Robert Craddock: Brisbane holds all the aces if it decides to make a bid for 2032 Olympic Games

Brisbane, the 2032 Olympic Games are yours for the taking, but just how far are you prepared to go to get them, asks The Courier Mail’s Robert Craddock.

Brisbane is the bookmakers’ favourite to host the 2032 Olympics and will get them if they want them badly enough.

The Games are Brisbane’s to lose should they decide to bid. No question about it.

Brisbane, and its nearby regions, did not jump out of the wilderness to chase the Olympics.

They were headhunted and asked to apply on the genuine chance they’d get the rights.

The world’s biggest sporting event is Brisbane’s for the picking.

Brisbane is better placed than rivals, including Jakarta and Delhi, but major questions must be answered.

How far do you go? How much are you willing to spend? How much support can you get from the Federal Government?

Times have changed for Olympic bids.

When Sydney won the 2000 Games hosting rights — beating Beijing 45 to 43 in the final vote — it also had to wriggle past impressive bids from Manchester, Berlin and Istanbul.

Back then Olympic officials sat back and smoked their pipes and were serenaded by bidders who would do anything for votes.

But the cost of the Games spiralled so far out of control that it became a financial millstone dragged for many years.

Now the Games need the host cities as much or even more than the host cities need the Games to the point where the IOC reached out to Brisbane to apply.

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The Rio Olympics opening ceremony in 2016. Picture: Reuters

The lack of suitable and willing host cities is why the IOC made the unprecedented move to give Paris (2024) and Los Angeles (2028) hosting rights at the one meeting because it knew it had two great venues and it didn’t want to waste them. Smart move.

For all the complexities of bidding for the Games, in its pure essence it is much like bidding for a house you really like.

You stretch yourself as far as you can but there is a point where it all becomes too much.

A feasibility study suggested the Brisbane Games would cost $900 million and that is without essential road improvements.

The Athens OIympics in 2004 left Greece financially on its knees.

Many mayors of major cities cover their ears when they hear the “O’’ word mentioned in terms of a bid.

But the Olympics are changing to meet the needs of the cities that host them.

Haunting images of abandoned stadiums used at the Rio and Athens Olympics are monuments to waste and extravagant spending.

“Things have changed,’’ John Coates, president of Australia’s Olympic Committee and key Olympic powerbroker at global level, said last month.

“No longer does the IOC want to see new venues — they want to see existing venues, temporary venues, adapted venues.

Members of the Australia team at the opening ceremony in Rio.

“We have dialogue with cities, we will target cities, we want to fit in with their normal growth.

“The Olympic movement doesn’t want to leave white ­elephants It wants to be part of a society, a community’s natural growth.

“The community has to know that there’s a legacy from it, not a legacy for the IOC.”

This will help Brisbane because there is no way Queensland could have an Athens or a Rio-style Games.

The Games are so big that once you host them, your name becomes forever associated with them.

When I hear the words Helsinki, Seoul or Montreal for some reason the next word I hear is Olympics.

Brisbane should go hard to host the Games — but on their terms. Drive the best deal for the city as well as delivering as a host.

GOOD

Ash Barty closing in on the No. 1 world ranking. One of the greatest of all Australian sports stories and its got many more vibrant chapters ahead.

BAD

South Africa’s horrendous form in cricket’s World Cup. It’s made the final make-up predictable and taken one of the most interesting storylines out of the tournament.

UGLY

Israel Folau starting a GoFundMe page to support his legal battle with Rugby Australia. After the massive seven-figure sums he has been earning annually this is pure cheek.

Originally published as Robert Craddock: Brisbane holds all the aces if it decides to make a bid for 2032 Olympic Games