These forums seem to be the last place to hear about international events that affect the USCF.
But has anyone heard anything (other than from Chess Vibes, the English Chess Forum and the Norwegian media) whether the Olympiad is going to be canceled?
It’s not that far off and the US had been expected to send a medal-worthy, or at least medal-competitive, team.
This thread was moved to “All Things Chess”.
To answer the question, I’ve heard nothing from any of my European chess friends about a possible cancellation, and neither the FIDE website nor the official Olympiad website mention that possibility either.
I don’t know what you are trying to post as the link does not seem to work for me.
I believe this is the news story Mr. Brock was linking: http://www.tv2.no/2014/05/14/sport/5594792. It’s in Norwegian. The Google translation I get from that story is not great, but from what I can gather, the Olympiad organizers seem to have recently been denied about €15,000,000 in additional funding they were expecting from the Norwegian government. The story was published today, so that might explain why word has not yet reverberated.
Just so we won’t discourage potential organizers, the article talks about 15 million Norwegian Krone (not Euro) or about 2.5 mil USD. Still a hefty chunk of change, even taking into account that Norway is just about the most expensive country on Earth right now.
Here is the link for an article in English:
http://www.newsinenglish.no/2014/05/14/organizers-scramble-to-save-chess-olympiad/
The translation I saw for the article gave the amount in Euros. The correction is appreciated.
Here’s another link (let’s see if I can do one correctly!): https://chess24.com/en/read/news/chess-olympiad-facing-serious-money-crisis
Folks who want to follow the status of Norway Olympiad might follow https://twitter.com/TarjeiJS
The articles did not indicate that the Norwegian government, or rather parts of the nation’s parliament, were feeling enough or any pressure to give another $2.5 million to the organizers. They have been told to make do with what they have. Unless some private funding appears, they are likely going to have to cut corners or charge all of the federations extra fees in order to run the event. That would go over well. 
There must be more backstory as changes seem to have occurred in the Norwegian political party environment.
I was a little surprised to read that the organizers prepared for only 150 national teams rather than the 180 that have applied. It also appears the organizers did not tell the Norwegian government all of the details of the proposal.
Poor planning or an attempt to be too lavish?
IIRC, she who shall not be named was a presenter on behalf of the Norwegian organizing committee to get the Tromso bid accepted. There was praise all around on the presentation and what the committee proposed to do for the Olympiad.
FIDE’s letter to the Norwegian Chess Federation made it pretty clear that no additional fees will be permitted.
Didn’t countries get blindsided by fees and extra hotel costs at the Olympiad in Istanbul, courtesy of the organizers?
I like the Olympiads. It gets bigger every time. They produce so many interesting games and new ideas. But the process of doing it is always reported in the chess press as being slap dash or run by sharks.
The ‘standard’ accommodations are often deemed unsatisfactory by the players, and teams pay extra for better rooms, single rooms, better food, etc.
There are stories circulating (from private individuals and not FIDE) that there has been some misappropriation of funds that were provided by the government. Some members of the organizing body flying back and forth to Tromso and accomplishing nothing in these meetings other than hanging out.
The World Youth is experiencing issues as well such as the organizer wanting 100% of lodging fees up front and 3-star hotels costing an massive amount, both items which violate their bid agreements with FIDE.
The WY uncertainty is troubling as well. We are trying to provide parents with information and have precious little we can tell them.
Tell me about it. Makes negotiating with airlines for bulk ticket purchases a pain.
I read that the Olympiad organizers spent $5 million (yes US dollars) on the “opening ceremonies”. I find that high figure hard to believe. It would be an indefensible extravagance for very little value in return (if it really were true), IMHO.
Bill Goichberg could have done it for less.