Paul and Glenn are back for another fun and entertaining episode. This week we explore the

world of white elephant sporting venues, ie, sporting stadiums/structures that are built at a

great financial cost and are barely used after being built. We also salute our Aussie

cricketers, especially Travis Head for their remarkable performance in winning the Cricket

World Cup against the odds. Some of the white elephants we discuss include

  • Concord Oval

  • Brisbane’s QEII stadium built for the Commonwealth Games.

  • The many wasted stadiums that are built for World Cups and then go to waste eg

South Africa, Brazil.

  • Soccer City stadium

  • Narendra Modi Stadium

  • Wasted venues built for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and then wasted eg,main

stadium and softball stadium.

  • Wasted venues built for the Rio Olympics and then not used, especially the Aquatic

Centre.

  • The iconic Maracana stadium

  • Montreal Olympic stadium and why it is called “The Big Owe”.

  • An Indian city who spent a fortune on venues for the Commonwealth Games and the

controversy leading up these games.

  • A South Korean city whose stadium was built for no great purpose, and appears to

have no real future.

Paul and Glenn give their Claps and Slaps for the week and Miss Olivia drops by to conduct

the Quiz and What Am I? We also have our segment Where is it Now? And Glenn finishes

off the show with another cracking joke.

White elephant stadium Sources

  1. McGill daily ‘sports white elephants’, by saylor catlin, 16/1/2023.

  2. Aus stadiums.com ‘queensland sport and athletic centre’,

  3. Abcnews, amp.abc.net.au ‘olympic cities can become multi-billion dollar graveyards

for white elephants after the games’. By jake sturmer, rebecca armitage and lucia

stein, 8/8/2021.

  1. The guardian.com ‘abandoned athens olympic 2004 venues 10 years on-in pictures’,

by steven bloor, 14/8/2014.

  1. News.com.au ‘italy’s dormant bobsleigh track ready for troubled 2026 winter

olympics’, 2/11/23.

  1. Bleacher report.com ‘white elephants and wasted millions. A warning to the world

cup hopefuls’, by neal collins, 12/11/2010.

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi

  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Commonwealth_Games

  3. India today. ‘CWG has left a legacy of white elephants’, ghatam bhatia, 4/3/2011.

  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru_Stadium_(Delhi)

  5. Outlookindia.com ‘CWG or Olympic venues that became white elephants’, by tejas

rane, 19/11/23.

  1. Newcivilengineer.com ‘recent olympics and world cups have left an unwanted legacy

of white elephants’, by rob horgan, 20/5/2021.

  1. Sportanddev.org ‘the white elephant-what mega sporting events leave behind’ SAD

public, 7/7/2015.

  1. Onlabor.org ‘legal levers: deterring labor abuses at mega-sporting events’ by alex

blutman, 28/9/2021.

  1. Worldsoccer ‘hwaseong stadium: the mother of all white elephants’, by steve price

20/9/2015.

  1. http://stadiumdb.com/stadiums/kor/hwaseong_sports_complex_stadium

  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hwaseong_Sports_Town

  3. The olympics. Athens to athens 1896-2004. Wiedenfield and nicholson publishing,

2004.

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul

  2. https://www.sofascore.com/team/football/hwaseong-fc/195174

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