Organizers of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics Have Big Plans for New Facilities
by Alison Brown
The Summer Olympics and Paralympics will be heading back to Australia in 2032, this time to Brisbane and the Gold Coast. Organizers released the venue plan last week and it contained some big surprises for Olympic watchers. So much new, and expensive, construction!
Cutting Construction Costs
Let’s put some context around this. Back in the early 2010s, the Olympics had a host problem – that is, no one wanted to host. The Games had become too big, too expensive, too disruptive, too unsustainable. As one of his first measures as International Olympic Committee president, Thomas Bach developed Agenda 2020, and its subsequent update Agenda 2020 +5, adopted by the IOC in 2014 and 2021 respectively.
Host city selection changed dramatically, making the process cheaper, more transparent, and less prone to corruption. Expectations on host cities also changed significantly. Emphasis was placed on reducing cost, improving sustainability, and limiting environmental impact. Big, flashy construction projects were out; reduce/reuse/recycle were in.
Real Changes for 2024 and 2028?
Pundits and observers will argue over how successful the plan has been in practice, but Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028 certainly worked on the PR optics.
Paris created several low-cost temporary venues in the center of the city that required little infrastructure upgrades. Porte de la Chappelle Arena, now called Adidas Arena, newly built for the Olympics, was fully booked for after the Games before it even opened. Olympic football filled existing stadiums around France. The Athlete Village created housing in a poor and underdeveloped section of Paris. Organizers claimed to save €2 billion in construction costs and a 50% reduction in its carbon footprint compared to previous Olympics and Paralympics.
Los Angeles has gone even further, promising no new construction of permanent venues, though some temporary sites will be built. Organizers are instead utilizing many sites around Southern California, even tapping into elite venues as far-flung as Oklahoma City. However, upgrades on the Los Angeles Coliseum alone will cost upwards of $100 million. On April 15, 2025, LA28 released updates on their venue plan, which we examined on the podcast.
Brisbane’s Promise
In 2021, when the IOC announced Brisbane as the 2032 host, Thomas Bach called the plans “a very sustainable project” in its use of existing facilities. The bid predicted a total operating budget of only AU$4.5 billion, including upgrades to the Gabba, the historic stadium last refurbished in 2005.
No Gabba Gabba
Soon after the announcement, the complaints rolled in and costs began to skyrocket. The Gabba would never be a world-class stadium. The costs to fix up the crumbling structure would be millions, possibly billions, more than anticipated.
Saving the Gabba required demolishing a beloved school. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk supported abandoning the Gabba plan and building a new stadium. The electorate fought hard against the idea.
Despite announcements from the IOC claiming that they saw no need for a new stadium, Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates jumped into the fray, supporting a AU$2.7 billion teardown/rebuild of the Gabba.
New Queensland premier David Crisafulli narrowly won the election last October, promising not to build a new stadium and to put a strict limit on public spending for the 2032 Games.
Build Baby Build
So when Brisbane 2032 issued its updated master venue plan last month, it hit like a wrecking ball. It looked like something from days gone by, when Barcelona 1992 ran 266% over budget, or Athens 2004 and Rio 2016 where stadiums were abandoned and left rotting away.
The cost of building a new stadium in Victoria Park nearly exceeded original estimates for the entire operating budget. Instead of events tightly centered on the Gold Coast, venues were now dotted 1100 miles along Eastern Australian. Three athletes villages, a new aquatics center, new whitewater center, multiple arenas and at least two additional stadiums were now on the docket – the projected construction costs alone exceeded AU$7 billion. The Gabba will get millions of dollars of fixes, only to be torn down at the end of the Games.
The promise to be the first “climate positive” Games disappeared. Sustainability is barely mentioned, though the plan makes vague claims about being “the greenest Games ever,” a claim made by each recent host city in turn.
Additional infrastructure, like new train stations, bus routes, and motorways, will likely exceed AU$5 billion.
Organizers promise that private money, not taxpayers, will cover most of the expense, but budget analysts have discovered a AU$3.5 billion “black hole” between current cost estimates and expected revenue. And that is before factoring in budget overruns that in recent Games have run at least 25%.
So What Now?
Organizers are fighting back against complaints about the cost with old chestnuts: the Olympics and Paralympics will bring more tourism; property values will rise with new facilities; more tax revenue will be collected; citizens will benefit from better infrastructure. We can’t let Brisbane be embarrassed in front of the rest of the world; we need world class venues for a world class events. We will do it the Australian way.
Agenda 2020 +Lots of Cash
Thomas Bach steps down from the presidency of the IOC at the end of June. His successor, Kirsty Coventry, has big issues facing her like the fate of Russian athletes, doping scandals, political interference in sport and keeping the Olympics relevant in an ever-changing world.
Cost overruns are not top of mind.
Coventry, and in fact the IOC as a whole, said little in response to Brisbane’s much-expanded plan.
India, Qatar, Turkey, South Africa, South Korea, Indonesia, Chile and more have expressed interest in hosting the 2036 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Thomas Bach tried hard to reign in the cost and improve the sustainability of the Olympics. Brisbane 2032 may bring an end to that legacy.
All year long, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Paralympics with monthly episodes looking back at the best and untold stories from those Games. This month, Alison remembers the many mascots, both official and unofficial, while Jill talks about the fierce rivalries that defined the Olympics sailing competition.