Why the Olympics should have a permanent host city

A groundbreaking proposal about the future of the Olympic Games has been proposed and it would change everything.

We all know the Olympics are hosted by a different city every four years, but some think it’s time for that to change.

In recent years, there’s been a growing push for the Games to have a permanent home, meaning it would be hosted by the same city each time.

According to economist Dr Andrew Zimbalist, the idea makes sense.

“When the modern Olympics were started in 1896, we didn’t have international jet travel, we didn’t have international telecommunications, and we had to move the games around to get the whole world to participate and to enjoy them,” Dr Zimbalist told news.com.au.

“That’s not true anymore, and so I think the logical and the rational way to go forward would be to have one permanent host for the Summer Games and one permanent host for the Winter Games.”

Thomas Bach, President of the IOC delivers a speech during the opening ceremony. Picture: Hector Vivas/Getty Images

There are several economic and environmental reasons as to why the IOC (International Olympic Committee) should consider a permanent home for the Games, the first being the cost that each host city has to bear every four years.

“The cost of the Olympics has exploded way beyond what the revenues are that it generates,” Dr Zimbalist said.

“The Games can cost anywhere from $10 billion to $60 or $70 billion on the expense side … but on the revenue side, you’re looking at around $5 or $6 billion for the Summer Games.

“That’s a terrible financial balance, right?” he said.

Olympic cities quite often have to build new venues to host the growing number of sports in the competition.

“When you host the Summer Games, you use … somewhere between 35 to 43 venues,” Dr Zimbalist told news.com.au.

“You also have to build roads … you have to build telecommunications infrastructure, you have to build an Olympic village that costs several billion dollars, you have to build a media village, and most of the stuff you end up building is not gonna be useful and viable economically afterwards.

“Why should we be rebuilding that every four years in a new city?” Dr Zimbalist said. “It’s a waste of resources.”

The Olympic Aquatics stadium in Rio de Janeiro is now abandoned. Picture: Buda Mendes/Getty Images

In the past 20 years, the staggering cost of the Games has seen fewer and fewer cities put their hands up to host.

For example, five cities bid for the 2024 games but three later pulled out, leaving just Paris and Los Angeles remaining.

The IOC awarded the games to Paris and then convinced LA to be the sole bidder for the 2028 games.

“In 2019, they (IOC) said, ‘we’re changing the whole bidding process, we’re not going to have open bidding anymore, all of the bidding is going to be behind closed doors,’” Dr Zimbalist told news.com.au.

“What does that mean? It means they don’t want to be embarrassed by announcing city X, Y, and Z are all anxious to host the Games, and then X, Y, and Z say, ‘oh, we changed our mind, we don’t want to do it anymore.’

“They want to avoid that,” Dr Zimbalist said.

Experts say there are two cities that would be viable options to host the Summer Games on a permanent basis, the first being Los Angeles which has all the necessary infrastructure already.

“I’m quite convinced that Los Angeles would be a great host on a permanent basis, however, I don’t think the people who live in Los Angeles would be very happy with that state of affairs because it is very, very disruptive,” Dr Zimbalist said.

“And moreover, I’m not sure the United States would be happy because they ... would have to foot a security bill of about $2 billion every time they hosted.”

Priestesses perform a dance during the handover ceremony of the Olympic Flame for the Paris 2024 Summer Games at the Panathinean stadium in Athens. Picture: Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP

The other option would be for the games to be hosted somewhere in Greece, the spiritual home of the Olympics.

“You could find a thousand acres somewhere between Olympia and Athens and build the Olympic infrastructure there, use it every four years for the games, and then in between use it as a training centre and for lesser competitions,” Dr Zimbalist said.

So, what’s the likelihood the IOC will actually decide to give the games a permanent home?

“They’re going to have to be pressured by outside forces,” Dr Zimbalist said.

“If corporate sponsors start pulling out, and some of them have already, but if they continue and if they apply pressure, and if politicians apply the pressure, and if Thomas Bach and the IOC are left with no bidders for Games, then there’s going to have to be change.”