Budapest bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics

Bids for the
2024 (2024) Summer Olympics and Paralympics
Overview
Games of the XXXIII Olympiad
XVII Paralympic Games
Details
City Budapest, Hungary
Chair Pal Schmitt
NOC Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB)
Previous Games hosted
None •
Bid for 1916, 1920, 1936, 1944 and 1960

The Budapest bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Summer Paralympics was announced by the Hungarian Olympic Committee (Hungarian: Magyar Olimpiai Bizottság, MOB) on 11 November 2013, although organizers had been planning a bid since 2008.[1]

In February 2015 the MOB recommended that the bid plan go forward and with the General Assembly of Budapest began work on detailed cooperation for the Games. Then in January 2016 city authorities approved the master-plan for the potential Olympic Games locations.[2]

Four Candidate Cites are Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome for 2024 Summer Olympics. Hamburg pulled out of the contest in November 2015.[3]

As the European Capital of Sport 2019 and a smaller, compact city known for music festivals, thermal springs, its castle district and eco-friendly credentials, Budapest is targeting itself as a new model that revives the Olympic hopes of other smaller cities around the world.[4] The Hungarian capital is also bidding to become only the second East European City to host the Games after Moscow in 1980.

Budapest has lost with five previous bids, but the last came over 50 years ago in 1960. Hungary is one of the top ten most successful medal-winning countries (with 167 Summer Olympic Gold medals it is the eighth-ranked country) but is the only one never to host a Summer Olympics.

Building on its experience as host of the Sziget, VOLT and Balaton Sound festivals, Budapest wants to welcome the youth of the world and act as a magnet for participation in volunteering, education, sport as well as cultural events.

The staging of the European Youth Olympic Festival 2017 is viewed by organizers as a live rehearsal for a multi-site event like the Summer Olympics.

Changes to the bidding process introduced in 2015 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) – the Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms - were intended to boost participation by new host cities and reign in spending after the exorbitant costs incurred by former host cities Beijing in 2008 (US$44 billion) and London in 2012 (US$11 billion).

Spiraling costs have somewhat limited the ability of the IOC to select host cities for the Olympics outside the world's wealthiest countries and mega cities. Oslo's October 2014 withdrawal from Winter Olympics 2022 bidding – leaving only Almaty and eventual winner Beijing in the running – confirmed this view.[5] Hamburg followed Boston in backing away from the 2024 bid process.

Budapest's facilities boast of a compact, festival culture of this right-sized city.[6]

Visiting Budapest in December 2015, IOC President Thomas Bach stated that Budapest is a “strong contender” for organizing the 2024 Summer Olympics. Thomas Bach said United States for Los Angeles is bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics for the Agenda 2020 reforms.[7]

The recent position of the IOC [8] is for more use of existing and temporary facilities so countries like Hungary, and cities like Budapest, can also have the opportunity to organize the Olympics. The intention is to support the same Olympic vision with an event that is cheaper and more profitable, with more sustainable facilities in several cities, perhaps on or across national boundaries in future.

Water and movement are the key elements of the Budapest 2024 logo, the result of a national contest that involved almost 200 artists, children, graphic designers and students. This is fitting for an Olympic bid that features the River Danube as a backdrop and the connecting artery to many of the Games facilities. The interaction of the city and the river would place Budapest as a scenic and accessible Games, with a travel experience that is accessible and flexible as well as pedestrian- and cycle friendly.

One of the world’s top swimming nations with 25 swimming Gold Medals, Hungary is hosting the FINA World Swimming Championships 2017.

In 2017 Hungary host other championship events such as the Judo World Championships, European Youth Olympic Festival, European University Basketball Championships. In 2018 Szeged will host the World University Championships Canoe Sprint and Modern Pentathlon. In 2019 Budapest will host the World Table Tennis Championships and in 2020 the capital will co-host the UEFA European Football Championship.

On 27 January 2016 the General Assembly of Budapest approved a list of potential venues.

IOC

The goal of the IOC's Agenda 2020 reform programme is to ensure that hosting the Games is no longer the privilege of the 20 largest cities in the world. Given that cities smaller than Budapest, such as Stockholm, Antwerp, and Helsinki, have all successfully hosted Olympics.

The Budapest bid is a response to Agenda 2020 and an attempt to bring the vision of a cost effective Olympics to fruition and ensure that the guidelines go beyond a document on paper to become a reform that is genuinely realized.

The strategic principles of the programme are:

Previous bids

Budapest bid to host the 1916 Summer Olympics, 1920 Summer Olympics, 1936 Summer Olympics, 1944 Summer Olympics and 1960 Summer Olympics but lost to Berlin (cancelled due to WWI), Antwerp, Berlin, London (cancelled due to WWII) and Rome respectively.

Venues

The 2024 Budapest Olympic bid seeks to take advantage of the compactness of the city and co-location of venues along the River Danube and others around the Budapest area.[9]

The 2024 Olympics master plan comprises 28 Budapest venues hosting 25 sports and 36 disciplines. Additional Olympic cities outside of Budapest are Balaton, Győr, Szeged, Debrecen and Miskolc.

