Billions could be saved with a permanent Olympic city state
From Peter Blakeborough's Blog
There will never be an end to the waste, cost overruns and the failed political and economic dreams of Olympic host cities, until a permanent Olympic city state is created and made available for all world sporting events.
Once established, a permanent site could generate a surplus of funds that would enable smaller nations and less well-off sports and sports people to participate. Ideally, the site would be situated in northern Europe, northern Asia, or North America in a locality where both the summer and winter climates are reliable. It would also have to be a locality with suitable geography.
Many countries have successful and attractive purpose-built capital cities. That concept has always worked well. Now it is time for the world to build a completely new city state as the world sporting capital. Transforming an existing city in the territory of an existing country would be a bad compromise that would be bound to fail for political reasons. It would only result in the site having to relocate again and again, as it does now.
While such a city state would likely be surrounded by another country it would have to be independent of that country with its own government, elected parliament, border protection and international airport, and everything else that goes with an independent state. For the nation giving up a slice of its territory, there would be huge benefits with trade, business and employment. But the new city state would have to be assured of political independence for the concept to work. And ideally it would not be the IOC that would have governmental control of the new city state, but the elected representatives of the citizens of the new state after founding support from the UN and the participating countries.
The funds required for establishing the new city and venues could be met by the participating nations, who would also share the benefits and the profits. A permanent Olympic city could also become the world’s most successful tourist city, and the ultimate place to do business, to be in employment, or to raise a family. The spin-offs could be astronomical.
So why not make that place the place where it all began so long ago? Unfortunately, Greece does not meet the reliable year round climatic conditions. The winters are too mild. The site must have reliable summer and winter conditions with terrain that is both level and sloping, areas suitable for water events, and rural spaces suitable for building a major city with all that that entails.
Some people have suggested that two sites are needed. For example, the Summer Olympics could be held in Greece and the Winter Olympics in Canada. But in this case two are not going to live cheaper than one, and building one Olympic city and state from scratch will be a major undertaking on its own.
To quote the Washington Post, “The Olympics are bad for cities. So why do we keep asking new places to invest billions of dollars in state-of-the-art stadiums they’ll never use again?” The Post continues with, “The Summer Olympics are one of the biggest spectacles in the world, and come with a hefty price tag. Hosting the Games demands major urban infrastructural investment, new or expensively upgraded sporting venues, and housing for 10,000 athletes (plus thousands of spectators). As the German economist Holger Preuss has shown, this crowds out other forms of public investment, such as spending on education and social welfare that may better serve the long-term needs of citizens.”
Hosting the Olympics is a dream-boom and a reality-bust business and most host cities later regret having taken up the challenge.
It is often claimed that hosting the Olympics is good for tourism. But, while there may be some possible long-term gains for tourism, this is doubtful. In the short term the disruption to the regular flow of tourist is horrendous and frustrating due to over-stretched facilities and predatory pricing.
So, you may ask, who will use the facilities between the four-yearly events? Firstly, the Olympics could become an annual or bi-annual event. But there is also a plethora of other international sporting events constantly looking for venues. Here is a list of sports that hold world championships: World sports And what better place would there for holding a conference or convention that at the Olympic World Centre?
More on the permanent Olympic proposal can be read by clicking on these links:
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