Threat of bad weather for the Brisbane 2032 Games. With a little less than ten years to go, the fine political balance displayed during the candidacy phase already seems to have some cracks.
The mayor of Gold Coast, Tom Tate, threw a big wrench in the pond by suggesting in the Australian media that the center of gravity of the system should be moved from Brisbane to his own city. According to the Queensland elected official, the change would have the effect of considerably reducing the cost of the Games. And, by domino effect, the potential impact of the event on taxpayers.
Tom Tate points to the ambitious reconstruction project of the legendary Gabba, the Brisbane cricket stadium, intended to host the ceremonies of the Games in 2032 – opening and closing – and the athletics competitions. The operation was initially estimated at 1 billion Australian dollars (640 million euros at current prices). But the bill would now be more than double.
« Look at the Gabba. They want to spend $2,5 billion to add 8.000 more seats, explained the mayor of Gold Coast, quoted in the Daily Mail. It just doesn't make sense when, at the same time, you can't even provide people with affordable housing. They should just renovate it, because it's taxpayers' money and times are tough right now. So now is not the time to rebuild. If you burn money everywhere, people will look at you with disdain"
Tom Tate's message is clear: there is no point throwing money down the drain on sports equipment, you might as well use existing infrastructure. The refrain is known. It has become very trendy.
Having hosted the Commonwealth Games in 2018, Gold Coast has no shortage of competition venues. “ We already have a large number of facilities, such as Olympic swimming pools, hockey and BMX fields, to name a few, insists the mayor of Gold Coast. Let’s focus on value for money and legacy for the entire southeastern part of the state. After all, it all started with an application from South East Queensland"
In the current configuration, Gold Coast is to host only six sports on the Olympic Games program in 2032: beach volleyball, judo, wrestling, open water swimming, triathlon and volleyball. An athletes' village is also planned within its perimeter. In the initial plan, before the IOC awarded the event, there was talk of the city organizing several others, including golf, handball and basketball.
Brisbane, host city and epicenter of the project, now has the largest share, with nineteen sports on the program.
Realistic, Tom Tate's proposal? Without a doubt. Since the Commonwealth Games in 2018, Gold Coast has established itself as one of the strongholds of sport in Australia, if not on the entire planet. In the latest ranking of the sportiest cities in the world, produced by the BCW Sports agency, it occupies 26th place, a clear progression compared to the two previous editions (46th in 2020, 35th in 2021). Only two Australian cities do better: Melbourne in 10th place, Sydney in 22nd place. Brisbane does not appear in the top 50.
According to forecasts from the Queensland government, the population of Gold Coast is expected to increase by 51%, or 293.000 people, by the year 2036. A population growth rate more than twice that predicted for Brisbane. For 2022 alone, local authorities announce that they have supported around sixty major sporting events.
In 2019, a year after the Commonwealth Games, Gold Coast hosted SportAccord. The latest edition of the international convention.
