Good that India is not hosting Olympics!

It was with a lot of dismay that we had read the news that India is considering bidding for the 2024 Olympics. Thus it came as a great relief to know that good sense prevailed, somebody with a practical head screwed on said that India would not be bidding.

There is no question of any pride here. The Common Wealth Games fiasco continues to remain a nightmare. And seriously, basic question – can we afford it? Or rather, it would be more pertinent to ask, is it worth it?

Brazil hosted the 2014 FIFA and its tab for the event was at a staggering $11.5 billion of which $3.6 billion was spent on constructing and renovating huge stadiums.  Just the bidding process in 2007 cost Brazil $25 million. This is all paid through tax payers money and comes at the cost of poor healthcare, lack of sanitation, clean drinking water, poverty and poor education system.  And then the big question –what happens after four weeks? What would be the use of these massive stadiums? They too will turn into veritable ghost towns, catching rust and decay as the years roll by. It now stands for what Brazil built but that’s about it.

Many will argue that hosting such a mega world event creates jobs, helps build infrastructure and brings economic prosperity. But these benefits are neither perpetual nor sustainable – the moment the event is over, jobs are gone and the infra build of stadiums stands out like a sore thumb. The economic benefits are for that year – later the Govt and the people are left paying up for this four week long extravagant party. If the same money, $11.5 billion had been invested in the economy and business, more permanent jobs and economic benefits would have been created.

Take a look at South Africa today, which hosted the FIFA in 2010. Its $600 million stadium in Cape Town stands forlorn and empty, now available for private functions, birthdays, marriages, anniversaries and yes, a place for the tourists to go to for a fee of $4/head. There is an occasional Justin Beiber concert  but its simply not enough to recover costs and like a white elephant , it now eats away $6 to 10 million every year. Residents feel that it should be demolished and save some money. Economically, there has been no major benefit, not even in the year in which FIFA was hosted.

You check out any country which has hosted such events, Olympics and FIFA and you will see that it has been more of a drain rather than a benefit.  One cannot help but wonder why the Govt’s work towards subsidizing these events when these clubs and sporting companies can fund these themselves, more so with MNCs sponsoring such events.

There is no doubt that developing countries simply should not pick up such massive events, pushing themselves into fiscal turmoil. It is the citizens who suffer as Govt’s spend billions of dollars on entertainment, for that one brief flash-in-the-pan coverage.