No one knows how much it is going to cost India to host the Olympics in 2036, but it is certain the costs will far outstrip the budget for recent games, including Tokyo 2020 that cost around US$13 billion (S$17.5 billion).
Even the Commonwealth Games in 2010, one of the most expensive ever, cost India US$4.1 billion, instead of the US$270 million that was first estimated. Revenue from the Games, on the other hand, was only US$38 million. Construction delays, budget overruns and corruption allegations also soured the experience.
The Olympics, too, have been dogged by controversies. A 2024 University of Oxford study estimated the average cost of hosting the Games since 1960 has been triple the bid price. The excitement over the recent editions has fizzled out, saddling the host cities with debt and a legacy of “white elephants” and leading many to label the Olympics a “multi-billion dollar” risk.
Several grand venues, including those in Athens and Rio de Janeiro, which were built with significant investment but with poor planning and foresight, fell into disrepair and were dismantled or needed billions to be fixed. Fewer nations want to host the Games today because of the risk of such financial strain; Rome and Boston even withdrew their bids for the 2024 Games.
In 2021, Brisbane, host of the 2032 Summer Games, became the first city to win an Olympic bid unopposed since Los Angeles in 1984.
Not surprisingly, some in India are asking if hosting the 2036 Olympics will justify the enormous expenditure required to develop infrastructure for the temporary influx of athletes and tourists – an investment that may not fully pay off in the long run.
Mr Jonathan Selvaraj, a senior Indian sports journalist, argues that India’s Olympic bid is a “misplaced priority”, one that focuses more on the public spectacle of hosting the high-profile quadrennial event, rather than actually developing India’s sports ecosystem.
If the latter is what India wants to achieve, the focus, he said, should be on reforming sports governance at the top – where unqualified politicians still hold power and corruption is endemic – as well as developing grassroots sports infrastructure.
For instance, the IOA is currently caught up in an internal fight over the appointment of its chief executive, and the National Games of India – a domestic Olympics-style multi-sport event – have been delayed on several occasions because host states failed to put up the necessary infrastructure.
Even in Delhi, top athletes from neighbouring states struggle to find space to train, with the Delhi government restricting the use of its stadiums only to local residents.
“It’s always been the case that the Olympics takes place in a sort of a mature sports ecosystem,” Mr Selvaraj told ST. “I cannot honestly say that the Indian sports ecosystem is what we consider to be a mature sports ecosystem.”
India is far, far away from being a sporting power like China, which has won 303 Olympic gold medals across a range of sports, or even Brazil, which has won 40 golds in athletics, sailing, volleyball, judo and other sports.
Yet, many would argue that, despite initial hurdles and its limited sporting prowess, India managed to pull off the 2010 Commonwealth Games, with the infrastructure such as stadiums still being used by athletes and for sporting events.
But the question, one that Mr Selvaraj also asks, is whether India made the best use of the money. “When you spend a billion dollars on a Games, it’s not going to have no impact. Surely, there’s going to be some impact, but the question is whether the return on investment is justified.”
It is a pertinent question for a country that allocated only 34.42 billion rupees for sports in its 2025 financial year budget. The bill for hosting the 2036 Olympic Games will be many times that amount, and the financial feasibility of its bid will be crucial as it aims to woo the IOC.
Sustainability has become a key focus for the committee, which has been trying to reduce the number of new venues built for the Olympics and asking host countries to present a “robust legacy plan” for any new development.
No city in India currently has the infrastructure necessary to host the Games, which means significant funds will have to be spent on developing both sporting and non-sporting facilities. Nearly half of the Commonwealth Games budget was dedicated to boosting Delhi’s infrastructure, with only a quarter allocated to development of sports infrastructure.
