Where Olympians ran, swam and slept, Chinese organizers see pop concerts, a public pool, football games and luxury apartments.
People walk outside the "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 12, 2008. [Agencies] |
Authorities are scrambling to make sure the 91,000-seat Bird's Nest stadium and other venues are put to good use after the Olympics and September's Paralympics. They want to avoid the fate of other Olympic hosts that were left with empty, debt-burdened facilities.
The NBA and private developers have been signed up to run stadiums and arenas. The Water Cube swimming center, due to become a public pool, raised money by licensing its name for a bottled water brand. The Bird's Nest is taking bM Corp. and German drug company Bayer AG. Their names appear on seats and other facilities.
The Water Cube was paid for by donations from ethnic Chinese abroad, making it cheaper to convert to public use. But in a city where the average income per person is $4,100 (euro2,775) a year, managers say ticket prices will be kept low, which leaves less for upkeep of its pool and its futuristic bubble-wrap exterior.
"If we rely only on swimming pool tickets, we certainly will lose money," Kang Wei, a deputy manager of the government company that owns the pool, said in comments on the Beijing organizers' Web site. "So we will have other products to guarantee the operation in the long run."
The Water Cube raised money by licensing its name for use on swimsuits and on bottled water made from Canadian icebergs.
Beijing began charting the venues' future almost as soon as it was awarded the games in 2001.
Athlete housing was designed from the start as luxury apartments, with swimming pools, tennis courts, coffee shops and shopping. Chinese media say units sold out ahead of the games for prices of $2,900-$4,400 (euro1,965-euro2,980) per square meter, high even for Beijing's booming real estate market.