CHICAGO | Should the Summer Olympic Games come to Chicago in 2016, they won't leave a physical mark on the area, as none of the events would be held in the 10th Ward, the surrounding south suburbs or Northwest Indiana.

But those areas will have the potential for economic and cultural benefits from having the Olympics staged within the city.

Chicago 2016 Chairman Patrick Ryan ventured Tuesday to the far southeast corner of the city to convince residents of the South Chicago, East Side, South Deering and Hegewisch neighborhoods that the Olympics will not be a bad thing.

Ryan touted the desire by Chicago officials to use the Olympics as a way of advertising the city. He said communities surrounding Chicago could do the same.

"They could pick up a lot of tourists, and go a long way toward promoting the image of their towns," he said.

He said the Olympics also could mean more jobs.

Ryan also said the World Sport Chicago Foundation is trying to promote athletics among area children. "We're going to continue with World Sport Chicago if we win (the Olympics) or not, but if we win, the efforts will be all that more intense," he said.

Skeptical was Tom Tresser, leader of the activist group No Games Chicago, which contends the city is underestimating the cost of staging the Olympics and warns that city taxpayers will wind up getting hit with the cost overruns.

Ryan said he thinks people such as Tresser are getting bad information and overestimating the expense, but Tresser said he thinks the city is deliberately downplaying the true cost.

"We have Millennium Park. We have Soldier Field (the renovation of 2002). We have that hole in the ground that is Block 37," Tresser said. "This city has a history of projects that go over cost. This (the Olympics) will make them look like chump change."