“The key thing is not sports as a business, but sports as a catalyst,” argued Solomon Quaynor, Vice President at the African Development Bank, during a discussion on how development institutions should approach the financing of sports infrastructure.
The session, “Opportunities & Legacy of Major Sporting Events” took place on 27 February, during the recently concluded Finance in Common Summit (FICS) 2025, in Cape Town, South Africa. Moderated by Ollie Dudfield of the International Olympic Committee, the discussion explored ways of bridging the divide between sports as entertainment and sports as a driver of sustainable development.
Drawing from experience in both development finance and investment banking, Quaynor presented a commercial real estate analogy: “For those of us who are financiers, think about it from a shopping mall perspective. The viability of a shopping mall is anchored around the anchor tenants. So, sports can be the anchor tenant of an arena, but there are going to be other ways in which one can monetize that asset.”
Quaynor added that multipurpose facilities offer diverse revenue streams, in the African context: “This arena could be used for some major church and religious services. It could also be used for some weddings…” Acknowledging the challenge of limited financing, he advocated for an incremental approach: “We don’t necessarily finance the entire arena… but we find ways essentially to look at this as a public-private partnership that works.”
Herman Pienaar of UN Habitat contributed an urban development perspective. “If one can promote sport, and if one can use sport as a catalyst to activate areas, then that’s a good way to lead urban development processes,” he said, adding, “Sport needs to become part of the everyday planning discourse within cities. It’s not something that’s added on at the end. It needs to be in the same paradigm as what they plan for schools, for open spaces, for roads, electricity.”
Major sporting events, Pienaar noted, create a sense of urgency around infrastructure development, “the kind of urgency to deal with issues that you’ve known about for quite a long time but never had the focus and energy to actually deal with.”
Carey Jooste from the Development Bank of Southern Africa emphasized the role of partnerships, “Instead of reinventing the wheel, how do we do it together?” she stated. “Moving forward, the sport coalition is a critical driver for partnerships and driving development impact.”
Sho Sato of the Japan Sport Council shared experiences from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games, highlighting urban development, local and community development, and international development cooperation as key areas in which the legacy of the Games continues to manifest.
Quaynor further highlighted the broader socioeconomic benefits of sports, beyond infrastructure renewal: “If sports permeates society, then the healthcare bill begins to drop over time. It’s not immediate, but it’s a long-term impact.”
The Finance in Common Summit is an annual gathering of all Public Development Banks and their partners from governments and the private sector. The 2025 edition held from 26-28 February 2025, with the theme, “Fostering Infrastructure and Finance for Just and Sustainable Growth.”
Source African Development Bank Group