After more than four years of work and $9 million, it all comes down to this: a whirlwind tour to see if Washington-Baltimore survives the next cut to play host to the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
It's the most pivotal moment yet for local organizers, but not the last, they hope. They'd like nothing more than to suffer through the anxiety again in November, when the winner among U.S. cities is announced, and again in 2005, when the International Olympic Committee chooses the host city for the Games.
"We're still confident," said Dan Knise, president and chief executive of the Chesapeake Region 2012 Coalition. "The pressure is building a bit. It's exhilarating. I think there's something about being able to see the finish line that's motivating to any team."
Friday, a 14-member evaluation team from the United States Olympic Committee will begin its final examination of the proposed sites for the Games. The tour will last 29 hours. Then the team will move on to the other finalist cities - New York, Houston and San Francisco.
This is a high-stakes visit with implications for the region for decades to come.
"It's a last impression before the final tally for the committee," said Bob Condron, a spokesman for the USOC. "It's important, but it doesn't override the three to four years leading up to this. We know what the cities have to offer, but it's a refinement."
At least one national expert thinks the contest is mainly between Washington-Baltimore and New York, and that the other bids are more long shots.
What Olympic officials will see on this visit is quite different from what they saw a year ago.
They will revisit Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington, where organizers plan a multipurpose Olympic park on 80 acres near the Anacostia waterfront instead of events held in one stadium. That area would provide venues for boxing, archery, aquatics, track and field, beach volleyball and team handball. Some of those events, originally planned for Maryland and Virginia, would be moved to the cluster of venues in Washington.
RFK Stadium would be razed and a new Olympic stadium built with 45,000 permanent seats and 35,000 temporary seats.
Four sports originally planned for Maryland would be moved out of the state, along with four others from Virginia.
The USOC team will review plans to add temporary and permanent housing at the University of Maryland, College Park - the proposed Olympic Village.
The tour isn't even expected to visit Baltimore this time.
"I'm disappointed that that won't happen and a little frustrated," Knise said. "We've only got six hours [to tour venues]. I feel like they've seen [Baltimore] and loved it."
Baltimore would still play host to soccer, baseball, gymnastics, table tennis, cycling and the triathlon.
The USOC will eliminate two cities from the competition in September. Four cities - Cincinnati, Dallas, Los Angeles and Tampa, Fla. - were cut in October.
If the local bid survives the cut, organizers will make their final pitch for the region in a 100-page document, bolstered by a 10-minute video, by Oct. 1.
Then, on Nov. 2 and 3, representatives of the two finalist cities will make presentations in Colorado Springs, Colo., and the USOC will name a winner.
That city will enter the international competition. The International Olympic Committee is expected to name a host city in 2005.
It is expected that the local organizing committee would spend $2.8 billion to prepare for and conduct the Games.
The local bid has rallied the region in unparalleled ways. It has the support of the mayors of Baltimore and Washington, Virginia officials and the region's business community. This month, members of the Maryland, Virginia and District of Columbia congressional delegations signed a resolution of support for the region's efforts to land the Games.
Given time limitations, the USOC visit will focus on changes local organizers outlined in a 256-page addendum submitted in April.
The cluster of events at the Olympic Sports Complex in Washington would position 85 percent of the venues within a mile of a rail transit station and reduce travel time by 45 percent for athletes staying at the Olympic Village, according to local organizers. Those changes were made to allay the USOC's concerns about transportation.
"We wanted to get more of our events closer to the Olympic Village and public transportation," Knise said. "If our mission is to win this for our region, then you have to do what it takes to win."
The campus also would enable athletes in 23 of 28 sports to train there, eliminating travel time.
"According to our athletes, that's a unique advantage we have," Knise said. "I think that's a real plus, and we want them to see that."
One national expert said such provisions give the Washington-Baltimore bid an advantage.
"Athletes are their most vulnerable when they're traveling," said John P. Bevilaqua, president and chief executive of Creative Marketing Strategies Inc. in Atlanta, who has attended 10 Olympic Games. "I think that's a major plus for this bid. It strengthens the bid and makes it a lot more viable in the eyes of the people who have to make the decision."
Bevilaqua praised local organizers' willingness to make changes.
"You get feedback from these review committees and the athletes, so you keep tweaking it," Bevilaqua said. "It shows that the Baltimore-Washington people are listening and hearing those suggestions and are making the changes, even though they may get some negative feedback. It's always a work in progress."
The venue changes will necessitate a reapportionment of the estimated economic impact and required financial guarantee for the various jurisdictions, Knise said.
Maryland, Washington and Virginia previously agreed to back a $175 million financial guarantee, a form of insurance that would be used to pay off debts if costs and revenue didn't meet projections.
Maryland's share would be an estimated $92.75 million, although that figure could change because some venues have been moved from the state. The financial guarantees have been a requirement of the IOC since the Atlanta Games in 1996.
Local organizers also recently modified their revenue projections to $92 million from $279 million based on additional costs to play host to the Paralympics, the Games for disabled athletes; additional temporary facilities; and increased operational and security costs, among other things, Knise said.
Originally, Washington and Baltimore made separate efforts for the Summer Games. In December 1997, the publishers of The Sun and Washington Post organized a meeting to discuss a joint bid, a move that, behind the scenes, the USOC had strongly recommended. The project solidified the following June as the Washington-Baltimore Regional 2012 Coaltion.
But in May of last year, local organizers announced that the effort to land the Summer Games would go forward without Baltimore in the name, even though the effort had been billed as a regional one for years.
"We would not have changed it," Knise said. "We had no choice."
Using a single city name in the bid was required by the USOC, he said.
"The decision to go with Washington as a name was driven by the international recognition and the significance of the nation's capital," Knise said. "More than 60 percent of the Summer Games have been held in nation's capitals."
Knise realizes that the name change is not insignificant to people in Maryland.
"I think it's hard for people not to see their name up in lights," he said. "The challenge we have together is once you get beyond the name change to make sure we're doing the right things to have a positive experience for the community."
He also said that sheer workload has kept him tied more to Washington.
"In Baltimore, we're probably not as central in everyone's mind as we were, that's the shift that's taken place," Knise said.
Local organizers will leave nothing to chance for this critical event. As during the last visit, there will be a dry run to venues at the time of day when the evaluation team visits are scheduled.
Helping to plan the visit are the transportation experts who handled the Salt Lake City Games, Knise said.
"It needs to run on time," he said. "It needs to run with some organization. They're still gauging us as people, so that's a piece of it. They want to know: Are these people you can form a partnership with? That's still up for grabs."
Bevilaqua said he believes there might be less "up for grabs" than might appear. He considers Washington-Baltimore the top contender, with New York a close second.
USOC members "know who the two finalists are going to be," he said. "They may not know who the finalist is, and the departure of Sandy Baldwin may play into this. But based on my experience, I bet you two of the bids are clearly superior to the others. ... I think whether it's overt or subtle, I bet the cities that are going to be picked already have a sense of it."
Baldwin resigned as USOC president last month amid reports that she had falsified academic credentials.
"I believe that New York and Washington have good, solid bids, and I think they would have to stumble badly during these visits in order to drop into a second tier," Bevilaqua said. "I don't see that happening."