{"id":803528,"date":"2026-07-15T13:20:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:20:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/803528\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:20:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T13:20:13","slug":"should-montreal-host-the-olympics-again-debate-returns-50-years-after-1976-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/803528\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Montreal host the Olympics again?\u00a0Debate returns 50 years after 1976 Games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifty years after the Olympic Games put Montreal on the world stage, a debate has returned on whether the city could or should try to bring back the Games.<\/p>\n

With the Olympic Stadium still undergoing renovations and the price tag for hosting now reaching into the billions, critics point to the city\u2019s own history. The 1976 Games ballooned from a projected $120 million to roughly $1.5 billion and took 30 years to pay off.<\/p>\n

Howard Stupp, who represented Team Canada\u2019s wrestling team in the \u201976 Games, says the city should give it another go if it has the venues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that if it would not be overly expensive to host the Games,\u201d Stupp said. \u201cIn other words, if there\u2019s sufficient venues that are already built or if not that many new venues would have to be rebuilt or renovated, then why not? But it\u2019s a huge exercise for 16 days of competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Concordia economist says cities hardly see a return on their investment when they host big sporting events like the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should never host the Olympics in Montreal again. It\u2019s never going to deliver the required benefits,\u201d said Moshe Lander, a senior lecturer of economics at Concordia University. \u201cThe cost will always come in over.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need a track and field stadium that\u2019s only going to be used for this one event and then for nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montrealers who spoke to CityNews were divided on the question of whether the city should play hosts again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should,\u201d Stanley Kircoff said. \u201cFix that Olympic Stadium, tear it down or build or do something with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, why not?\u201d added Denis and Linda. \u201cIt\u2019ll attract tourists. Tourists come to spend money, and that keeps the economy going.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Svens Telemaque was skeptical about the economic benefits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be too costly and from what we saw on the news, it really wasn\u2019t beneficial for Montreal.\u201d Telemaque said. \u201cIt caused much more restrictions and there was nothing really to gain.\u201d<\/p>\n

The debate goes beyond the cost of hosting, however. Lander says mega sporting events often face the same challenges: rising costs, construction delays and budgets that rarely hold.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery host makes the same mistake over and over thinking, \u2018here\u2019s the budget that we can stick to,\u2019\u201d Lander said. \u201cYour budget is irrelevant the day you publish it because the IOC or FIFA are going to say, we could care less which numbers you\u2019re saying, you\u2019re ours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another key issue is whether Montreal\u2019s existing infrastructure could support the demands of a modern Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe infrastructure that we have is woefully inadequate to host a 21st century Olympics with 20th century infrastructure,\u201d Lander added.<\/p>\n

But McGill University civil engineering professor Daniele Malomo says many of the city\u2019s existing facilities could be adapted and reused, making another Olympic bid a realistic possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cInfrastructure is a number of different systems, right? We have bridges, we have streets, we have energy grids and so on and so forth,\u201d Malomo said. \u201cSo I\u2019m thinking Paris and thinking older cities that did host the Olympics recently. And certainly, there\u2019s the possibility. Why not?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tKeep it Factual<\/p>\n

Add CityNews Montreal as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.<\/p>\n

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