The Case for Bringing the Summer Olympics home to Greece – Forever

The Ancient Olympics were brought to life in Greece almost 3000 years ago. As a matter of fact, the Modern version we have now was reborn in Greece in the late 19th Century. I propose that the future of the Summer Olympics is also in Greece. Permanently. The following contains some of the thoughts behind my rationale for returning the original international sporting event to their rightful home on the Greek Archipelago in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

TRADITION

Simply put, it is where it all began. One could say it is where the idea of ‘Sport’ (or ‘Sports’ depending on where you are from) was born. In recent times, the Olympic Movement has lost its way by mainly focusing on the next location that will hold the event instead of the competitions themselves. The never-ending quest for new locations to host the Games has pushed the reason why the event exists in the first place right down the priority list. If the Summer Games were brought back to Greece every 4 years it would build on the original tradition and history of the event in a more meaningful way. While the Ceremonies held in recent times do evoke some of the Game’s history, it is too often lost in the desire for each new Olympic City to talk about their own traditions first. This is not as it should be.

It should be more about the destination for the benefit of the competitors first and foremost. In the tradition of other major Single Discipline events, like Wimbledon and the Masters, the destination is a huge part of the legacy AND the future of those events. For an athlete to exclaim, “I’m going to Greece!!!” – no matter which discipline they participate in – would be commentary on the belief they had reached the true pinnacle of their sporting achievement.

There are a multitude of practical things that would come out of having the games in Greece every (4) years. The athletes would be able to train and plan for their competition in known and consistent environmental conditions. While more important for outdoor events of course, having all the events in known venues would remove the need to spend part of their mental preparation on dealing with the details around an unknown quantity thus freeing up psychological bandwidth to focus on preparing to compete at their greatest level of potential.

Of an even more practical nature is the overall planning and scheduling around the whole event. Having the Games come back to Greece every 4 years would result in a more efficient system for everyone as time goes by. The local stakeholders, as well as Games Time Officials and participants, would be able to plan for a multi-phase deployment rolled out over a longer period so not to over burden any single venue location or staff supporting a laundry list of different functions. In the current format the planning gives way immediately to an enormous spike of hastily organised operational activity that is difficult to manage at best. Athletes and support staff alike would benefit immensely from the familiarity of knowing where their event and workplace was going to be at each subsequent Summer Games.

TECHNOLOGY

With the planning organised as described above a myriad of new efficiencies would help realise all manner of gains across every facet of the event. One of the key areas that represent both a huge burden on the project but also represents some of the biggest revenue generating activities for the IOC (mostly the IOC as they take the lion's share of the spoils anyway) is the Media and Broadcast functions required at each Olympics. It is no less than what is seen with the largest Armies moving around the world on manoeuvres. The logistics involved and the infrastructure required is unfathomable to try and do as a temporary solution. As it is attempted today.

In broadcasting, Content is King. If this holds true for the Olympics, then enabling the best production environment possible should be a priority for the IOC as owner of the images and sounds of all Olympic Content. Having the Media and Broadcast army report for duty to the same facility every time would do wonders to the overall production quality of the competitions. Putting the financial aspect aside for the moment we must address the latest developments impacting live sports at their core. The Covoid-19 pandemic has caused untold chaos to every single sports league and live entertainment event around the world. The Olympics are not immune. That said, the recent developments in technology have enabled broadcasters to implement ever increasing capabilities around what is referred to as Remote Production. As the name describes, there are means by which the IOC’s Broadcast team could evolve in a manner that helps to reduce the necessity of sending armies of people all over the world to cover the competitions.

