Assessing the economic viability of hosting the 2036 Olympics in India
The Olympic Games are often referred to as one of the world’s most significant and historical sporting events. These Games originated in Ancient Greece and were reestablished in 1896, currently featuring more than 30 sports in which more than 200 countries participate. They not only provide audiences with entertainment, but also promote unity and cross-cultural communication, while also providing athletes with a platform to showcase their excellence. The core values of these games according to the Olympics website are excellence, respect, and friendship.
However, these games go beyond their massive cultural significance. They hold immense economic and political significance for their host country. Hosting these games is an opportunity for a nation to show their global standing. They may lead to strengthened international relations of a country, and attract mainstream international attention, which has significant economic benefits. Some of these are increased tourism, creation of infrastructure, and the creation of jobs on a large scale. These benefits also extend to the long term, impacting nations for the foreseeable future due to various factors. On the other hand, hosting these games requires cautious planning and execution due to the challenges involved, such as the enormously high cost of organising, as well as the risk of infrastructure not being used after the games. When a city wins the bid to host the Olympics, it is regarded as a major accomplishment. But behind all of the glamour and elegance however, is a financial reality that even the world's largest cities struggle to deal with.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of hosting Olympics in 2036:
Benefits of hosting the Olympics:
Employment in the short as well as the long term may increase as a result of the Olympics. The boost that local businesses get during the games may help them expand their business, leading to growth in the economy and more employment opportunities.
Over the period of the event, there is a surge in tourism to the host city. Millions of tourists head to the city during this time. This stimulates the hospitality industry, while also benefiting local businesses around the Olympic Village. The revenue of local businesses around the host city has shown to improve by 20-40%. This leads to an inflow of foreign exchange.
Hosting the games could attract a substantial amount of FDI inflows focused towards upgradation of airports, the metro system, and 'smart city projects'.
The construction of world-class sports facilities will open the door for other major national and international sporting events to be held. Hosting the games would directly affect Indian athletes in terms of better training infrastructure, coaching expertise, and exposure to high-level competition, so that they could compete at par with other global competitors.
Olympic standard stadiums, training facilities and a state-of-the-art sports complex have huge potential to be beneficial in the long term if marketed right and not left unused.
The creation and upgradation of non-sports infrastructure like public transport, housing and other utilities will have long term benefits. For India, Olympic preparations could lead to expansions in metro networks, roadways, and airports.
Goodwill generated during the event and an improved image would attract repeated visits by international tourists. Due to exposure to Indian art, music, and traditions, a global interest would be fostered in the country.
A well organised Olympics can lead to a lifestyle of fitness and sportsmanship in society. This may promote people to take up physical activity and sports as a lifestyle activity that would tackle many lifestyle-related health issues, improving standard of living as a whole.
Costs of hosting the Olympics:
The monetary costs of hosting the Olympic Games have shown a trend of ballooning and surpassing their budget by extravagant amounts.
Bidding to host the games alone sets most countries back by around 20 million USD. Additionally, until the outcome is known, the bidding process ties up real estate in the host-to-be urban cities. This can cause millions of dollars of lost revenue.
Development of infrastructure forms the bulk of the cost. It includes expenditure on the development of stadiums, transport, hotels, the Olympic Village, etc. If given the opportunity, apart from building state-of-the-art sports facilities and infrastructure, India will also have to develop important non-sports infrastructure like public transport and accommodations for thousands of athletes and tens of thousands of international tourists. The biggest infrastructure related problem is not its extravagant cost, but the risk of it being left unused and vacant post the games, while still racking up hefty maintenance costs, thus becoming a burden on the country and the taxpayer.
Strong IT infrastructure will also be required for ticketing systems and event tracking. Investment in cyber security is expected too.
According to Times of India, if India does host the 2036 Olympics, the opening and closing ceremonies will be held at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, while the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Sports Enclave is projected to be the Olympic Village. Gujarat has formulated a 6000 crore INR (710 million USD) plan to prepare Ahmedabad as the host city for 2036. The Gujarat Olympic Planning and Infrastructure Corporation Ltd has planned to construct six sports complexes for events like football, swimming, tennis and basketball, as well as media centres in the SVP Sports Enclave. They will have to spend on creating accommodation as well as transportation.
The costs of hosting the Olympics go beyond monetary values. In order to acquire land for the ambitious infrastructure projects, a large population in the host city may get displaced. For example, Rio 2016 displaced over 77000 people. In addition, as mentioned earlier, funds have to be reallocated from other sectors. These may be crucial sectors like healthcare and education which already need more funds. This will be detrimental to the citizens of the nation. Clearing of greenery for venues and construction of infrastructure have a harmful impact on the environment.
Conclusion
Keeping the above in mind, India must be conscious of the financial risks before volunteering to host the 2036 Olympics. It may be an extravagant and impulsive investment, racking up huge bills to be dealt with after the games are over. On the other side of the glitz and glamour of the Games are India’s rural poor, who are still lacking access to basic healthcare and education. It is extremely critical for India to focus on strengthening its core, rather than falling prey to showcasing a spectacle, which may be only for the short term, plunging the country further into debt and slower growth in real terms.