The 2024 Paralympics master plan comprises 21 Budapest venues hosting 22 sports and 24 disciplines. Additional Paralympics will be staged in Szeged.

The plan divides Budapest into two venue zones (Danube Zone and Heroes' Zone) that surround the city centre and include the local islands and scenery of the Danube river bank.

The two zones contain seven venue clusters, all of which are located within a ten-kilometre radius of the Olympic Village and a six-kilometre radius of the city centre. Both the Olympic and Paralympic events would showcase Budapest's much-photographed buildings such as Heroe's Square, Buda Castle and the Budapest Parliament.

The main stadium is located in the Danube Zone, which would also host the opening and closing ceremonies. This is just south of the city centre as part of the Olympic Park to be built on Csepel Island in the River Danube. The Olympic Park would also hold the new tennis complex, a track for BMX racing a handball stadium, various sports fields, and other venues for kayaking, canoeing and weightlifting. Also in the Olympic Park, the Olympic Village will house up to 17,000 athletes, coaches and others.

In addition to the Olympic Village, the Danube Zone includes Margaret Island, and Óbuda Island, while the other clusters of the Budapest urban development area are Heroes’ Zone, Puskás Stadium, the HUNGEXPO exhibition complex and People’s Park.

The development of many participating venues in the city has gained popular support and is seen as timely and necessary, regardless of the Olympic Games.[10]

The proposed venue plan comprises:

Danube Zone

Olympic Park Cluster

Óbuda Island Cluster

Heroes' Zone

City Park Cluster

Puskás Cluster

Exhibition Cluster

People's Park Cluster

Stand alone venues

Outside Budapest

Budget

Based on publicly-available information covering earlier estimates of potential costs of an Olympic Games in Budapest, and considering international past experiences, as well as the framework of organisation of the Games set by the Olympic Agenda 2020, the direct costs associated to a potential Budapest Olympics could be estimated at between HUF 500 billion to HUF 1,000 billion (US$1.8 billion to US$3.6 billion).

A report by KPMG, Olympics in Budapest: Dream or Reality?, has assumed that 50% of these costs would be covered by the contribution of the contribution of the sector outside the partner programme. The other 50% would have to be covered by the Hungarian government.

To put the potential contribution of the state into perspective, the incremental investment linked directly to the Olympics would amount annually - and for a seven year event preparation period - to between 0.1% and 0.2% of the Hungarian GDP for the year 2014.

Sustainability

Budapest's bid team have expertise in legacy, development, venues and transport, and are supported by counterparts from the bid's consultancy firms PWC and engineering group FŐMTERV.

Budapest has been eager to explore the sustainability aspect of the technical planning process. The city already has a series of six coordinated development plans in place, and the Budapest 2024 bid has been worked into and around these existing strategies, making extensive use of brownfield sites and restoration of historic buildings.

The Budapest Sustainable Development Plan is the result of three years of research and extensive collaboration between all parties with a stake in the city's future, including government departments, NGOs and the general public.

The National Council for Sustainable Development is the entity guiding sustainability policy in Hungary. In addition to formal standards, the Budapest bid team have been actively working alongside businesses, institutions, non-profit organizations and the community to develop the Budapest area into a smart city, encouraging investment in capital and infrastructure for sustainable economic growth and quality of life.

Aspects of this work include the Smart City Budapest (SCB) project, the Sustainable Transportation Strategy (including the Ányos Jedlik electro-mobility concept) and the Covenant of Mayors Sustainable Energy Action Plan of Budapest, part of an EU-wide strategy to lower greenhouse gas emissions from cities.

The specific projects related to the sustainability strategy that are currently being implemented include the Danube regeneration programme, wastewater management works, upgrades to the metro system, improvements to pedestrian and cycling mobility (incorporating the MOL Bubi public bike-sharing project).

Political commitment

The Budapest 2024 plan has seen opposition from the Egyutt ('Together') party and two other minority parties in the General Assembly of Budapest. Some representatives on the council led calls for a public referendum on the issue but this came to an end in January 2016.

The Kúria, Hungary's supreme court, rejected a last minute proposal that citizens should be have the chance to have their say in a public vote.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has thrown its full support behind the Budapest bid. He has said in a speech: "Hungary believes that sport is always more important than any other political interest, and that is why it must never be diverted into the arena of political battles. The Government supports the bid."

He said that over the past 120 years the Olympics have become a “ passion” of the Hungarian people, and this may have developed “because the Olympic spirit represents such a pure form of freedom that was once rare here in Central Europe.”[11]

In January 2016 former Hungarian president Pál Schmitt was appointed President of the Budapest 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid Committee.

According to the research institute Nezopont Intezet, support among Hungarians for hosting the Olympics has risen from 40% in August 2014 to 53% by January 2016.[12]

Legacy of the Games

Sports venues

Budapest 2024 has considered the development of new venues and, where there is no legacy need, temporary solutions are proposed. All permanent venues involve currently planned projects, or venues that are needed to support community and high performance sport or other event and cultural requirements for Budapest.

