Abandoned, Expensive, or Imploded: The Wasteful World of Olympic Facilities

In Montreal, we call the stadium the Big Owe, because the debt on it lasted forever.

The Georgia Dome wasn't the main stadium of the 1996 Olympics. The Centennial Olympic Stadium was, which was later converted to a baseball stadium (a part of the original plan) called Turner Field where the Atlanta Braves played until 2016. It was then converted once again and remains in use as the Center Parc Stadium for the Georgia State Panthers football team Georgia Dome was only used for gymnastics, men's handball final, and basketball final during the games. Fittingly, the last Falcons game held at the Georgia Dome was a NFC Championship Game which sent the Falcons to the Super Bowl for their second appearance. While the dome was still a young stadium when it was demolished, man is the Mercedes-Benz Stadium gorgeous. What a beaut

I live in Calgary. We hosted the 88 winter olympics - which is something people old enough to remember are rather proud of. It did help get us a nice new hockey arena that's still in use today and another nice speed skating venue at the university. Except for a few virtually abandoned ski jump facilities, we did fairly well. A few years ago we had a municipal referendum on whether to host another olympic event. To most people's relief, the idea was rejected.

I can't even watch the Olympics anymore. It all smacks of corruption, grifting, and waste. It is a genuine shame given that the athletes themselves are remarkable people doing incredible things.

It would be interesting to see a video on the stadiums that were successful, like the stadium for the 1912 Olympics in stockholm that is still in use today.

Actually, a lot of Pyeongchang venues are intact. The main stadium was torn down, but the other venues were either there already and were just remodeled, or currently repurposed. The biggest investment was actually the express train that links Seoul to Pyeongchang and to the east coast, which made the county a popular winter resort for the Seoulites ... before the COVID, of course.

The Georgia Dome was not the main venue in the 1996 Olympics. The opening and closing ceremonies as well as track and field events were held at the Olympic Stadium which was south of Downtown. After the Olympics the stadium became Turner Field, home of the Atlanta Braves of MLB. After the Braves moved to Cobb County Georgia State University bought it from Fulton County and it is now Georgia State Stadium (college football venue). During the Olympics the Dome was host to gymnastics and basketball.

After the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the main stadium had it's end bleachers removed, reducing the capacity from 100,000 to 80,000, and now it still sells out a couple times a (non-covid) year, mainly for sporting events, and the occasional concert 👌🏼

Meanwhile, all the facilities from the Sydney Olympics are still being used and most are making money. Melbourne's main stadium from 1956 is still the pride and joy of Melbourne's sporting hierarchy. All that is needed is some forward planning.

There’s so many more interesting things about Olympic Stadium in Montreal — panels falling off the roof during a baseball game — the roof failing and permanently being closed, with the tiles being painted black to not allow sunlight to enter

Glad someone is willing to speak up about how wasteful it is.

The Montréal velodrome (besides the stadium) has been converted to a particular zoo/natural science museum called the Biodôme. It houses 4 different ecosystems with plants and animals.

You should talk about Lake Placid 1980, an Olympic Games set in the middle of nowhere that is now a key training ground for US and Canadian athletes, same with Calgary 1988, the Olympic Oval they constructed there is the holy grail of Canadian Long Track Speed Skating. Also with Montreal's Olympic Stadium, the Montreal Tower that supports the roof was renovated and is now an Office Building for Desjardins and hosts a small museum and observation deck

I really think Greece should take back the Olympic games and allocate a couple of areas for all games. The IOC could then select which host country would sponsor the Olympic area, giving Greece a percentage of the money collected to keep the areas maintained. After all, Greece did invent the Olympics.

One of the things I’m happy about the Sydney Olympics is. We planned in some shape or form for what would come after the fact. So there were a lot of temporary Stans built into arenas that could be taken down leaving the stadium at a size actually feasible to use on a regular basis. The Olympic stadium at the time of the Olympics could hold about 115,000 people, but they removed to Stans and brought it down to 80,000 which gets filled all the time. They did the same with the aquatics centre. I also live near the regatta centre that was used for the kayaking and all that, it gets used all the time by athletes and families. Not sure if we ever broke even but I’m glad they didn’t go to waste. And it’s been 20 years

There was quite a bit of resistance in LA to bringing the NFL back to Los Angeles as councilors and people complained about how we'd waste all the public money for the benefit of a billionaire NFL owner. People are learning that these stadiums and promises of big $ are just empty promises, but politicians keep pushing for them, payoffs no doubt.

I have great memories at the Montreal Olympic Stadium. I was there when they retracted the roof for the first time during a baseball game. I went there quite often for baseball. Going up the tower to get a view of Montreal is also an impressive site. And more recently I got to sleep in it during a school activity with my son. But it is a white elephant and there was an insane amount of money spent on it. The whole Olympic concept needs to be rethought.

I'd love to see a video about Expo67. Could be a Megaproject, since islands needed to be built in the St-Lawrence river

1:15 - Chapter 1 - Pyeongchang (2018) 3:35 - Chapter 2 - Rio (2016) 5:35 - Chapter 3 - Sochi (2014) 8:10 - Chapter 4 - Atlanta (1996) 10:00 - Chapter 5 - Sarajevo (1984) 11:35 - Chapter 6 - Montreal (1976)

That's the big advantage Brisbane has over other cities: we already have most of our facilities in place, with four stadiums already built and in use, other facilities for Swimming, Weightlifting, a Velodrome and lots of other places are ready to be converted for use for Olympic events. The Olympic village will be built on a site that was already slated for demolition and redevelopment, and plans are already in place for its use after 2032.