Thought-out and deployed correctly, adequate technical infrastructure could be put in place, and left there, to be used for future events without the need to revisit the work already completed every 4 years. Back to saving time and money. The cost would be borne up front of course, mostly funded by the IOC and Rightsholders. We have seen this done by Federations at other annual and seasonal event venues around the world. It would of course be a sunk cost that would, over time, see an incalculable return on investment similar in fashion to the idea that having the Olympics in any city means a financial windfall that is also incalculable. The facilities needed to broadcast the Olympics does not change that drastically from event to event. The huge costs come from the logistics and manpower involved in setting up in a different locale every time. Also, there is a huge amount of technical duplication involved as each country looks to “regionalise” their specific programming. With the advances in technology previously mentioned this duplication can be removed today and every geo-diverse rightsholder can remotely produce content that is tailored for their athletes and for their viewers in their specific country. There is obviously a lot of detail that would go into this, but we can park that for now.

Not just in the Broadcast realm but with all the venues and facilities the phrase “Build it and they will Come” seems apropos albeit with a slight tweak. “Build it Once and they can keep Coming”. The infrastructure required to support the Olympic Games is mind boggling. No wonder each successful Bid City is given (7) years to get their venues and facilities ready. Having the event hosted in Greece on a permanent basis would lend itself to a certain ‘repeatability’ of all the milestones and target dates that need to be hit with regards to the Event Overlay, Media Coverage and Operational task lists

THOUGHTFULNESS

After each Olympics, when the budgets are scrutinised, the benchmark is more about the amount of debt that each city is then burdened with rather than balancing it out against the supposed increase in revenue that each new City received. Mainly because that surplus never usually materialises in a meaningful way. This shows the paradox of moving the Games around every (4) years. Keeping the games in a single host city with venues distributed around key cities would bring stability to the finances and remove the economic trauma experienced by each successive city.

It would also remove the need to construct White Elephant venues that would fall into disrepair quite quickly from lack of use. This is in line with the technical facilities mentioned above. With a municipal infrastructure upgraded to support the pressures on these areas within a city to a more permanent level, there would not be the disruption to daily life to local citizens in the 'one and done' cities. It would also mean that newer technology and things like IoT deployments could be truly realised in support of creating the best environments possible for local population as well as temporary visitors only there for the event.

With the lessons learned being applied to future undertakings of the Games, the planning and operational phases would all shorten quite significantly over time thereby reducing overall costs right through every area of the event. The cost of Hosting the Games has become untenable for all but the wealthiest capital cities around the World. Even then, those cities are becoming more and more reluctant to foot the bill for the IOC. Moving the Games to a single location would mean better facilities can be constructed which would, in time, mean a better overall product and experience for the athletes as well as the witnesses to those same athlete’s performances.

And let us not also forget the impact this event has on the sustainability and consumption of natural & human resources when a city must start from scratch with planning and construction throughout the (7) year project lifecycle for every successful bid. As previously mentioned, the cost savings of staging the Olympics in Greece every time would be a massive benefit seen on the bottom lines of everyone involved. Now think of the benefit seen by the reduction of the carbon footprint when those same reductions in cost are applied to the protection of ever decreasing resources and the climate in general. Seems a win-win across both concerns of finances as well as the environment.

The recent unfortunate pandemic situation also really highlights the need for reducing the transient nature of the Olympic Games. Obviously, no matter where the Games are held, the athletes and other participants would need to travel there. The Games Time Staffs required to cover the games from a Broadcasting perspective alone and the 1000s of people required for the support structure deployed around them would represent a large percentage of the onsite manpower reduction. Increased production quality and greater online access may mean a reduction in ticket sales, which are never really great from my own first hand observation (if we are being honest) but this could be mitigated for by having the same facilities in place at every event that would be adapted to help stem the chances of a viral breakout. For sure that would help the athletes with peace of mind about the risk of their presence in any given venue and still provide an opportunity for the hardiest of fan to still attend the World’s Largest Sporting Event if they are so inclined.

Its well past the time to bring the Summer Olympics home to where they belong.

ΕΛΛΑΔΑ ΓΙΑ ΠΑΝΤΑ

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and DO NOT reflect any official position or policy of past, current or future employers. The content of this article is the authors opinion and is not intended as commentary on any specific company, organisation, individual or anyone at anytime