Spain’s low-budget Olympic bid

The optics of asking to host the Olympics at the same time you’re asking for a $37 billion bailout could be better, but Madrid — a candidate city for the 2020 games — insists it’s doable, reports the Wall Street Journal: The city’s bid committee is marketing the proposal as a shoestring Olympics—a model designed ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

The optics of asking to host the Olympics at the same time you're asking for a $37 billion bailout could be better, but Madrid -- a candidate city for the 2020 games -- insists it's doable, reports the Wall Street Journal:

The optics of asking to host the Olympics at the same time you’re asking for a $37 billion bailout could be better, but Madrid — a candidate city for the 2020 games — insists it’s doable, reports the Wall Street Journal:

The city’s bid committee is marketing the proposal as a shoestring Olympics—a model designed to show how to organize the event on a tight budget. Madrid’s initial application says 78% of the sports venues already exist in the city and only about nine structures need to be built.

Its latest plan, due in early 2013, would go even further, slapping a roof on Madrid’s emblematic bull ring to deploy it as a temporary basketball court and transforming a stadium for a second-tier soccer team into a field-hockey arena.

In recent years, countries like China, South Africa, Brazil, Ukraine and Poland have used mega sporting events as a well to signal their arrival as major world powers.  But Madrid’s bid, against fellow finalists Istanbul and Tokyo, appears as more of a way of signalling Spain’s continued relevance. 

Organizers of the bid also hope the project could take a bite out of the country’s 52 percent youth unemployment.  It may do that in the short term, but the Olympics aren’t generally the best way to spur sustainable economic growth. Just ask Greece.

 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

Tag: Spain

More from Foreign Policy

Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.
Newspapers in Tehran feature on their front page news about the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, signed in Beijing the previous day, on March, 11 2023.

Saudi-Iranian Détente Is a Wake-Up Call for America

The peace plan is a big deal—and it’s no accident that China brokered it.

Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.
Austin and Gallant stand at podiums side by side next to each others' national flags.

The U.S.-Israel Relationship No Longer Makes Sense

If Israel and its supporters want the country to continue receiving U.S. largesse, they will need to come up with a new narrative.

Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin lays flowers at the Moscow Kremlin Wall in the Alexander Garden during an event marking Defender of the Fatherland Day in Moscow.

Putin Is Trapped in the Sunk-Cost Fallacy of War

Moscow is grasping for meaning in a meaningless invasion.

An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.
An Iranian man holds a newspaper reporting the China-brokered deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore ties, in Tehran on March 11.

How China’s Saudi-Iran Deal Can Serve U.S. Interests

And why there’s less to Beijing’s diplomatic breakthrough than meets the eye.