With everyone confidently predicting disaster for this month’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro and a dwindling list of candidates for hosting in 2024, people are beginning to wonder: does anyone want to host the Olympics anymore? A recent study breaks down the costs and benefits of hosting the Olympic Games and explains why some of the perceived economic blessings of the Olympics are mostly wishful thinking. Authors of the study consult estimates from academic, public, and media sources on the costs and benefits of hosting the Games. As with any mega-event, costs and benefits can be hard to estimate, but the general story is clear: for most modern Olympics, the costs have far outstripped the benefits. https://www.aeaweb.org/research/are-the-olympics-ever-worth-it-host-city Study: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.30.2.201
The athletes do not need all the fluff factor to compete. All the fluff factor is designed for the needs of the media, tourism, advertisers, and political prestige. The politics and business in charge will create a huge debt for the tax payers, while themselves gaining all the gold. The mayor of Rio will not end up with the same debt as the project he was in charge of. NBC and all its advertisers will not end up with debt. The debt goes to the local tax payer. Any large city with universities that have good athletic facilities could be used to host the Olympic games. The athletes will not care. They are the center piece, not the prestige of the city. However, all the corrupt and wasteful elements, will run up costs, since they and their cronies get a kickback from all the waste. Maybe all the cost override should be paid by those who benefit by it; paycheck. Boston was one the finalist cities for 2020. The citizens voted it down because they did not want to pay for the expensive incompetent and corruption factors, who will gain personal prestige and money, while leaving behind a huge debt. These was no reason to expect $billions in debt, when Boston could use existing facilities from dozens of universities and professional sports. But this how big government works; waste due to incompetence and corruption.
WORK and Play...that is how Greece set it up long ago.... Now, no work...even in Greece...but Play is still there....amazing...
