Potential Brisbane 2032 Olympic venues revealed

With Brisbane declared as the ‘preferred candidate city’ of the 2032 Olympics, potential venues have been revealed in the bid document, including a new 50,000-capacity stadium. See the full list below.

Officials are planning to host an Olympic Games that’ll break-even – avoiding the mistakes of previous hosts were huge sums of money have been spent building stadiums that end up as white elephants.

Not only will Brisbane’s Olympics expand to the entire south-east Queensland, but some venues may even be used in Sydney, built for the 2000 Olympics, while football preliminaries would also be played in Sydney and Melbourne.

Brisbane’s bid document pitched as many as seven new venues being built, with the potential to reduce to just two new venues. Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said “We already have 85 per cent of the venues at the moment. It’s a new norm, which means it’s a game changer.”

Update: View the confirmed 2032 Olympic venues

The bid document proposes a new 50,000-capacity stadium at Albion to serve as the main stadium, hosting athletics and the ceremonies, however in the feasibility document released on Thursday, the IOC said it was open to using existing facilities instead. Options include hosting athletics at Metricon Stadium which staged the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, with the ceremonies at either the Gabba or Suncorp Stadium.

At this stage, just two sports would be guaranteed to be played in new purpose-built venues, with basketball slated for a new 12,000-capacity Brisbane Indoor Sports Centre, while a new 10,000-capacity Chandler Indoor Sports Centre would replace the existing Chandler Arena to host gymnastics.

The bid also refers to swimming being held in a new 15,000-capacity venue, it's believed this refers to a temporary pool being constructed within the new Brisbane Arena near Brisbane's CBD (the proposed Brisbane Arena first mentioned in October 2018). The IOC has also stressed the bid will consider switching swimming and water polo to the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre at Southport.

The Brisbane masterplan even allows for canoe slalom and sprint as well as rowing to be held at the same facilities that were used during the Sydney 2000 Olympics if a whitewater and flat water canoe/kayak centre is not built in the sunshine state.

The traditional home of Queensland Rugby, Ballymore, would be transformed into a 15,000-capacity Hockey venue. Redevelopment work at the iconic stadium commenced last week to modernise its facilities.

BRISBANE VENUES

Athletics, Ceremonies – Brisbane Olympic Stadium (new, 50,000 capacity). (Alternative venues: Metricon Stadium, Gabba)

Swimming, Water Polo – Brisbane Arena (new, 15,000). (Alternative venue: Gold Coast Aquatic Centre)

Diving, Artistic Swimming, Water Polo – Brisbane Aquatic Centre (existing, 4,300).

Archery – South Bank Culture Forecourt (temporary, 4,000).

Basketball – Brisbane Indoor Sports Centre (new, 12,000).

3x3 Basketball – South Bank Piazza (existing, 4,500).

Track Cycling, BMX racing – Anna Meares Velodrome (existing, 5,000)

Freestyle BMX, Cross Country Equestrian – Victoria Park (temporary, 5,000/25,000)

Equestrian – Brisbane Showgrounds (existing, 15,000)

Football, Rugby Sevens – Suncorp Stadium (existing, 52,500)

Gymnastics – Chandler Indoor Sports Centre (new, 10,000)

Hockey – Ballymore (upgrade, 10,000). (Alternative venue: Gold Coast Hockey Centre)

Shooting – Brisbane International Shooting Centre (existing, 2,000)

Table Tennis, Fencing, Taekwondo, Badminton – Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (existing, 6,500)

Boxing – Nissan Arena (existing, 6,000)

Slalom Canoe – Redland Whitewater Centre (new, 8,000). (Alternative venue: Penrith Whitewater Stadium, NSW)

Handball – Brisbane Entertainment Centre (existing, 11,000)

Modern pentathlon – Ipswich Stadium (upgrade, 20,000)

Rowing, Sprint Canoe – Larapinta Flatwater Centre (new, 14,000). (Alternative venue: Sydney International Regatta Centre, NSW)

Sailing – Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron (existing, 10,000)

Tennis – Queensland Tennis Centre (existing, 6,000)

GOLD COAST VENUES

Beach Volleyball – Broadbeach Park Stadium (temporary, 12,000)

Golf – Royal Pines Resort (existing, 15,000)

Judo, Wrestling – Gold Coast Sports and Leisure Centre (existing, 7,500)

Triathlon, Marathon Swim – Broadwater Parklands (temporary 5,000)

Volleyball – Coomera Indoor Sports Centre (existing, 11,000)

Weightlifting – Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre (existing, 6,000)

SUNSHINE COAST VENUES

Basketball (pool games) – Sunshine Coast Convention and Entertainment Centre (new, 6,000)

Road Cycling, Race Walking, Kiteboarding – Alexandra Headland (temporary, 5,000)

Mountain Biking – Sunshine Coast Mountain Bike Park (existing, 10,000)

OTHER VENUES

Keelboat Sailing – Whitsunday Islands (existing, 2,000)

Football Preliminaries –
Ipswich Stadium (upgrade, 20,000)
Cbus Super Stadium, Gold Coast (existing, 27,400)
Sunshine Coast Stadium (upgrade, 16,500)
Clive Berghofer Stadium, Toowoomba (upgrade, TBC)
Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville (existing, 25,000)
Barlow Park, Cairns (upgrade, TBC)
Sydney Football Stadium (under construction, 45,000)
AAMI Park, Melbourne (existing, 30,050)

Athletes will stay in one of two Olympic villages – a 14,000-bed Brisbane development that will be converted to housing after the Games, while existing hotels on the Gold Coast would supply a further 2000 beds.

The international broadcast and media would be based in a temporary facility near the proposed main stadium at Albion in Brisbane.

It's proposed a Brisbane Olympics would run from 23 July to 8 August in 2032. Overall, it will cost $A4.45bn to operate the games, which will be privately-funded. At least US$1.8bn of that money — $2.27bn, according to today’s exchange rate — would be provided by the IOC to Queensland Olympic organisers from the split of international broadcast fees. The rest would be made up of ticket sales, local sponsorship and merchandise sales.