Making the Olympic Games truly global, fairer and cheaper to run

However, such options are unlikely to happen given that many countries still express interest in holding the games.

However, since the IOC’s 127th Session in Monaco in December 2014, there does appear to be some desire to address Western public concern about the expense of the OG with the IOC’s 2020 strategic vision including 40 recommendations to help cities reduce the costs of bidding while increasing transparency.

With the Brazilian government and private investors estimated to have spent somewhere between $12 billion and $20 billion to host the 2016 OG, despite most Brazilians knowing full well that the money would be better spent on badly needed basic services, the IOC has awarded Paris and Los Angeles the 2024 and 2028 OG with their much lower cost bids.

It also appears that Brisbane is favourite to host the 2032 OG.

All three cities will indeed use existing infrastructure as much as possible, with only Brisbane considering a new stadium that will be utilised later for many football and cricket matches. 

But, in line with my own longstanding belief, there is a view that many cities should host an OG with cities bidding “to host sports that are locally popular”, an approach that would counter “an occasion for nationalistic displays by a single, powerful host country” while also celebrating “human diversity”.

I argue this despite the possibility that many athletes of different sports enjoy interacting with each other in a city hosting many sports, as do spectators who travel to a city to see a variety of sports.

However, what is fairer than giving an opportunity for more cities to host certain sports that would please fans, attract tourists and give greater exposure to the city.

Sharing a sporting event is not new. The 2021 Euro Cup (football) all Cup utilised many cities to host the many group and final matches, including Rome (Italy), Baku (Azerbaijan), Saint Petersburg (Russia), Copenhagen (Denmark), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Bucharest (Romania), London (England), Glasgow (Scotland), Seville (Spain), Munich (Germany) and Budapest (Hungary).

Sharing an OG would not reduce the television audience in this great technological age.

Viewers would still be able to view the same diversity of events as national broadcasters or viewers make their individual choices of which sports they want to program or watch.

Future OGs will indeed have applications where viewers can watch the sport of their choice.