SpursReport.com - Rio Gets 2016 Olympic Games

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Obama in Copenhagen for Olympics Vote, but Economic Benefits of Hosting Are Few - Real Time Economics - WSJ

Quote:

There are actually lots of reasons not to play host. The most apparent one is that the positive economic effects tend to be negligible — if they even exist.

Chicago’s proposed budget is about $4 billion, according to the city’s bid book. Plus another $1 billion or so for infrastructure that’s slated to be privately financed. But don’t be surprised if that price tag doubles, triples or worse — it almost always does.

Athens said hosting the games there would cost $1.6 billion. It ended up being about $16 billion. Beijing predicted $1.6 billion but current estimates say that’s more like $30 to $40 billion. And the 2012 games in London, originally expected to cost less than $5 billion, may now come with a price tag of around $19 billion, Zimbalist noted in a paper he co-wrote with the University of Alberta’s Brad R. Humphreys.

The revenue side usually isn’t much prettier. The Chicago bid team expects the games will pump $22.5 billion into the Illinois economy with $13.7 billion of that centered in Chicago. But an independent analysis found that the games are more likely to generate around $4.4 billion.