Olympic Games a catalyst for Brisbane’s coming of age
The last time Brisbane made a bid to host the world’s premier sporting event was for 1992’s games. Unfortunately, this was outbid by Barcelona, but Brisbane has undeniably undergone (and is still undergoing) a transformation since then. With the news recently full of updates on the pursuit, we take another look at what Brisbane’s hosting of the 2032 Summer Olympic Games could mean for us proud River City dwellers.
Will our bid be successful?
So how do Brisbane’s bidding odds look at this stage? After all, a gamut of other hopeful hosts for 2032 include Madrid, Shanghai, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, Budapest, and even London. That’s quite a selection of world-class cities — how does ours hold up against them?
Let’s not forget Brisbane’s team of marketers has been laying claim to being ‘Australia’s new world city’ for the past decade. This would certainly be one way of walking the walk!
The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) president Dr Thomas Bach visited Brisbane earlier this year, a meeting reportedly brimming with positive interactions. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner gave Dr Bach a detailed introduction to our city, to which Bach expressed views that Brisbane would make an ideal setting for the event, and that the IOC would be willing to contribute a hearty amount of funding to the games’ preparations.
While Cr Schrinner has disclosed that no decision on whether to bid will be made final until 2020, Premier Palaszczuk’s recent trip to Lausanne, Switzerland to discuss such matters with the IOC, suggests a reasonably formed commitment on Queensland’s part, about which she affirms SEQ “clearly have the attention of the International Olympic Committee.”
A few changes to IOC’s stringent bid requirements in June, designed to prompt more potential bidders to throw their hats into the ring, have made the undertaking even more feasible for Brisbane and SEQ. Changes mean bidding has opened up to regions rather than just cities, with Dr Bach saying, “Flexibility is a necessity to ensure good governance and to have sustainable Olympic Games in the future.”
This new emphasis on preparing for the Olympics in an economically sustainable way has seen an increase in SEQ’s leaders getting onboard with plans to bid for the event.
What would hosting the games cost SEQ?
While the Sydney 2000 Olympics was reported to have cost a total of $6.5 billion, the last 20 years have seen changes in IOC’s expected expenditure from bidding hosts who want to secure the privilege. A feasibility study released in February of this year indicated the budget to operate the event in SEQ (excluding the costs of infrastructure upgrades) would be $5.3 billion.
At the time of talks between Cr Schrinner, Dr Bach, and Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates in May this year, funding was estimated at $2.7 billion of domestic revenue. IOC have provided an updated figure of their contribution as $2.58 billion, which means the net cost to SEQ ratepayers would be negligible.
Ms Palaszczuk estimates that roughly 85 percent of venues needed to host the Games are already built, with Mr Coates reiterating, “Priority must be given to the use of existing or temporary venues; the construction of new permanent venues for the purpose of the Games will only be considered if a sustainable legacy can be shown.”
It appears at this stage that all SEQ authorities on board are agreeable to ensuring the majority of funding goes towards infrastructure SEQ already needs, rather than being poured into shiny trophy buildings.
A recent downsizing of Olympic stadium requirements from 80,000 capacity to 60,000 capacity plus temporary seating, also lowers costs to ratepayers. This is another win in Brisbane’s potential pursuit of preparing for the Olympics in a cost-effective way.
How will the games benefit Brisbanites?
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been very clear that the choice to bid pivots entirely on whether final reports project the pursuit as returning jobs and already-required infrastructure.
“This is not just about a couple of weeks of competition. It is about accelerating decades’ worth of jobs investment,” Palaszczuk continues, “It’s about getting things off the drawing boards and into our lives.”
Almost in response to this, RACQ Chief Communications Officer, Paul Turner says, “What I think the Olympics in 2032 does is actually give a focus and a lightning rod to something we should be doing anyway.”
He’s referring, of course, to the kinds of roads and transport infrastructure a growing SEQ is overdue for already. Recent talk of a fast-rail to link the proposed Olympic villages of Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and the Sunshine Coast, has taken existing plans for Brisbane’s Cross-River Rail and Metro to the next level. It’s precisely this kind of Games’ preparation that could benefit SEQ residents in the long term. With the recent loosening of selection procedures and the possibility of IOC granting Brisbane’s bid in the next few years, SEQ would have a good decade to effectively budget and implement these kinds of key infrastructure.
SEQ’s hosting of the games would make optimal use of the extensive hospitality developments undertaken in the past few years, including the five new hotels at Queens’ Wharf, Brisbane Quarter, and Brisbane Airport’s $3.8 billion runway redevelopment. The influx of tourists would also help offset the upcoming costs of Brisbane Metro and Brisbane Live, our proposed world-class entertainment precinct.
Hosting the 2032 Olympic Games would be an excellent claim to earning Brisbane’s new ‘World City’ slogan. It would result in ongoing increased tourism, the recouping of costs to Brisbane’s cultural investments, and not least of all, a positive influence on Brisbane’s property prices. While there’s no concrete evidence of short term price growth after a city hosts the Olympic Games, there’s no doubt that the long term investment in infrastructure and putting Brisbane on the world stage can be a positive for house prices in our city.
We think any opportunity to demonstrate our fantastic lifestyle to the rest of the world is one worth pursuing!
