The bidding to host Olympic Games seems to have lost its luster in recent years. In the bidding process for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, all but two candidate cities - Paris and Los Angeles - withdrew their bidding. The awkward situation compelled the International Olympic Committee to take an unprecedented decision - to award two consecutive Games simultaneously. Paris "won" the right to hold the 2024 Olympics, and Los Angeles was rewarded the 2028 Games. And the IOC had to provide the American city a staggering $1.8 billion subsidy to ensure it would host the 2028 Games!

The plummeting appeal of Olympic Games was partly due to the exorbitant expenses for holding such an event as the scale and scope of the Games have ballooned in recent decades. In the 21st century, the average costs for one Olympic Games were a hefty $17.7 billion. The most frugal Games in the new century - the 2016 Rio Olympics - still cost the Brazilians $4.6 billion. Olympics' high costs make them an extravagance for a single city to undertake. Furthermore, as a hosting city has to run the majority of sport events - the coming 2020 Tokyo Olympics will feature 33 sports - many sport venues might be left idle after the Games were completed. The abandoned and dilapidated venues in Athens were a telling example.

As it has become prohibitively expensive for a single city to hold the Olympic Games, the IOC should consider accepting biddings from a union of several cities or a city cluster. There are already precedents in other international sports events - for instance, the 2018 Asian Games was successfully held in both Jakarta and Palembang, two Indonesian cities more than 400 kilometers apart on different islands. In modern age of transportation and communication, this would cause no inconvenience.

In fact, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area would be an ideal place to hold Summer Olympics. The Bay Area is composed of three great metropolises - Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong - and eight medium-sized cities. Both Guangzhou (2010 Asian Games) and Shenzhen (2011 Universiade) have experience of hosting large comprehensive sports events. With a combined GDP of $1.83 trillion - close to the total GDP of Brazil - the costs of hosting Olympics will not impose an unbearable burden on cities of the Bay Area. The sports events could be distributed to different cities - for instance, Hong Kong can host cycling, sailing and equestrian competitions as well as some soccer matches - so that the venues would not be left idle after the Games.

Hosting the Olympics together would greatly facilitate the integration between cities in the Bay Area. First of all, hosting the Games requires improvement of regional infrastructure. If the Bay Area is to hold the Olympics, its member cities would invest a lot to build new infrastructure projects and upgrade existing ones, especially those strengthening intercity connectivity. The improved infrastructure would continue to function after the Games are completed.

Second, hosting the Olympic Games is a complicated system, which asks for sophisticated communication among all stakeholders. If the Games are to be held in the Bay Area, all the hosting cities must keep close coordination with one another. In this process, the integration among Bay Area cities would be greatly boosted.

Finally, hosting the Olympics together would help foster a sense of togetherness among people of the Bay Area. Residents of different cities in the Bay Area would be united in hosting the sports extravaganza, creating a sense of belonging not only to the individual cities but also the entire area.

Therefore I suggest cities in the Bay Area together to prepare for the bidding of Summer Olympic Games. Maybe for 2032?

(HK Edition 01/28/2019 page8)