The real deal on the next G-20 and RNC

Timothy McNulty | September 30, 2009

KDKA's Marty Griffin has a lot of people talking about his (unsourced) contention that the G-20 could be coming back to Pittsburgh, or perhaps the Republican National Convention. Both scenarios are unlikely.

The only known official G-20 host locations are Canada and Korea in 2010, and France in 2011, when it is supposed to revert to a once-a-year gathering. The international meeting is hosted by the revolving chair of the G-20 committee -- last year the chair was Brazil (finance ministers met there, before the US called an emergency session of leaders in Washington) and this year the chair was the UK (a meeting was held in London before an extra one was called for the United Nations in NYC, which was shifted to Pittsburgh).

Griffin also said the city could host the Republican National Convention in 2012. That is possible -- just as it's possible that dozens of other cities could also host. Here's what is actually happening:

The RNC named its site selection committee this summer (the names are here, with no officials from Pa). As usual, the committee issued letters to 30 cities nationwide to gauge their interest in hosting, in which they have been asked for basic information on event spaces and available hotel rooms and the like. After the committee holds a meeting this winter, it will issue official requests for proposals from interested cities, which have to create non-profit host commissions to raise tens of millions of bucks to offset convention expenses -- Denver's committee raised $62.9 million for last year's DNC and Minneapolis-St. Paul $54 million for the RNC.

Of course, Allegheny County GOP chair Jim Roddey would love to host the world in Pittsburgh, and joked today that he would be "leading the Pledge of Allegiance" at the convention, which could be held in the new Consol Energy Arena (which opens next year). And when RNC chairman Michael Steele met with him and billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife this summer during a Pittsburgh fundraising trip, Roddey made a pitch for the city as host.

It's a nice idea -- since Pennsylvania is still a swing state and the greater Pittsburgh area is trending Republican -- but even Roddey can't see the (Democat-controlled) city supporting such a major fundraising effort. "It's a lot of money. With Democrats controlling the city for a generation, it's a long shot."

The other big question, besides the price, is whether Pittsburgh has enough hotel rooms (there are 24,000 in the metro area) to host the RNC. Related to that is the most important point of all: say whatever you will about the pains of the G-20, hosting a political convention is even bigger. While the G-20 hosted 3,000 journalists (notes my colleague Jim O'Toole) a convention can bring in 15,000.