Mayor of London Sadiq Khan sets his sights on the games.
On your marks, get set, Olympics. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has backed a bid to host the 2040 Olympic Games. The bid is part of his plan to make London the sporting capital of the world. So, if you'd like to see sporting greats and British talent, from Dizzee Rascal to James Bond again, you might be in luck.
London is set to host a range of world-class sporting events. In 2025, the Women's Rugby World Cup final will take place at Twickenham. England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland are co-hosting Euro 2028 and are bidding to host the 2035 Women's World Cup.
Sadiq has his sights set on hosting the Super Bowl and the World Athletics Championship. In a report published by the Mayor of London's office, he revealed that the Champions League final, the London Athletics Meet, and NFL and Major League Baseball games generated £230 million for the capital.
Sadiq now aims to make London the first city to host the Olympics four times, following its most recent turn in 2012. He told The Times: "I'm somebody who loves sport, and I see the benefit of watching it. But what I thought we'd do is commission a report to work out the economic impact sport has. My ambition has always been for London to be the sporting capital of the world, and then to consolidate our position. Whether it's boxing, the NFL, Major League Baseball; we're talking to the NBA about bringing basketball to London. I think it's so important. But what this report does is quantify the economic dividend we receive."
“We could knock it out of the park in relation to the Olympics, using the assets we already have in the aquatics centre, the stadium, the velodrome,” Sadig said in an interview with The Times..
“When it comes to major sports events, the public and governments are not unreasonably nervous about a huge amount of money being spent on infrastructure. But the reason why 2040 makes sense for London is because we could do it in a brilliant way but also very cheaply."
“An Olympics in London wouldn’t cost a fortune, but the benefits would be humongous.”
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GO: Visit www.olympics.com for more information.