Opinion: AIS should move north with 2032 Games

We want to propose some different thinking into the debate about venues for Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, write Andrew Fraser and John Wylie.

An early concept for a Brisbane Olympic stadium by Urbis

We’ve all been talking about the weather a lot recently in Queensland, almost as much as we’ve been talking about the Olympics and what it’s going to mean for Brisbane.

One of the major advantages of Brisbane’s candidacy in winning the Games was the need for the event to be in a narrow window in late July/early August due to IOC requirements. While August in Canberra is where hope goes to die, winters in Brisbane are bankable crisp mornings and brilliant days of warm sunshine.

This meteorological expectation underpins the Brisbane 2032 dates of 23 July to 8 August. The Olympics will take place at a time of year when we can all enjoy being outside and now we need to work out where exactly the main event will take place.

We want to propose some different thinking into the debate about venues for Brisbane’s 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

We do this without the benefit of knowing all the requirements and exigencies of the IOC contracts, but with the intent of wanting the Olympics to deliver an enduring sporting legacy to Brisbane, and indeed to Australia.

Instead of working out where we build or rebuild a stadium to host opening and closing ceremonies and the major showpiece athletics events, let’s start with working out how we build a magnificent athletics facility that can host the Olympic sports and then be the new, permanent home of a world-class Australian Institute of Sport. That would be true legacy.

After the national disappointment of Montreal in 1976, the AIS was conceived and born into its location in Belconnen in Canberra. To say the least, Canberra – unlike Brisbane – does not have the natural advantages of a climate conducive to athletic development and competition.

The AIS facility was a world-leading initiative when it opened, but it is now well past its use-by date.

Our view is that Queensland should build a world class athletics facility and wrap sufficient seating around the track and field facilities, rather than building a massive stadium and inserting a track inside it.

The perfect location for the new, permanent home of the Australian Institute of Sport should be where the current Queensland Academy of Sport is located – on the site of the 1982 Commonwealth Games at Nathan, 12km from the CBD.

Rather than focusing on the need for maximum capacity seating in a stadium for a two-week event, let’s build world class, enduring sporting facilities and build enough permanent seating augmented with temporary seating.

Not of all it is going to need a roof (the Games will be held in winter!)

Imagine a design redolent of the original Athenian Olympic amphitheatres. It would look like no other Olympics, and with sporting and athlete requirements as the guiding design principles it would be loved by the athletes and the investment utilised well into the future.

But what of the opening (and closing) ceremonies?

Either Suncorp Stadium or the Gabba can readily accommodate those ceremonies with a level of upgrading to access and amenity.

Alternatively, if we want to really think big then we should start with the reality for any stadium: the IOC’s commercial requirements mean that potentially fewer than 10,000 tickets would be available for the ballot for the general public out of 50,000 seats.

How about holding the opening and closing ceremonies in the twilight evening along the Brisbane River, so 250,000 or 300,000 people from all walks of life can witness the event, rather than just the lucky few?

We do it every year for Riverfire in the Brisbane Festival – let’s amplify that concept to a global standard.

It would require a globally significant security and logistics operation but the dividend would be a memorable, mass-appeal event that would live in the memories of a generation. Paris is going down this route, and the Brisbane River stacks up against the Seine!

What all this might mean for the site of the athletes village can be the subject of further debate no doubt.

There is a massive busway that runs close to the current Academy of Sport site and could readily be extended directly into the area.

The new Brisbane metro project with a few agile amendments could service the area and the Nathan campus of Griffith University (relatively under- serviced by public transport compared to UQ’s St Lucia campus and QUT’s Gardens Point campus).

There is much more to consider, and many issues to solve whatever the future path we take.

But let’s stop and think deeply about what true legacy looks like.

It’s been a hot, humid and stormy summer and the debate about our Olympic arrangements and investment has been equally hot and stormy. Putting sporting legacy first might help define our true Olympic dividend.

Andrew Fraser is a former state Labor treasurer and the current chancellor of Griffith University. John Wylie AC is a leading investment banker. The pair served together on the board of the Australian Sports Commission