Mega sporting events increasingly use existing, spread-out infrastructure and sustainability themes. What lessons does this hold for India's hosting ambitions?

The 20th Asian Games at Aichi-Nagoya (2026) did not use one big central campus. Events were held under a five-cluster model across Aichi, Gifu, Shizuoka and an Airport-Expo zone, and athletes did not stay in a single Olympic-style village [1]. This "legacy-first" way of hosting gives India a useful template, but only if India first repairs its own sports institutions.

Features of the emerging model

• Dispersed, existing venues: spreading events across several prefectures reuses regional infrastructure instead of building new venues that sit empty afterwards (white elephants) [1].
• Modular housing: athletes lived in container-style units instead of a permanent village [1].
• Sustainability as identity: the green in the emblem recalls Aichi's EXPO 2005, COP10 of the CBD (Nagoya) and the UNESCO ESD conference [2].
• Inclusive continuity: the same cities host the 5th Asian Para Games, the first Para Games held in Japan [2].

Lessons for India

• Build for use, not for the event: Indian bids should group events around existing stadiums in several states. This cuts capital costs and spreads the benefits beyond one metro city. It fits the National Sports Policy 2025 focus on infrastructure, sports tourism and PPPs [3].
• Fix existing capacity first: some of SAI's 24 National Centres of Excellence are not working or lack living facilities, and about 45% of SAI posts are vacant [4]. A dispersed model works only if regional centres actually function.
• Spend well before spending more: Khelo India spent only Rs 324 crore of Rs 520 crore in 2018-19 [5]. The real constraint is the ability to carry out projects, not the size of the budget.
• Plan logistics as one system: Games spread over many clusters need joined-up planning for travel, medical care and recovery. India practised by setting up container units at SAI Patiala and Bengaluru [1]. A host country has to do this at a much larger scale.
• Accountable governance: the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 brings sports bodies under RTI and adds tenure limits and a Code of Ethics [6]. This gives citizens a way to check the bodies that would run a Games.
• Soft power: Japan used the slogan "Imagine One Asia" to project a regional identity [2]. India hosted the first Asiad in 1951 [2] and can use hosting to build similar goodwill.

Caveat

• A dispersed model increases travel load for athletes and needs strong coordination [1]. Sustainability claims also need measurable proof, not just branding.

Aichi-Nagoya shows that the most efficient venue is often one that already exists. India should turn dispersed, green and accountable hosting into measurable targets under NSP 2025 [3]. It should also fill SAI vacancies and make SAI a statutory body, as the Standing Committee recommended [4]. In line with SDGs 11 and 12, hosting should then build a lasting sporting nation, not a one-time spectacle.