After the party, Sydney's Olympic blues

Sydney's Stadium Australia has remained largely empty since the Games

By CNN's Grant Holloway

(CNN) -- If you build it they will come. In Sydney, they don't.

Future Olympic city hosts be warned. Despite the stunning sellout success of the 2000 Games, Sydney's $200 million Olympic Stadium is shaping up as a white elephant of mammoth proportions.

And the other sports venues and facilities at Olympic park are not doing much better.

While the massive Stadium Australia has managed to secure some major events like international rugby games and football (soccer) matches, what it lacks is an anchor sporting team that can keep the crowds coming back.

The situation is so bad, the stadium's bankers have given its managers until September to prove it can be a viable business.

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"We find competition is more from interstate, probably Melbourne," says Ken Edwards, Chief Executive of Stadium Australia.

"The Melbourne Government bids for events whereas NSW doesn't. We can compete with other stadiums but its hard to compete with State Governments."

Ghost town

The problems are not confined to the main stadium. Most days, this sprawling complex resembles little more than a state-of-the art ghost town.

It still looks terrific, but now the games are over there are very few good reasons for Sydney-siders to come here.

The symptom is not confined to Sydney and seems to be the side-effect of hosting the Olympics. Tourists visiting the Barcelona Olympic Stadium and its surrounds will discover an ugly blight.

Less than 12 years on, the atmosphere, color and excitement are gone, replaced by a run-down, decrepit resemblance of what once was the pride of the Spanish city.

Sydney, like so many host cities before it, is struggling to convert the short-term publicity bonanza of the games into long-term economic benefits.

However, a new report suggests the games will have added $4.3 billion to Australia's gross domestic product.

But so far, little of that new economic activity is happening at the former home of the games, despite the construction of an $80 million rail link.

New life

Sydney's State Government, which paid for the building of many of the games facilities, is now looking for ways to inject new life into the precinct.

"We recently prepared a master plan to take Sydney Olympic Park into the future," says Diane Leeson from the Olympic Park Authority.

"What we'd like to see out here is a base population across the site of about 13,000 people. We'd like to see workers, residents, people coming out for leisure, entertainment and so we'd like to see a very vibrant mix of life and activity in what we call out town center."

Olympic boss Juan Antonio Samaranch might have declared the 2000 Games the best ever, but now the party is over, Sydney is discovering that winning is not everything, it is just the easiest thing.