Olympics boost for Brisbane as AOC boss says our bid would cost a third of Sydney campaign

Brisbane and Queensland could see a massive influx of big business and top sporting talent if it can secure the 2032 Olympics

Brisbane’s Olympics bid will cost a third of the Sydney campaign, AOC boss John Coates says, revealing the total spend is expected to come in under $10 million.

The AOC and partners the State and Federal governments, the SEQ Council of Mayors and Brisbane City Council are racing to complete IOC paperwork and questionnaires in time for a host commission meeting in less than two months, Mr Coates told an influential Committee for Brisbane lunch on Friday.

He said the candidate taskforce had kept a tight rein on costs but Brisbane could look forward to an influx of global players and big companies and employers keen to be part of an Olympic city if the 2032 bid is successful.

But he also repeated the warning from the IOC that “it’s not a done deal”.

Mr Coates said big firms had moved to Sydney drawn by Olympics exposure and Brisbane was well placed to become an investment magnet from Asia.

The business reward would come on top Brisbane being in the box seat to become Australia’s elite sport capital, with Australian teams keen to train and develop here.

Mr Coates is the keynote speaker at the launch of the Committee for Brisbane’s Olympics and Paralympics legacy report.

In June 2019, The Courier-Mail and sister SEQ mastheads officially backed the bid with front page editorials and has continued to fuel the push for the 2032 Games and the billions of dollars and 100,000 jobs it promises for Queensland.

Taliquua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho del Solar at the beach volleyball courts in Nathan Picture: John Gass

The SEQ Council of Mayors proposed a Games bid to fast-track public transport with a feasibility study which gathered momentum on the back of The Courier-Mail’s Future SEQ campaign that warned the southeast risked grinding to a halt as major roads hit peak congestion by the early 2030s as the population grew from 3.5m to 5.5m people.

Mr Coates told the business leaders at the launch of the Committee for Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics Legacies paper Brisbane needed to work out how it wanted to be viewed if the eyes of world is on it.

“There is much work to be done,” Mr Coates said.

“If you are selected to host the Games, at the Opening Ceremony alone, the eyes of

more than one half of the world’s population will look into your home.

“The world will watch and ask what sort of a place is this to invest in?

“Should this be my base into the Australian and Asian markets?”

While Mr Coates was addressing the business leaders at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, across the river, broadcaster Alan Jones told the Chappell 108 Sportsman Gala at the Hilton Brisbane’s bid was under challenge from a growing German push.

Brisbane secured preferred candidate status in February, meaning the IOC is talking exclusively to our organising committee.

The proposal is expected to go to the host commission in mid-May, and all going well, could go to a full IOC vote in July to decide whether Brisbane gets the Games.

Among the Committee for Brisbane legacies was to bring leading national sporting permanently to southeast Queensland.

Olympian Taliqua Clancy said Brisbane was a brilliant place to train and competing at a home-ground Olympics would be a dream come true for Queensland athletes like her.