For the majority of facilities, the national government is financing the cost of capital construction, based on the optimal long-term configuration. The Budapest Olympic Delivery Authority, the public body to be created to oversee the delivery of Games-related infrastructure and venue projects, will have the responsibility of ensuring that optimal legacy solutions are delivered for all new sporting and non-competition venues.

The plan is for long-term operational costs to be transferred to the venue owner. The venue owners will include public or private operators and national sport federations. The precedent for this model exists in respect of sports facilities developed previously in Budapest and Hungary, ensuring a viable and sustainable sport venue programme.

Social and economic benefits

The theme embodied in the Olympic Agenda 2020 is to allow for more flexibility in the bidding process so that cities like Budapest have the opportunity to present how the Olympic Games fit into their long term social and economic planning. Selecting Budapest would be a new city on the world map of the Olympics and it would bring the economic benefits to the wider East European region. The year 2039 comes exactly 50 years after celebrating freedom and the end of Communist rule in Hungary in 1989.

As Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, has said: “Organising an Olympic Games would be the pinnacle of this historical process. We are not only competing for ourselves, but representing the whole region.”[13]

From the outset Budapest has highlighted the reforms of Olympic Agenda 2020 as one of the key reasons of the candidature. In line with Olympic Agenda 2020, sustainability, feasibility and legacy form the cornerstones of the bid process.

Transport and infrastructure

In addition to the decision on the Olympic locations, the General Assembly of the city has in parallel approved the transport master plan, which outlines other future steps in Budapest's urban development.

These include elements in 'Budapest 2030-Long-term urban development concept and Budapest 2014-2030-Public transport development. The measures include:

Closer to the Olympic Village, for the tram system, the plan is for removal of railway lines in front of the National Theater. This will allow visitors to the Millennium Center direct access to the Olympic facilities on the Danube river bank, via a spacious green area.

The suburban railway line to Csepel would be replaced by a tram running on the already existing tracks of the Tram 2 line, bringing forward a plan to update the old tram carriages in the city centre. Another part of the plan is for a bridge linking the southern parts of Pest and Buda with Csepel, finally decreasing the isolation of the island district.

The Budapest 2024 accommodation proposal involves a combination of hotels, serviced apartments, student accommodation, four media villages and river cruise ships that will showcase Budapest's tourism offerings. The Budapest concept is complemented by satellite accommodation in the Lake Balaton region.

Approximately 29,000 existing and planned hotel rooms are located within a 50 kilometre radius of the Budapest city centre, of which over 80% are located within a 10 kilometre radius. Immediately outside the Budapest region, there are over 9,700 existing and planned hotel rooms located in the holiday resort towns at Lake Balaton. Siófok, at the heart of the Lake Balaton tourism area is approximately 85 minutes by rail or road connections from the centre of Budapest (without planned improvements and Games' time measures).

References

  1. ↑ "Even a small Olympics means dreaming big | The Budapest Times". budapesttimes.hu. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  2. ↑ "Budapest Olympics One Step Closer As Hungarian Committee Gives Support To "Feasible And Profitable" Bid - Hungary Today". Hungary Today. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  3. ↑ "Hamburg 2024 Games bid collapses in referendum defeat". Reuters UK. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  4. ↑ "Olympics: "Efficiency can open the door to Budapest"". Daily News Hungary. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  5. ↑ Abend, Lisa. "Why Nobody Wants to Host the 2022 Winter Olympics". TIME.com. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  6. ↑ "Olympics Features: Budapest 2024 was submits Olympic candidature Cities Stage 1". www.sportsfeatures.com. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  7. ↑ "Olympics Features: IOC President Bach visits Budapest to join the 120th-anniversary celebration of the Hungarian NOC". www.sportsfeatures.com. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  8. ↑ "IOC - International Olympic Committee". www.olympic.org. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  9. ↑ "IOC cites high use of existing venues in 2024 Olympic bids". The Big Story. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  10. ↑ "Poll Shows 60 Percent Support A Budapest 2024 Olympic Bid". GamesBids.com. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  11. ↑ "Budapest is ready to take the opportunity provided by the IOC". Government. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  12. ↑ "Budapest Olympics 2024: Majority Of Hungarians Wants Referendum On Hosting The Games - Hungary Today". Hungary Today. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  13. ↑ "Budapest 2024 is bid for entire region, says PM Orban". Reuters. 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2016-04-19.


“Olympic cooperation agreement signed between MOB and City Assembly Budapest” (Municipality of Budapest website)

“Budapest 2024 is a bid for entire region, says Prime Minister Orban” (Reuters)

“Lagardere Sports to lead consortium delivering Budapest 2024 Olympics bid” (Gamesbids.com)

“Budapest in Hungary 'a strong contender' to host 2024 Olympics” (Agence France-Presse/Interaksyon)

External links

Candidature file

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