London Mayor Sadiq Khan has come out in support of a potential bid for England’s capital to host the 2040 Olympic Games.
Since recently being re-elected as London Mayor, Khan has made making London a global sporting capital a key focus of his next term. Bringing the Olympics to London a fourth time has been made a key priority.
London last hosted the Olympic Games in 2012 to resounding success, as Team GB walked out of those games with a total of 65 medals, including 29 gold medals.
Speaking on his ambitions for London to host the 2040 Games to The Times, Khan said: “We could knock it out of the park in relation to the Olympics, using the assets we already have in the aquatics centre, the stadium, the velodrome.
“When it comes to major sports events, the public and governments are not unreasonably nervous about a huge amount of money being spent on infrastructure. But the reason why 2040 makes sense for London is because we could do it in a brilliant way but also very cheaply.
“An Olympics in London wouldn’t cost a fortune, but the benefits would be humongous.”
London a viable sporting home
As Khan mentioned, London would be an ideal Olympic host destination after previously hosting the Games 13 years ago with many of the facilities still intact from the 2012 Games.
While no confirmed bids have been placed for the 2040 Olympics, Madrid has signaled its interest in hosting the games.
Despite Madrid boasting two of the most successful football clubs in Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, as well as hosting other sporting events like the 2030 FIFA World Cup, London has a rich history of hosting continental and international sporting events.
As previously mentioned, it has hosted the Olympic Games on three separate occasions, as well as hosting the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championships – hosting the upcoming EURO 2028 – and other events in athletics, tennis, cricket and more.
Khan also highlighted his intentions to host the World Athletics Championships in 2029 as he projected it could generate £400m to the capital city’s economy.
More and more countries are shying away from hosting the Olympics due to the significant amount of money needed to build infrastructure for the global event. However, London already has this infrastructure in place, having been built for the 2012 games – as well as a plethora of other major venues.
Khan’s sporting vision
While a bid for the 2040 Olympic Games remains in the pipeline for Khan’s sporting ambitions, he has also expressed interest in hosting other sporting events in England’s capital.
London has been one of the international homes for the NFL’s International Series, hosting NFL regular season games at Wembley Stadium, and now the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, since 2007.
Khan has since gone one step further in regards to the NFL, believing that he can bring the Super Bowl to London in the future although this is a lofty ambition as it would be the first time ever a Super Bowl will be held outside the US.
He also signaled his interest in bringing WWE’s flagship event, WrestleMania, to London for the first time ever, and even held talks with WWE’s President Nick Khan and Chief Content Officer, Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque, earlier this year.
“I’m somebody who loves sport, and I see the benefit of watching it,” Khan added. “But what I thought we’d do is commission a report to work out the economic impact sport has
“My ambition has always been for London to be the sporting capital of the world, and then to consolidate our position. Whether it’s boxing, the NFL, Major League Baseball; we’re talking to the NBA about bringing basketball to London. I think it’s so important.”
