Why India must bid for the 2036 Olympics

There are several reasons why the naysayers’ scepticism about India bidding for the Olympics is misplaced. The sceptics worry that the costs would outdo the benefits by far. This concern is buttressed by recent international experience. Victoria in Australia and Alberta in Canada reneged on their successful bids to host the Commonwealth Games of 2026 and 2030, respectively, and Vietnam scrapped its plan to host the 2018 Asian Games, all on cost grounds.

India is placed differently from most countries when it comes to building new infrastructure – the costliest bit of hosting a global sports meet. India’s level of urbanisation in percentage is low (around 35%) but slated to rise sharply. The global average is 50%, and for China, a large country that has undergone rapid industrialization and modernization, the share of the population living in urban areas is two-thirds. There is no denying India’s imperative to urbanise.

Assuming that India will become 50% urban thanks to sustained rapid growth, the number of Indians moving from villages to towns will be something like 200 million over the next couple of decades. To accommodate them like humans, rather than sardines, India will need thousands of sq km of additional urban space.

If India does win its bid to host the 2036 games, it will make sense to build a new town with enough space to host all the visiting athletes, coaches, team managers and journalists. This structure, the Games Village, could serve as a residential and commercial hub for the new town once the games are over.

All the sports facilities should not be packed into the new town, however. They should be spread out in different towns with easy and rapid connectivity to the new town. This would ensure two things. A larger region would benefit from the business boost delivered by thousands of visitors, and more towns would have world-class sports facilities. More than one new town could be built in this fashion.

The new towns would need to incorporate the latest insights on urban planning, minimize their carbon footprint, prevent the proliferation of slums and ghettos, and provide equal opportunity to all citizens to become the best versions of themselves.

Indians have been faring progressively better in global sporting events. The steady rise in per-capita incomes allows people to eat more nutritious food and nurture latent sporting talent instead of sacrificing these for the sake of a traditional job. Higher incomes translate into higher taxes and state capacity, and, aided by private enterprise, sporting and athletic excellence. Higher disposable incomes mean greater spending on entertainment, sports and travel. This readiness of the public to spend more on stadium tickets, team merchandise and television/screaming subscriptions would promote the growth of sporting clubs, leagues and an entire industry, laying the ground for private capital to help create Indian sporting stars.

The Los Angeles games turned a profit, unlike those in Brazil or Athens. To emulate Long Angeles, we need superior marketing of the games, related events and sponsorships.

This means organizing multi-level public-private-partnerships to build the requisite infrastructure and conduct the games. The union government should challenge states to come up with viable plans to make land available for new towns. Once credible plans are presented, the most suitable could be selected and the state asked to plan a public-private-partnership. It should be headed by someone with experience in executing large, complex projects. While being a politician should not disqualify anyone from heading Project Olympics, it is vital to not confine the leadership pool to the political class.