THE BENEFITS OF HOSTING
Canada has proven it can hold Olympic Games responsibly, writes Roger Jackson
Whereas public discussion to date has been limited mostly to the financing and risks of hosting the Games, we also need to discuss why we should bid. The answer to this question can be found in part in the legacies and the experience of our previous Games. Roger Jackson
The recent decision by the Alberta and Canadian governments to join city council in exploring a bid for the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games creates a special and rare opportunity for the Calgary and Canmore regions.
These governments have until October 2018 to determine if they will allow a bid to go forward to the International Olympic Committee for its consideration, and there are conditions that need to be met, including appropriate public consultation.
Whereas public discussion to date has been limited mostly to the financing and risks of hosting the Games, we also need to discuss why we should bid. The answer to this question can be found in part in the legacies and the experience of our previous Games.
My experience with Olympic bids started in 1978, when Frank King and a small number of us began the bid for the 1988 Calgary Games. King, Mayor Ralph Klein and I made the final presentation to the IOC session in Baden Baden, Germany, in 1981.
For many years following our Games, I was a member of IOC commissions to evaluate cities bidding for Games or to advise cities that had been awarded Games.
I worked in London full time on their bid for the 2012 Summer Games and then on the Tokyo bid for the 2016 Summer Games. I have not been involved with the city’s current bid review.
The Games must be an investment in community building.
The Olympic cities that “get it right” are those that use the Games to create major legacies that are priorities for the community, but that are difficult to finance. The Games provide the unique opportunity to bring together three levels of government financing and more than $2 billion of international and domestic marketing, television, ticketing and other revenues that would not otherwise be assembled and focused on a specific community or region.
The 1988 Games left Calgary and Canmore with many community sport and recreation facilities. The university benefited from new student housing, a physical education building, the Olympic Oval and upgrades to McMahon Stadium.
The City of Calgary, whose expenditures were only seven per cent of the total spending of the Games, contributed to the Saddledome, built Olympic Plaza and upgraded several arenas, roads and the LRT.
Canmore acquired the Nordic Centre and built a pool, curling and golf facilities, used initially as part of the Canmore Athletes Village.
Hosting the 2010 Winter Games was the opportunity for Vancouver and British Columbia to finally accomplish priority projects such as the Canada Line linking Vancouver airport to downtown, the new convention centre, and improvements to the Sea to Sky Highway.
Can the Games be a success financially?
The Calgary and Vancouver organizing committees balanced their operating budgets, made contributions to the construction budgets of facilities and left major financial legacies to pay for operating expenses of the new sport facilities.
Governments built and paid for facilities that were in their long-term plans and were part of their mandate. The construction of facilities for the Calgary 1988 Games occurred mainly between 1982 and 1987, when Calgary was in a recession. As a result, there was little or no escalation of construction prices and a lot of job creation.
Can the Games be managed successfully?
As both Calgary and Vancouver demonstrated, these projects can be managed well. It is critical the board and operations team of the bid and organizing committees are composed of knowledgeable, visionary individuals with excellent business and leadership skills.
They must have sufficient discipline, financial and risk management strategies, and board oversight, to manage the multibillion-dollar project. I have seen committees fail when they did not get this right.
The Canadian approach is that all government and sport partners are members of the board. They are signatories to a multi-party agreement in the bid phase to ensure all roles and responsibilities of the partners, including financial responsibilities, are pre-determined if the Games are awarded.
Are the Games only about sport?
The great majority of users of our 1988 Olympic facilities in Calgary and Canmore are children and families. The 2026 Games would refurbish existing sport facilities to ensure these continue to be available to all.
The proposed Games’ $100-million endowment would subsidize operations for years to come, relieving governments and other owners of most or all of those costs.
The proposed new field house (used for curling during the Games) is a clever solution to achieve the city’s highest recreation facility priority. The 2026 Games would build 3,500 affordable and market housing units for Calgary and Canmore, to be first used during the Games as the athlete and media villages.
Are there other significant benefits in hosting the Games?
Hosting the 2026 Games would further strengthen Calgary, Canmore and our ski areas as training centres for most Olympic and Paralympic athletes, and would allow us to host many more World Cup and championship events, many of which are broadcast internationally.
The Games would bring a compelling business opportunity at this time of Alberta economic challenge. The Calgary Bid Exploration Committee report indicates the Games would generate more than $3.4 billion in value over eight years that would not be available without the Games.
GDP would rise $2.6 billion. New labour income would be $1.6 billion to $1.9 billion. There would be more than 24,000 person years of employment. Tax revenues to all levels of government would be $515 million.
All Canadians shared in the 1988 and 2010 Games. The nationwide torch relays reminded us we are one country. The months of extensive national media buildup was capped by the overwhelming pride across Canada in our athletes’ performances.
The opening and closing ceremonies would be a special opportunity to express Canadian history, culture and values to an enormous national and international audience.
An organizing committee involves hundreds of employees and thousands of volunteers and is built from scratch. Would it not be appropriate to form it as a model organization with policies and actions that demonstrate our highest aspirations for inclusion, accessibility, gender equality, workplace respect and involvement of First Nations peoples?
The Games would be an opportunity to demonstrate the best practices for the environment and energy innovation.
The Games require large expenditures for telecommunications and technology services. This creates an opportunity to engage with Calgary Economic Development and their desire to develop the skills and scope of our technology workforce to promote economic diversification and innovation.
Community discussions will generate excellent suggestions as to how this rare opportunity can create legacies to benefit our lives, just as the 1988 and 2010 Games did.
As both Calgary and Vancouver demonstrated, these projects can be managed well.