Main sporting occasions have one factor in widespread—they’re usually embraced by a worldwide viewers with anticipation and pleasure however met with excessive ranges of nationwide cynicism. The Paris 2024 Olympics are not any exception. Because the video games begin, a migraine-inducing quantity of criticism has dominated the headlines, starting from ongoing safety issues to unsold tickets to the murky waters of the Seine River.
The Video games will not be merely a showcase of athletic prowess—they’re a celebration of worldwide unity that brings collectively communities and athletes from around the globe. Such occasions’ financial contributions are closely scrutinized at a nationwide stage as a significant metric of success given the appreciable prices of internet hosting. But focusing solely on the rapid affect of the Video games misses the vital query: What advantages does the host metropolis and nation see as soon as the Olympic torch is extinguished?
Creating an financial Olympic legacy
The organizers of Paris 2024 should sit up for how the Video games can go away a long-lasting legacy for the area people, metropolis, and nation as soon as the curtains come down on the closing ceremony.
In contrast to earlier Olympics, Paris sought to renovate its current stadiums and areas relatively than construct new foundations. To keep away from the dreaded “white elephant” that has plagued host cities previously, it might want to repurpose these areas into residential and leisure areas, enabling group possession of the legacy.
Classes realized from London 2012 on how prioritizing innovation and concrete growth results in sustained progress can information Paris and even future hosts corresponding to Los Angeles in 2028. London’s redevelopment was certainly not excellent—however the transformation of Stratford post-2012 presents useful classes for Paris. Very like the East London space as soon as was, the banlieue of Seine-Saint-Denis (the place the Olympic and Paralympic village is located) is without doubt one of the most disadvantaged areas in Paris and all of France.
From my very own expertise with the 2012 London Olympics, the Video games’ success is grounded in a long-term technique centered on regeneration and funding within the space. Authorities and personal companies should collaborate to make sure the Video games’ legacy is aware of native wants. This strategy was pivotal in remodeling East London and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park right into a fascinating vacation spot for funding and long-term progress.
A accountable plan will think about the affect of the Video games 10, 20, and even 30 years down the road. Prime of thoughts have to be how renovated infrastructure will be leveraged and advanced to fulfill the group’s wants. Paris can and will look to London’s success in remodeling Stratford and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as a best-in-class instance of city regeneration.
Within the decade for the reason that London Video games, native employment has grown by 40%, with over 110,000 jobs created within the boroughs surrounding the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and over £3 billion invested within the space, on high of unique Olympic funding.
Studying from London
Paris will want a strategic group in place that may work throughout neighborhoods and limits. It have to be a novel confluence of innovation, expertise, and creativity, that’s rooted in collaboration, to advertise training, future employment, and alternatives within the space.
Olympic amenities should proceed to learn residents lengthy after the Video games have ended is essential. That’s why funding in training is a cornerstone of making a sustainable Olympic legacy. Equipping locals with the best expertise helps long-term employment alternatives and promotes financial progress and social mobility. The London 2012 Video games noticed initiatives corresponding to a college throughout the Olympic Park, which supplied complete training and helped foster a way of group.
Regardless of critics’ claims, the Olympic Video games will function a pure catalyst for short-term financial progress, producing rapid income. But the problem lies in sustaining this early momentum by leveraging infrastructure to stimulate native enterprise. My enterprise remodeled the previous Worldwide Press and Broadcast Centre right into a thriving campus internet hosting universities and companies. This transformation has led to important financial contributions, together with £700 million in the direction of the U.Ok. GDP and supporting 5,000 jobs in neighboring boroughs.
However even a robust native economic system can’t develop in isolation—it have to be related to the remainder of the capital to draw vacationers, enterprise, and finally funding. A well-known instance is the introduction of the Elizabeth Line in 2022, a high-speed prepare stretching from London’s main airports within the west to the Olympic Park within the east. For Paris, higher connecting its banlieues to town middle is a technique to stimulate the native areas and guarantee a longer-term circulate of capital.
Twelve years on, the London Olympics stand as a testomony to the ability of considerate planning and group involvement. Decisionmakers in Paris should develop a long-term view of the Video games, relatively than deal with its presently perceived challenges, one thing London 2012 additionally shared.
With considerate planning and group engagement, Paris can flip what has change into an Olympic-sized headache right into a legacy of lasting success.
Extra must-read commentary printed by Fortune:
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary items are solely the views of their authors and don’t essentially replicate the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.