Now that the bell of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is soon to ring, people at home and abroad have been focusing increasingly on the construction of China's sport fields and stadiums. Many of the stadium designs, such as the famous National Stadium and National Swimming Center, nicknamed "Birds' Nest" and "Water Cube," are combining miracles of sports and architecture.

The National Stadium, known as the "Bird's Nest," will hold 100,000 fans, and leads the list of top 10 most important architectural projects under construction in the world, according to the British London Times newspaper. Construction of the National Stadium has cost a total of 3.15 billion yuan, or about $420 million.

A total of 37 stadiums in six cities are being erected for the Beijing Olympic Games, and China has invested over $2 billion on stadium construction. By the end of this year, all 36 stadiums except the National Stadium will be finished, according to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

This grand investment for just 15 days of Olympic events could turn into a great waste of labor, resources and money if the stadiums are not properly utilized after the Games. Turning these stadiums into sustainable facilities, usable after the crowds have come and gone, is the most crucial future problem facing officials who have invested these resources.

Learning from the past

What to do with sports fields and stadiums post-Olympics is a common problem faced by countries who have hosted the Olympics before.

Soon after successfully hosting the Athens Olympics in 2004, Greece found itself in a mess of trouble. The stadiums and facilities they had constructed were in disrepair because of poor management. Only a year after the Olympics, Athens paid 100 million euro to maintain these facilities. This cost is about average for basic annual maintenance expenses. Before that, Greece had already spent $12 billion building the facilities and operating them during the games. It's no wonder that officials there warned cities hoping to host future Olympics that they should first draw lessons from what happened in Athens.

Many of the sports fields and stadiums left over from the Sydney Olympics in 2000 are no longer in use due to the relatively small size of Australia's population. Officials in Sydney announced in August 2002 that they planned to disassemble some of the Olympic facilities within the next 10 years since it costs $32 million every year just to maintain them.

Many host cities for the Olympics have seen a post-Olympics gloom, witnessing slow economic development and sometimes a backsliding in economic growth. Experts analyze that this is due to the massive investments on construction, infrastructure and management without understanding the demands of the facilities after the Olympic Games. One reason is that usage of some of these facilities is sport specific and other uses cannot be made of them after the athletes step off the podiums. Because of this, many facilities stand empty and deserted and all the investments made on them seem to have been in vain.

China had hosted major sporting events before, such as the World University Games and the Asian Games. However, according to a report from the Beijing Development Institute at Peking University, most sports fields and stadiums built for those events have run at deficit ever since the day they were built. They are in a catch-22: Revenue generated by the facilities can't pay maintenance costs, and at the same time, the high price of tickets used to cover these costs keep many people out of the facilities.

Beijing has prepared 31 sports fields and stadiums for the 2008 Olympic Games. Among the 31 Olympic stadiums in Beijing, 12 of them are brand new, 11 are reconstructed, and 8 are temporary. If these 31 sports fields and stadiums cannot be properly used after the Olympic Games, the cost could be enormous.

Reusable concept

If a sports facility is constructed in a way that it can both meet the demands related to the sport, as well as demands for activities such as cultural, trade and political events, it can be a sustainable solution to the problem seen by other Olympic hosts.

Hong Kong Coliseum is a good example. Built in 1983, the Coliseum was originally designed as a venue for major sporting events. Yet its fame is not from sports contests but as a venue for major concerts. Due to the needs of the community, it has assumed the role of a major venue for staging entertainment related events or large-scale assemblies. In particular, the Coliseum has been able to capitalize on flourishing Canto-pop concerts, and it is expected that this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. During the first two years after the Coliseum was built, the rates of utilization were 55.7 percent and 46.3 percent. As the Coliseum became better known, these rates greatly increased. In 2004, the rate was as high as 96.7 percent. Over the past 20 years the Coliseum has hosted major entertainment events, especially pop music concerts, to fulfill Hong Kong's entertainment needs. Nevertheless, the Coliseum will continue to host sporting events and other large needs, catering to the diversified needs of the community.

According to a report in The Economic Observer, the National Swimming Center took into account multiple post-Olympic functions during its design phase. The sporting area in the design of the "Water Cube" covers only 21.4 percent of the facility. The main function of the center after the Olympics will be as a waterpark, which will include an artificial wave pool and beach, waterslides and facilities for physical exercise and training. By then, it will be the biggest waterpark open to the public in China, and offers ample development space for future operation and management.

The design of the "Bird's Nest" also pays special attention to the multiple functions of fields and spaces inside the stadium, greatly improving the utilization rate of the stadium. After holding the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the Olympic events in between, the stadium will be available for business exhibitions, performances and other functions.

Considering the possible challenges before and after the Beijing Olympic Games, the Beijing Municipal Government hired five experts as senior advisors for Beijing's Olympic economy. Beginning in April, 2005 experts from the United States, Belgium, China and France, experienced in economic research and management during previous Olympics, began their work. Gilbert Van Kerckhove of Belgium, one of the five senior advisors for the Olympic Economy, pointed out that although China has constructed a large number of facilities, most cannot be fully utilized and lack proper management. He said that opening these facilities to the public can satisfy public demands for such facilities and at the same time their entrance fees will pay for the upkeep.

Another way to manage and operate sports fields and stadiums is by combining stadium operations together with professional sports competitions, which is a successful experience of U.S. stadiums. For example, the main stadium of the 1984 Los Angles Olympics still serves as the home court of the Los Angeles Lakers.

However, it is not very practical for China to rely on turning post-Olympic facilities into professional sports venues, said Kerckhove. Improving public participation in a variety of uses for the facilities is the most important factor, he said.