Olympics
The estimated cost of hosting the Olympics is rising at a rate which would be envied by sprinters. Little thought went into the original budget forecast as everybody thought the games would go to Paris. The initial estimate of the construction of the site has risen from £2.3bn to £3.3bn. This includes VAT which seems daft. The regeneration cost is £1.04bn though it's arguable whether the whole of this amount should be counted as part of the budget. Security is very hard to estimate as the site has to be protected in the run-up to as well as during the games. The initial proposal of £200m has now risen to £1bn. All these costs will be funded by the National Lottery, London council tax and taxpayers in general. Operations will cost £2bn, but these will be met by the International Olympic Committee, sponsorship and ticket sales.
There is still discussion about hosting events outside the main compound. Sailing will be in Weymouth. They're deciding where to host the equestrian events and are proposing Greenwich rather than Windsor (presumably because of its proximity to the main event), however, the £15-20m spent on facilities in Greenwich would be gratuitous as they'd be demolished at the end of it.
The Olympic tradition is that the host country pays half the costs of the closing ceremony at the previous games so there's a worry about exactly how many fireworks Beijing's going to set off in 2008. Our closing ceremony, on the other hand, should be pretty cheap: with the army cuts there won't be that many participants in the Changing of the Guard.
posted by Whispering Walls at 8:51 am
6 Comments:
Hmm..I disagree with your comment that 'Little thought went in to the original budget forecast'. Certainly little actual effort was expended in it producing an accurate estimate, but much thought went into 'thinking of a number' which would get past the political process of approval. Okay, it would bear little resemblance to the final figure, but that was never the intention of the initial figure.
I don't know where you got the information about us picking up half the cost of the Beijing closing ceremony ! Scary stuff ! As you say China, the fireworks capital of the world will want to go out with a bang which will make the spectacle in Sydney look like a back garden 'Guy Fawkes' event.
But there is no going back now - all we can hope is that this doesn't turn into a repeat of the Wembley / Millennium dome debacle.
Although as football commentators are wont to say, it might be like 'deja vu all over again'...
We're burdened here in Vancouver by the Winter Olympics in 2010. The costs are escalating madly (who expected otherwise), two levels of government trying to get the other to pay.
I came to see if the blogroll had appeared yet.
Regards
jmb
I hate sport so I am biased! I think it's all a huge waste of money and that the costs will double and triple every year till the goddam thing happens as apart from anything else I think security will be an increasing nightmare. Oh, I know it's all for the "Honour of sport" or some such nonsense - in which case, stop playing the anthems at the winning ceremonies and maybe the security costs will be halved - but I can't help feeling all this money could be better spent. I didn't know that about how they finance the closing ceremony. You are always interesting and informative, WW.
Great article about Private Equity on Newsnight this evening - and some good coverage about it in Telegraph today - AA are cancelling night time patrols because of their new bosses.
I'm putting my blogroll in this weekend - apologies for the delay.
welshcakes - I suppose the costs would like pretty small if wars were settled on the sporting field...
Sadly, I don't think there is much chance of that happening.
Perhaps a good game of football could be used to determine whether Iran get to keep those hostages... then again after the performance in Andorra, the Iranians might win...
Post a Comment
<< Home