Menu
Facilities

London Venues Hope To Avoid 'White Elephant' Syndrome That Plagued Previous Games Hosts

Olympic organizers have reason to believe they have set a new standard for hosting major sporting events by not "spending huge amounts of money on permanent venues," according to Roger Blitz of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The “white elephant” syndrome has struck previous Olympic host cities Beijing and Athens as well as South Africa, which hosted the 2010 World Cup. London "went all out to avoid white elephants." Its strategy involved using London landmarks "as a setting for temporary seating areas." Only eight of the 34 venues in London "are permanent." Planning going back several years for "establishing a fully-fledged legacy for sporting venues is one of the hallmarks" of London's organization. Tenders were organized for taking over the permanent venues several months ago. Nonprofit Greenwich Leisure, which runs fitness centers in London, "won two of the tenders." Olympic handball venue Copper Box "will be turned into a multi-use arena." The co-operative will also "operate one of the most stunning municipal baths in the world" when it takes over the aquatics centre. The one venue "with a question mark" is the 80,000-seat Olympic stadium. The future of the venue has "caused enough argument and deliberation, legal challenges and u-turns," in the seven years since London won the right to host the Games. The reputations of London Mayor Boris Johnson and LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe are "at stake." Failure to deliver a workable plan for the stadium’s future "will blow a hole in their promises of delivering a London Olympics legacy." Yet even now, "there is no clear resolution" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 8/19).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2012/08/21/Facilities/Olympic-venues.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2012/08/21/Facilities/Olympic-venues.aspx

CLOSE