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Qatar’s bid to host the 2036 Olympic Games has received a boost with the state-owned broadcaster beIN Sports concluding a media rights deal for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
It is understood that beIN has won the rights to broadcast LA 2028 in the Middle East and north Africa (Mena) region, with the contract signed by the International Olympic Committee president, Kirsty Coventry, and the beIN chair, Nasser al-Khelaifi, over the last few days at the Winter Games in Milan Cortina.
Khelaifi is not a member of the Qatar Olympic Committee that is running the bid to bring the Games to Doha, while beIN has no formal role in promoting it. The Paris Saint‑Germain president is a board member of the sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority, however, and his good relations with Coventry and other IOC members could prove useful.
BeIN acquired Olympic rights in 2015, and last week secured a last‑minute deal to show the Winter Games on its streaming platform, TOD. LA 2028 will be shown on all beIN’s channels in Mena.
Qatar announced last year that it had entered into what the bid rules describe as “continuous dialogue” with the IOC over hosting 2036 in what is shaping up to be a heavyweight battle with Ahmedabad, the home city of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Qatar has little Olympic history and its Olympic committee was only recognised by the IOC in 1980, but it has invested heavily in sporting infrastructure over the past two decades and is bidding to become the first Arab nation to host the Olympics.
Its pitch to the IOC is expected to emphasise the bid’s financial and environmental sustainability, as 95% of the venues it plans to use are already in place as a legacy of hosting the 2022 World Cup. Doha is also a compact city which had a new metro system built for the World Cup, and Hamad international airport is a global transport hub.
A Qatari Olympics would create controversy given the country’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights and limited history of female sport. Qatar did not send any women athletes to the Olympics until London 2012, when their female team had four competitors, and the sprinter Shahd Mohamed was their only female competitor at the Paris Games.
India’s planned Olympic bid will also have heavyweight political backing, as Ahmedabad is the powerbase of the country’s ruling BJP party. In addition Nita Ambani, whose family wealth is estimated at more than $120bn (£104bn), has been an IOC member since 2017 and has been lobbying for India since Paris 2024.
A Times of India report last year estimated the costs of staging the Games in Ahmedabad at a record $7.5bn, far higher than LA’s budget of $5bn.
