With the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics just a week away, all eyes are set on the French capital, and that’s not only because of the sports elite competing at 329 events. To host one the largest sports events in the world, Paris is likely to spend over $9.6 billion, more than its tourism revenue returns and 76% more than initially planned.
Cost overruns have become usual for the cities hosting the Olympics, and the difference between their planned budgets and the final bills is shocking.
According to data presented by AltIndex.com, the total cost of the Olympic Games has skyrocketed to over $187 billion since 2000, or three times more than the initial plans.
The cost-benefit analysis of hosting the Olympics shows it is less economically beneficial than they claim. Although the host cities gain temporary jobs due to infrastructure improvements that continue benefiting them into the future, the costs are still gigantic.
Once a city wins a bid to host the Olympics, it usually adds roads and builds or enhances airports and rail lines to accommodate the large influx of people. Then, there is housing for the athletes in the Olympic Village and at least 40,000 available hotel rooms and specific event facilities. The aftermath of the Olympic Games over the past 24 years shows these costs, which may range from $5 billion to $50 billion, are always much higher than planned.
Since 2000, the host cities, including Paris this year, have spent $187.6 billion on organizing the Olympic Games, or $126.2 billion more than initially planned. Statistics also show the average Olympics` cost overrun was a massive $9.7 billion, with huge differences between the host cities.
So far, Montreal has been the worst example of a cost overrun in Olympic history. The final bill for the 1976 Olympics came in at 13 times the original estimate, while the cost of the main stadium took over 30 years to repay fully. However, in the past two decades, many other cities have also seen gigantic cost overruns.
Beijing’s 2008 Olympics topped this chart with a massive cost overrun of over $40 billion. Rio’s 2016 Olympics was followed by a gigantic $13 billion difference between the final cost and the planned budget.
Statistics show that Sochi overran by more than $16 billion, and Tokyo a shocking $20.7 billion after the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to delay its 2020 games and organise them without the spectators eight months later. Vancouver and Pyongyang saw twice as high final costs of hosting the Games than their initial budgets, a bit more than Sydney and Torino, which saw 91 per cent and 80 per cent cost overruns.
Although Paris’ infrastructure spending has exceeded the initial budget by 76 per cent compared with its 2016 projection, this is the second-smallest cost overrun in the past two decades.
