The value of hosting a mega event
Unfortunately
there are very few success stories like the Barcelona Olympics. According to
Bladen et al.,(2012) the Beijing Olympics in 2008 came to a
total of $40 billion and created six new sporting venues. Gus Lubin at the
Business Insider reports that $3 billion were spent on renovations and
construction of new stadiums that are now empty and losing money with a third
of the stadiums breaking even whilst the rest of them lost $44 million in 2010
alone. Lubin concludes that “it’s
starting to look more like Athens than Barcelona”. A member of the SportsEconomist Group blog argued that the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 was a key
factor to the Greek financial crisis, saying that “in 2005 Greece suffered an Olympic-sized hangover with GDP growth
falling to its lowest level in a decade”. Sophie Jane Evans from the Daily
Mail refers to Athens £7 billion Olympic project as “the new ruins of Athens", in the same article Pyrros Dimas said “We simply made the biggest mistake in our
history: We switched off, locked up the stadiums, let them fall to pieces, and
everything finished there.” Despite this, Spyros Capralos, a senior member
of the 2004 organising committee, still argues that the Athens 2004 Games were
a success from a non-sporting aspect, contributing to a new airport, roads,
metro system and increased tourism. Evans also reports that after the Winter
Olympics in Sochi 2014 came to $51 billion, many Western European cities
withdrew their bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics. Forcing the question of the
value of hosting the Olympic Games?
SimonJenkins from the Guardian, reported that the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de
Janeiro is behind schedule, comparing it’s progress to that of the London 2012
Games, that were 60% complete with two years to go, in contrast to Rio that
only has completed 10% of their preparations. Jenkins also criticise the
extravaganza that the IOC has become accustom to, in London 2012 they got
exclusive limousine lanes outside Harrods, they booked up luxury hotel rooms
and then released the unwanted rooms back to the market when it was too late
for re-letting. London 2012 was meant to be the “people’s game” and brought in
on a low cost budget of $4 billion but was raised to $13 billion to meet the
IOC’s requirements of a spectacular show. Jenkins argue that Rio has the
opportunity to do what London was meant to, “it could welcome the world to whatever stadiums and arenas are left
from the 2007 Pan-American games, and rely on television to reach audiences. It
could tailor the Olympics to Rio rather than Rio to the Olympics. The city of
carnival would offer a carnival of sport, proving that poor cities as well as
rich ones can sometimes stage these mega-events. Do that and instead of being
abused for delay and incompetence, this magnificent city would have the world
cheering its daring and its guts.”
It is time for a change for mega events such as the Olympics.
It should be about people coming together, accomplishing greatness within their
sport and feeling the support and pride from their fellow countrymen. Instead
it has become a regeneration game where the Olympic legacy more often than not
is white elephants and a struggling economy. What the Olympics need is a
country that is willing to host an Olympic Game similar to that Simon Jenkins
suggest for Rio 2016. Because all that is really needed is for one country to
set an example of how to deliver a successful Olympic Game within budget and
without any white elephants and thereby change the perception of how it could
and should be delivered. I have always had a fascination for the Olympic Games
and a dream to be part of it, but I as an Event Manager do not want to be part
of creating more “Olympic curses” but be part of creating something that is remembered
for all the achievements and greatness that came out of it.
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