“Governments change, and who’s in charge changes, so it’s harder to say what we want people to take away about Brisbane, but I reckon there’s going to be an initiative to say Brisbane’s really good at technology,” he said.

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“I think that will hold up, because technology is changing so fast and Brisbane is in the perfect place to leverage that.”

Debate about infrastructure has continued into 2025, while the Queensland government conducts its 100-day review of venues.

Burton, however, believed the rollout of 6G technology “sometime between 2028 and 2030” would open the floodgates for virtual reality and artificial intelligence to transform fan engagement with the Games.

Where he labelled Sydney 2000 the “Tourism Games”, and believed Los Angeles 2028 would be sold as the “Entertainment Games”, he said Brisbane had an opportunity to leverage technology to revolutionise the viewing experience, and make a statement on a worldwide scale.

Burton pointed to the National Basketball Association’s use of Meta Quest virtual reality headsets as an early sign the visual experience was readying for a profound period – one which would only be enhanced by 2032.

“The fans keep telling us they want to get closer to the action. They want cameras on the touchline, they want body cameras in the ball, they want statistics and to be on the pitch,” Burton said.

“Virtual reality is growing … whenever you have a stadium that has a fixed number of seats humans can physically sit in, the virtual stadium can hold an infinite number of seats.

“I might be sitting in the States, you might be in London, but virtual reality will make it possible for us to feel like we’re sitting together.

“It’s a bit hard for most people to imagine it, but it really is coming.”

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