The Victorian government has been pushed to put in a bid for the 2028 Olympic Games and bring the world sporting event back to Melbourne.
The Committee of Melbourne, constituting academics, business and community leaders, has urged the government to consider the idea for the fact that Melbourne holds the best collection of sporting facilities within the CBD.
The committee’s chief executive Kate Roffey will push the idea further at the Sport in Victoria conference currently being held in the city.
“Melbourne has collectively the best array of sport facilities close to the CBD of any city in the world, so we’re perfectly positioned to hold an Olympic Games,” she said.
“We’ve got the intellect to know how to run these sorts of major international events.
“When you’ve got those two things together, the branding and the value you can generate out of these events in terms of exposure and having people coming here is enormous.”
Both Victorian Premier Denis Napthine and opposition major events spokesman John Eren were open to the idea of supporting the bid.
“The normal process is the city bids, with backing from state and federal government,” Premier Napthine said.
“This matter will be considered, but I believe Melbourne and Victoria are well placed to put their hand up for a future Olympic Games down the track.”
Mr Eren told 774 ABC that it was time Melbourne reclaimed its standing as the world’s sporting Mecca.
“We used to be the sporting capital of the world, but we’re second now to the UK, so we’ve lost our title and we need to get that back.”
“We have a lot of sporting infrastructure that already exists, there might be some fine tuning that needs to be made.
“Of course, any major events like that we need to have a look at our infrastructure needs, but these sorts of ideas need to be floated and we’re open to any suggestions and we’d be looking very carefully going forward in relation to announcing some policies.”
Melbourne historically hosted the Olympic Games in 1956, which was the first time they were held in the southern hemisphere. Melbourne put in a bid to host the 1996 Olympics, but was unsuccessful, losing to Atlanta.
Source: ABC