How technology could enable Brisbane to host the Olympics more than once

Technological advances in the next seven years have the potential to keep Brisbane on the Olympics hosting radar far beyond 2032, according to a world renowned sports marketing expert.

Rick Burton, a Syracuse University professor of sport management who also worked as the United States Olympic Committee’s chief marketing officer for Beijing 2008, was adamant the city would produce a spectacle with a legacy across the globe.

“It will be a successful showcase,” he told this masthead before his keynote address at a University of Queensland event on Wednesday. “There’s no way Brisbane will drop the ball.”

Rick Burton believes Brisbane has an opportunity to leverage technology to make a statement to the world.

Brisbane’s Summer Games are set to be held in the tail end of Brisbane’s winter, from late July to early August. Burton argued this “seasonality” meant the city would remain a consideration well into the future – but only if it embraced the opportunities it had been given for a “Technology Games”.

“It’s a brilliant town. I think Sydney and Melbourne are going to have a hard time in the future hosting the Olympics because of the seasonality of when the IOC [International Olympic Committee] wants to hold the Games,” Burton said.

“Brisbane is always going to be able to host the Games. London, Paris and Los Angeles have had the Games many multiple times.

“I think Brisbane may be setting the table to get the Olympics again, and it will be a function of how well they go with these Games in 2032.”

Burton said on a previous visit to Brisbane he had heard government figures speak about Brisbane becoming the Silicon Valley of sports technology.

“Governments change, and who’s in charge changes, so it’s harder to say what we want people to take away about Brisbane, but I reckon there’s going to be an initiative to say Brisbane’s really good at technology,” he said.

“I think that will hold up, because technology is changing so fast and Brisbane is in the perfect place to leverage that.”

Debate about infrastructure has continued into 2025, while the Queensland government conducts its 100-day review of venues.

Burton, however, believed the rollout of 6G technology “sometime between 2028 and 2030” would open the floodgates for virtual reality and artificial intelligence to transform fan engagement with the Games.

Where he labelled Sydney 2000 the “Tourism Games”, and believed Los Angeles 2028 would be sold as the “Entertainment Games”, he said Brisbane had an opportunity to leverage technology to revolutionise the viewing experience, and make a statement on a worldwide scale.

Burton pointed to the National Basketball Association’s use of Meta Quest virtual reality headsets as an early sign the visual experience was readying for a profound period – one which would only be enhanced by 2032.

American basketball fans can watch virtual reality games with a headset like this one, released by Meta last year.Credit: Bloomberg

“The fans keep telling us they want to get closer to the action. They want cameras on the touchline, they want body cameras in the ball, they want statistics and to be on the pitch,” Burton said.

“Virtual reality is growing … whenever you have a stadium that has a fixed number of seats humans can physically sit in, the virtual stadium can hold an infinite number of seats.

“I might be sitting in the States, you might be in London, but virtual reality will make it possible for us to feel like we’re sitting together.

“It’s a bit hard for most people to imagine it, but it really is coming.”

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.