The problems plaguing the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games 05:52

Well, Neil Breen is a broadcaster here at 90s All Over This Topic. Breeny, g'day. How are you, Chris? I'm not too bad. Do you reckon that Paris has led, you know, your David Crisofulli, who is likely to be Premier of Queensland, Stephen Miles and others, more broadly Queenslanders in general, just to take a step back and going, gee whiz, we've got a task on our hands here.

I reckon what the Paris Olympics and the success of it, the magnificence of it has given them is a licence to go hard. Because what they've been doing to this point is fearful of political ramifications. Because from the moment Brisbane got the Games, Queenslanders weren't behind it. Queenslanders went, what? What are we doing? We've got bigger problems now.

We were in the middle of this COVID thing and then the housing crisis came about. And so politically, it was on the nose real quick. And at the same time, Brisbane had signed up and the IOC was looking for a partner to put on a budget Olympic Games. They didn't want any more Rio dramas. They didn't want any more Athens dramas.

The problem was they were coming off Tokyo. OK, Tokyo had problems because of COVID. Then Paris, then LA, and then we're going to go to Brisbane. And Brisbane was going to do these budget Olympic Games where originally the athletics was going to be at Carrara, where they did the Commonwealth Games athletics, and the opening and closing ceremony was going to be at Suncorp Stadium, which is great for rugby league, but an opening and closing ceremony for the Olympic Games? So what has happened is the whole thing got put on the back burner. There's a state election this year.

And both the Premier Stephen Miles and the opposition leader David Christopher Foley know that it's political poison, so they both put the Olympics on the back burner until after the October election. I think this gives them the thing to say, hey, everyone, everything Chris O'Keefe just said is true. We've got this, whether you like it or not, and we've got to go big because otherwise the world is going to laugh at us because they're going to go, remember Paris and Tom Cruise jumped off the thing and there was the Eiffel Tower...

I remember LA and they had SoFi Stadium. They had the LA Coliseum, which was hosting the athletics for the third time in Olympic history. And then we went to Brisbane. They went to Kiwi too. They've got to build a magnificent stadium because we don't have the Eiffel Tower in Brisbane. We've got the Brisbane River. Brisbane's natural assets are north and south. They're the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast. Which will be showcased.

They'll be showcased. The Gold Coast will have the triathlon and the open water swimming events in the Broadwater there, the Southport Broadwater. That'll be great. The Sunshine Coast will have the marathon and other events. I think the marathon should also be at the Gold Coast. But anyway, they'll be showcased.

But Brisbane itself needs to protect it from itself by saying, look at this stadium and look at the lights and look at this and look at that. Remember, the sun will go down in Queensland when the Olympics are on about 20 to 6 at night. So there won't be like sunshine glorious like you get that European sunshine in their summer because these games will be in July and August. The other problem these games have got is Anthony Albanese, he never liked them. So,

So Morrison went hard for them because he was trying to shore up seats in Queensland. Albanese and the Feds have only committed to build Brisbane live and then a cap on the rest of their investment to tap them out at about $2.something billion or $3.something billion.

Everyone needs to get on board here, Chris, and go massive. It doesn't matter where your handball is, your weight. It doesn't matter. Big stadium. You need a big swimming venue. Put a roof on Suncorp Stadium and make it host the swimming. 100%. Just like they did in France. 100%. And you know what? Brady, I'm making the point, right?

This isn't a Queensland problem. This is an Australia problem. And if we've got a situation where Australia is a chance to be embarrassed like Ray Gunn in the breakdancing, well, Australia has an opportunity then and a responsibility in my view, the federal government, to throw a bit of money in it to make sure that we're not embarrassed.

And you've got to remember that the Olympic Games is for sale. Like, the Olympic Games is a noble sporting event. There's all the traditions and there's handing over of flags and there's honourability and everything. They are commercial and they are for sale for big money. The NBC in the States, European broadcasters, broadcasters all over the world, Channel 9 in Australia, they sell those rights for a premium. You cannot sell them...

a pop gun event if you say oh it's going to cost you a hundred million dollars in America to broadcast these games they go well what are you going to sell me what are

What are you selling me? You've got to sell me big time. And if Brisbane can't deliver big time, then it may as well not do it because the people of the world will go, what was that? You know? We've got to go the big steps. We need two things. The rest of it, you are 100% right. Yep, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, we can showcase those things and use the geography. Then we've got other venues. They're all indoors, weightlifting, boxing. It doesn't matter, right? So they're all covered. They'll be fine with those. You're

You need the big stadium for the athletics. You need the big event for the swimming because they are the two linchpins. It's like buying a car without a steering wheel. It's useless to you. Brainy, I appreciate you coming on. Just very quickly, I know we saw, you know, the closing ceremony. There was Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg and Billie Eilish and Tom Cruise. So cast your mind forward. Closing ceremony, LA, 2028.

Who are we getting into Spruik Brisbane? Powderfinger? Bernard Fatty? What about Powderfinger? Bindi Irwin? That's about it. Alfie Lager? Oh, my God. King? What about King Wally? Good on you, Brady. Appreciate you coming on. Oh, I don't know. I'm dying a thousand deaths, but it's not lost yet, Chris O'Keefe. It certainly isn't. That's Neil Breen.