Is India ready to host a big-ticket sporting event like the Olympics?

The income-expenditure mismatch notwithstanding, India should make a bold push for hosting the Games

Hosting the Olympics will definitely encourage a sporting culture in India,” Manu Bhaker said, as she unleashed her 1,000-watt photogenic smile on the two probing Business Standard reporters.

“The real question is: How well can the Games be organised? Honestly, it’s up to the government and corporate entities,” added Bhaker, the ace Indian shooter who notched up two Olympic medals in Paris last month, as her beatific smile turned into a thoughtful gaze.

Is India ready to host a big-ticket sporting event like the Olympics? It is a loaded question that would require considerable thought.

During his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India dreams of hosting the Olympics in 2036, for which preparations are underway.

Modi’s audacious plan was recently backed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) head Thomas Bach.

Indulge in a bit of crystal-gazing if you will. Twelve years down the line, you may witness archers vying for medals under the aegis of the rainbow rings at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Indeed, the Prime Minister’s Olympic-sized ambition is much more than just a cheeky overreach.For an aspirational country to get a seat at the high table at the global stage, it is important to be a winner in the sporting arena.

In modern history, a nation’s rise has been intrinsically linked to its phoenix-like trajectory as a sporting behemoth.

China, especially after hosting the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is the case in point. As the world’s fifth-largest economy, India, long considered a sleeping giant, has finally woken up from its slumber. Like China, it is now aspiring to become a sporting superpower.  But the results have been abysmal. For a country with a population of over 1.4 billion, it continues to punch well below its weight and demographic heft.

At the recently-concluded Paris Games, it amassed just six medals. While the country’s Paralympians, with their best-ever tally in Paris, offer a flicker of hope, India’s economic emergence has been inversely proportional to its progress in the world of sports.

Consider this: India has won just 41 medals at the Olympics since 1900. China, on the other hand, clinched 91 medals in Paris alone. India spends roughly $5 million on its athletes. The United States spends $200 million, and China $350 million.

Over the past decade, the country’s sports budgets have been ramped up, more exposure trips for athletes have been sanctioned than ever before, and the flagship “Khelo India” programme aimed at unearthing Olympic superstars has improved the country’s sporting ecosystem.

But more needs to be done. According to a Business Standard analysis, only 10 per cent of India’s mapp­ed and completed sporting infrastructure meets Olympic standards. 2036 may still be some time away, but India needs to fix its house in order right now. For starters, we need to make ourselves presentable to bid for the Games. It means zeroing in on a city with the requisite wherewithal that can host an event of this magnitude.

Once the city wins the hosting rights, the country has around 8-10 years to prepare for the influx of athletes, tourists, and officials, apart from building a world-class Games village. All this will require long-term vision, political will and unending flow of money.

In recent times, there has been a surfeit of corporate sponsorships, with Nita Ambani, the founder and chairperson of Reliance Foundation, championing herself as the face of the country’s Olympic campaign.

Nevertheless, hosting the Olympics puts a massive financial strain, with revenues covering only a fraction of the expenditures.

The 2008 Olympics may have put China on the world map, but it came at a cost. The Games generated $3.6 billion in revenues, compared with over $40 billion in costs. Similarly, Tokyo’s Covid-induced edition garnered $5.8 billion in revenues, and cost $13 billion.

This is because the IOC typically owns the rights to more than half the revenues generated from television and satellite broadcast of the Games.

The income-expenditure mismatch notwithstanding, India should go all out to make a concerted bid for the Games. If anything, it could potentially boost the country’s profile.

New Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad will cease to be mere specks on the Olympics map.