Australia’s bid to host 2028 Olympics stumbles due to lack of financial backing

AUSTRALIA’S bid to once again host an Olympic Games could stretch to 32-years between drinks because we cannot find anyone to pay for it, reports David Riccio.

Australia’s bid to host the 2028 Olympics hasn’t received appropriate financial backing

AUSTRALIA’S bid to once again host an Olympic Games could stretch to 32-years between drinks because we cannot find anyone to pay for it.

South-East Queensland faces off against some of the great cities of the world - Los Angeles, Paris and Rome - for the 2028 Games but the biggest hurdle is support from corporate sponsors.

IOC vice-president John Coates said Australia - and South-East Queensland - was ‘attractive’ to the International Olympic Committee to rival superior corporate support.

Australia’s bid to host the 2028 Olympics hasn’t received appropriate financial backing

Mr Coates said Los Angeles alone has already indicated it would spend upwards of $60 million on its bid to host the world event for the third time.

“South-East Queensland is looking at it (Olympics) for 2028,’’ Coates said from the games in Rio.

“They are looking at it in the context of using the games to justify some pretty big infrastructure - a highway connecting the Sunshine Coast, probably rail.

“They have agreed to go ahead and do a full feasibility study among the seven councils and fund that.

“We will see how that goes.

“We have to make a pretty hard-nosed decision - they know this - as to whether to run with it.

“The cost of bidding is very high.

“They’re trying to take the costs out but I am hearing that LA, which has most of the venues, is talking about spending $60 million on a bid.

IOC vice-president John Coates says South East-Queensland are looking into 2028 hosting rights

“So is Rome and Paris.

“The difficulty is where do they find that money in Australia.

“They can find it in the US in the corporate sector.

“They (SEQ) would need to be able to show us they have the federal government behind it and the state government.’’

Coates’ comments from Rio emerged in the wake of the Gold Coast council baulking at a decision on whether to support SEQ’s bid.

The Brisbane City Council has voted in favour of a feasibility report for a formal bid but the support of all regional councils is needed.

Australia last hosted the Games in Sydney in 2000.

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Tokyo will host the 2020 games while Los Angeles, Rome, Paris, Budapest and Hamburg are in the running to stage the 2024 games. LA is likely to bid again for 2028 should it miss out.

Should SEQ be overlooked for 2028, it could be 2032 before another bid from Australia could be considered.

“You also have to weigh up what the competition is going to be,’’ Coates said of SEQ’s prospects.

“You have some pretty good ones this time (2024). Whoever loses, will they go again? You have to weigh that up.

“We had to wait 44 years between drinks last time - Melbourne to Sydney.

Australia is an appealing location to the IOC after the success of the Sydney 2000 games

“But we’re very attractive to the IOC. We did a good job last time.

“We managed the security last time, I’m not going to say that’s going to be easy but we did the G20 in Brisbane, successfully.

“It counts a little bit against us that there is going to be three Asian games coming up, Pyeongchang (Winter Olympics 2018), Tokyo (2020), and then Beijing (2022) for the winters again.’’

“It has not been back to Western Europe for a while.

“So it’s really complicated.’’

A final decision on the bid for the Games is not expected to be made until November next year.

A full bid will not need to be submitted to the International Olympic Committee until 2019.

Originally published as Australia’s bid to host 2028 Olympics stumbles due to lack of financial backing