place before our very eyes. After an atrocious start to the Season, the Broncos have gathered together a miraculous four game winning streak (over KC and BUF of all teams) putting their credibility back into the WIN column. QB Russell Wilson isn’t committing weird mistakes so much anymore and while he isn’t flying at the heights that came so easily in Seattle, his lowered cruising altitude in mile-high Denver is cutting the mustard. The team’s secondary is the true star and is completely turning the lights out on opposing offensive teams, the Vikings included. Minnesota, even with standout QB Joshua Dobbs, just couldn’t muster the discipline to sustain the onslaught late in the 4th. Which is the story of life in topsy-turvy world of a Vikings fan.
In our Round Robin, there is much in the media about the Bills being BACK with their 32–6 destruction of the Jets. Not so sure about that being-back bit since a LOSS would have sent the team reeling further down the 2023 drain. Sure NYJ’s offers a heady DEF, but it’s not as if BUF harvests a team from an orphanage. Yes, Josh Allen looked good as did REC Khalil Shakir. But on the flip side, Zach Wilson has never looked worse and late news that the music has finally played him off stage was greeted warmly back in Jersey. A BUF 32–6 crushing was all but ordained. The 49ers have returned after a much needed BYE a few weeks back. With returning healthy players and a controlled yet afire QB Brock Purdy surrounded by a complete line, the only limit is February in Vegas. To the point, SF dismantled the Bucs 27–14 on Sunday. America’s Team embarrassed the Panthers 31–19 continuing a storyline where Dallas can only seem to claim victory against weak teams. The Eagles, Lions and Fins test this theory in the weeks to come. The Titans, Raider and Chargers lost again and after last night, go ahead and toss the Chiefs on the pile. PHL’s might shutout KC in the second half in a game that showcased Jalen Hurt’s 360 degree flexibility and KC’s mortality (complete with pedestrian outings from Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. Maybe yesterday’s Travis Kelce’s splashy feature spread in the Wall Street Journal magazine where he posed in oversized, drapey woollen sweaters and thick hounds tooth coats with a glinted, forlorn eye and spoke of life dating the world’s biggest pop start should have waited until Spring. How’s that for Tuesday-afternoon quarterbacking a Monday NFL x WSJ fashion spread.
