dotlah! dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
Social Links
  • zedreviews.com
  • citi.io
  • aster.cloud
  • liwaiwai.com
  • guzz.co.uk
  • atinatin.com
0 Likes
0 Followers
0 Subscribers
dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
  • Cities
  • World Events

The Massive Costs Behind The Olympic Games

  • July 23, 2021
tokyo-olympics-ryunosuke-kikuno-PUldfCtEoCk-unsplash
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0

The 2020 Olympics are finally set to get underway in Tokyo on Friday barring a last minute cancellation amid rising Covid-19 cases. Japan has been averaging 3,000 cases a day this week while only 22 percent of the public has been fully vaccinated. The event is now set to take place behind closed doors which is a bitter blow for both the public and organizers after a massive amount of work and investment.

Cost overruns have become the norm for host cities and it is estimated that postponing the games by a year cost Japan $2.8 billion, two-thirds of which was paid with public funding. That has come on top of a project that is already severely overbudget. When the Japanese capital was awarded the Olympics in 2013, the bid committee projected a final bill of $7.3 billion and this was revised upwards to $12.6 billion in December 2019 before the postponement. Japan’s National Audit Board later reported that the final cost would be far higher at $22 billion. Financial newspapers Nikkei and Asahi claim that the end cost of hosting the Olympics will actually amount to a whopping $28 billion.

Tokyo is just the latest of a number of host cities to learn a harsh economic lesson. Some have taken past mistakes onboard and Hamburg is a notable example which rejected its 2015 bid on cost grounds in a public referendum. Other cities have learned that the financial consequences can be dire only after hosting the games. Research conducted by The University of Oxford in 2016 and website Play The Game shows how costs ballooned in most cities down through the years. Notable examples include Montreal in 1976 where the games were 720 percent overbudget and Barcelona in 1992 which experienced a cost overrun to the tune of 266 percent.

In recent years, the 2016 Olymics in Rio cost just under $14 billion which represented a 352 percent cost overrun while the 2012 London Olympics saw its final bill of just under $15 billion come in 76 percent overbudget. Snowballing costs are also a feature of the Winter Oympics where there have been several financial catastrophes such as Sochi. The 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian City cost $21.89 billion, a 289 percent cost overrun largely as a result of overbudget venues.

Sadly, the enduring legacy of hosting the Olympics is now nothing more than a slew of abandoned and overgrown venues in multiple former host cities. That remains the case to this day in past venues such as Sarajevo, Athens, Beijing and Rio, to name just a few, where crumbling stadia and forgotten Olympic villages serve not as proud monuments to athletic achievement, but rather as somber symbols of catastrophic financial mismanagement.

the-massive-costs-behind-the-olympic-games-5424

Source: Statista

Total
0
Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Share
Related Topics
  • Japan
  • Olympics
  • Tokyo
  • Tokyo Olympics
majulah

Previous Article
  • Lah!
  • Technology

DBS, Singapore Judiciary, Ministry Of Communications And Information Launch Community Hackathon To Counter Growing Trend Of Online Harms

  • July 23, 2021
View Post
Next Article
  • Lah!

Alliance For Action’s Collective Effort To Better Support Hawkers And Help Them Benefit From Online Ordering

  • July 25, 2021
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • Cities
  • Technology

Meralco PowerGen’s PacificLight starts up 100 MW fast-response plant in Singapore

  • dotlah.com
  • June 20, 2025
View Post
  • Cities

Renewable energy, carbon credits are priority areas of cooperation for Singapore, Philippines: Lawrence Wong

  • dotlah.com
  • June 4, 2025
View Post
  • Cities
  • Politics

Singapore businesses eye more investments in PH, says PM Wong

  • Dean Marc
  • June 4, 2025
college-of-cardinals-2025
View Post
  • Featured
  • Features
  • World Events

