By Robbie Butler


Fear not Madrid and Tokyo. You are the ones that should celebrate!
The cost of running these events, which I have addressed before here, here and here ultimately results in an enormous outlay and is dependent upon state support, with taxpayers left to foot the bill. Sky Sports reported that the cost of the games is estimated at around £5 billion pounds ($8 billion). This figure seems wildly optimistic when one considers the four previous games held this millennium in Sydney, Athens, Beijing and London. The illustration below presents the estimated cost of hosting each summer games.

Even excluding the 2008 games, the trend in costs as been upward. The figures are also nominal. A projected cost of $8 billion by the Japanese seems way too conservative. An examination of recent past games would suggest, a figure of $15 billion to $18 billion is more likely to represent the true cost of the games. Eight years is a long time to wait but watch this space…