Olympic boss Thomas Bach has no worries about ‘solid’ funding of Brisbane Olympics
The IOC boss claims not to have any concerns about the $5bn 2032 host city contract with Brisbane.
International Olympic Committee boss Thomas Bach claimed not to have any concerns about the $5bn host city contract with Brisbane 2032 despite the state of Victoria abruptly abandoning the 2026 Commonwealth Games on cost grounds.
In an effort to distance the staging of the 28-sport Olympic Games from the much smaller Commonwealth Games Federation, Mr Bach said on Tuesday: “I don’t have any concerns for the Olympic Games’’.
He insisted his organisation predicted the post-Covid-19 economic crises and challenges, exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and had stressed to all future Games organisers to decide whether any or every event is really necessary or whether it was just “a nice to have”.
He said: “You know, we are not living in a time where you can look so much at the nice-to-haves. We have to concentrate on the essentials and this is what we are doing with the Olympic and Paralympic Games’’.
However, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) had repeatedly furnished advice to the Victorian organising committee about ways to cut costs, and suggested – to no avail – that some events could be relocated to Melbourne’s existing facilities to save money.
The CGF had also left the selection of sports to the Melbourne organising committee and Victorian government, apart from mandatory swimming and athletics competitions.
Despite the cost-saving efforts of the CGF, the Victorian government suddenly, and without consultation with the Federation or its own organising committee board, claimed the infrastructure costs of the games, held in four regional Victorian centres, had blown out to more than $7bn.
Mr Bach insisted that the Olympic Games “optimisation model” with balanced budgets and sustainable solutions had put the financing of future Olympic Games “in a solid way”.
A key difference to the Victorian Commonwealth Games, which was underwritten by the Dan Andrews- government, is that the Brisbane Olympics and Paralympics have been guaranteed by both the Queensland state government and the Federal government.
Queensland state government budget papers show the state and Federal governments are pouring in $7.1 billion over the decade, mainly on big infrastructure projects which will benefit the state long after the 14 day Olympics has finished, such as the $2.7 billion redevelopment of the Gabba, a $2.5bn Brisbane Arena and upgrade of existing facilities, and land for the athletes village at a cost of $1.9 billion.
The operational costs of the Brisbane Games is supposed to be a balanced budget of $4.94bn in 2021 dollars funded by domestic sponsorships and ticket sales of $3.03bn and the IOC contributing a minimum of $950.7m from international broadcast rights.
Meanwhile Mr Bach said a final decision about the participation of Russians and Belarussians at next year‘s Paris Summer Olympics would be left until the last minute but stressed: “We have a mission to unite all the athletes of the world in a peaceful competition. We have the responsibility not to punish athletes for the acts of their governments.”
He also defended the IOC’s benign position on the inclusion of trans athletes in major competitions, including the Paris Olympics, insisting he had taken a leadership position by allowing international sports federations to make up their own rules.
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