The Definitive Who’s Who of the 2025 Papal Conclave

  • Dean Marc
  • May 8, 2025
conclave-poster-black-smoke
View Post
  • Featured
  • Features
  • World Events

The World Is Revalidating Itself

  • Dean Marc
  • May 7, 2025
View Post
  • Cities
  • Research

Mathematicians uncover the logic behind how people walk in crowds

  • dotlah.com
  • April 3, 2025
“Toyota Woven City,” a Test Course for Mobility, Completes Phase 1 Construction and Prepares for Launch
View Post
  • Cities
  • Technology

“Toyota Woven City,” a Test Course for Mobility, Completes Phase 1 Construction and Prepares for Launch

  • John Francis
  • January 6, 2025
View Post
  • Cities

Popes were once confined to Rome. Now they travel the world – and Francis’ current journey is particularly significant

  • dotlah.com
  • September 13, 2024


Trending
  • 1
    • Cities
    Surbana Jurong establishes New Fire Safety Consultancy Unit To Strengthen Fire Safety Standards And Compliance In Buildings
    • February 17, 2020
  • 2
    • Lah!
    NTUC Enterprise Rolls Out $50 Million Support Package To Help Singaporeans Manage Cost Of Living Amid COVID-19
    • June 23, 2020
  • running men 3
    • Cities
    How Running In The City Differs From Trails
    • November 6, 2020
  • 4
    • People
    • Techton
    • World Events
    Nurses On The Front Lines: A History Of Heroism From Florence Nightingale To Coronavirus
    • May 12, 2020
  • 5
    • Business
    • People
    How To Effectively Make Your Workplace Secure With COVID-19 Signage
    • August 26, 2020
  • 6
    • People
    • Technology
    Twitter Is Now X. Here’s What That Means.
    • July 25, 2023
  • Internet and cloud 7
    • Technology
    Cloudflare Publishes Top Internet Trends for 2024
    • December 9, 2024
  • 8
    • Machine Learning
    • Research
    • Science
    • Technology
    Using Machine Learning To Help ZSL & Network Rail Monitor And Improve Biodiversity Near British Railways
    • August 20, 2023
  • 9
    • Technology
    Ransomware incidents, online scams, and COVID-19-related phishing activities dominated cyber landscape in 2020
    • July 9, 2021
  • 10
    • Technology
    The Weird, The Wacky, The Just Plain Cool: Best Of CES 2020
    • January 13, 2020
  • 11
    • Lah!
    Grab Acquires Wealth Tech Start-up Bento To Bring Retail Wealth Solutions To Millions Across Southeast Asia
    • February 5, 2020
  • 12
    • Cities
    The Biggest Economies In The World
    • August 11, 2020
Trending
  • Scuba Diving 1
    Wetsuit or Drysuit? As always, it depends. This quick guide can help you choose.
    • August 2, 2025
  • 2
    Thoughts on America’s AI Action Plan
    • July 24, 2025
  • 3
    Introducing Surface Laptop 5G: Seamless connectivity, built for business
    • July 23, 2025
  • 4
    Press Start (Or Hit Enter)! Your Go-To Loadout for Streamers and Gamers.
    • July 19, 2025
  • 5
    ESWIN Computing launches the EBC77 Series Single Board Computer with Ubuntu
    • July 17, 2025
  • 6
    Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7: Raising the Bar for Smartphones
    • July 9, 2025
  • Camping 7
    The Summer Adventures : Camping Essentials
    • June 28, 2025
  • 8
    Meralco PowerGen’s PacificLight starts up 100 MW fast-response plant in Singapore
    • June 20, 2025
  • 9
    A Father’s Day Gift for Every Pop and Papa
    • June 14, 2025
  • 10
    Apple services deliver powerful features and intelligent updates to users this autumn
    • June 12, 2025
Social Links
dotlah! dotlah!
  • Cities
  • Technology
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Society
  • Science
  • About
Connecting Dots Across Asia's Tech and Urban Landscape

Input your search keywords and press Enter.