Almeida: the IOC needs Madrid for an Olympic Games

Madrid wants the Olympics after F1: three failed bids already

The Madring circuit closed its first Formula 1 Grand Prix, and Madrid already has a new destination on the horizon. José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the city’s mayor, used a briefing at the Club Siglo XXI to call for the city to host the Olympics, and did so with a phrase that sums up his argument: “Call me a traditionalist, but Madrid is good for the International Olympic Committee.” In other words, he argues, the IOC’s interest would be greater than the city’s own in organizing them.

The call comes just after Madrid has overcome, in the mayor’s own words, another world-scale challenge. F1 was an event the capital had wanted to add to its calendar for years, and now it has done so. Almeida builds his Olympic argument on that test of capability.

What Almeida said and what is still missing for the bid

Before moving a single piece of paper, the mayor sets a condition that does not depend on him: achieving an institutional consensus, and also among Madrid residents, on whether it is worth submitting a bid. Without that prior agreement, the rest of the speech remains just a declaration.

Almeida argues that the capital has the necessary capacity and that the Olympics suit it as a natural host. He goes even further and says the IOC “is almost more interested in being able to come here” than the city is in hosting it. It is a reversal of the usual narrative: it is no longer about convincing the body, but about the body convincing Madrid.

For now there is no formal bid, no date and no team. Only an intention expressed at a club event.

Three Olympic bids and not one organizational medal

Madrid has tried three times and was left out all three times. The mayor himself recalled it: they were the bids best technically rated and still fell in the vote. “What we cannot allow is for what peine to us in the previous three bids to happen again,” he said.

The episode that rankles most is the defeat by other cities in one of those votes, which he described as surprising. The three failed attempts leave an uncomfortable fact: technical excellence in a dossier does not buy votes in an assembly.

Some sum up the matter with a touch of sarcasm: we’ve had the same old refrain for a quarter of a century.

Who pays for the Olympics in Madrid?

This is where the economic part begins. Part of the analysis argues that the real driver of the Olympic campaign is not sport but land: rezoning, public works and property deals tied to infrastructure. In that reading, the Olympics are the presentable wrapping for a long-term urban development business.

Against that weighs the classic argument: the associated investment generates jobs, activity and better facilities that the city uses afterwards. The discussion is not whether to build, but who gets paid to build it and who foots the bill when the torch goes out and the maintenance remains.

Neither position holds up with firm figures, because there is no budget on the table. And without a budget, comparing costs and revenues is a hypothesis.

The skepticism hanging over the bid

There are also jokes about outlying venues: that some competitions would end up outside the country, or that pending connections would first need to be fixed to host sailing events. They are jabs about the lack of proper facilities rather than serious forecasts, but they point to deeper mistrust.

The mood in short: after three failures, the announcement is met with lukewarm goodwill and a long memory. F1 did happen, yes. Whether that translates into Olympics is another conversation.

The material does not include official IOC statements on this possible bid. And by the calculation going around, Madrid’s Olympic talk has now been going for a quarter of a century without a bid on the table.