Did You Know
Return Olympics
to Mount Olympus
It is time
to return the Olympic games (and Paralympics) to Greece, their homeland, and
end the deluded and money wasting game of moveable venues.
For 6 to 8
years in advance, major cities and countries currently vie for the host role,
spending millions on organizing committees, architectural plans and cow towing
to the OIC overlords who require first class air flights, first class hotel
suites and first class restaurants when visiting competing host hopefuls. Generous gifts ( i.e., bribes) flow from each
vying city to the travelling committee so that when one is finally chosen, all
others are left with wasted millions
and a deflated self-image that may
take years to restore.
The winning
cities/countries are also harmed, though self-delusion keeps the process in
play.
Host cities see the games as a great publicity
boost and a way to get needed infrastructure built. They delude themselves into believing the
games will boost immediate tourism and generate millions in extra business for
its retailers, hotels and restaurants -- and improve long term tourism as well.
They see the
construction of new arenas and apartment buildings and subway/LRT lines as a plus, as much of the costs are
paid for at state and national levels = ‘free money’
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Unfortunately, for host cities and countries, these
economic boosts – in terms of infrastructure and tourism -- have not
materialized for decades.
Construction
Olympic
Games Construction is and has always been a money sinkhole. The 1976 games in Montreal ran over budget by a then staggering $1
billion.– despite Mayor Jean Drapeau’s
assertion that it was more likely he would become pregnant first. It required a provincial lottery, increased
city taxes and over 20 years to pay back
the overruns. London 2012, which now claims
it was ‘on budget’, forgets that the
current budget was the 3 revised budget – and triple the original bid numbers!!! As well, the current crisis with Greece facing
bankruptcy and ejection from the European Union can all be traced back to the
spendthrift Olympic Games of Athens,
2004.
Special
structures and arenas are also often 2 week wonders. Montreal’s Olympic stadium has remained
underused for decades as it is too large for local CFL football or soccer
audiences, and Montreal long ago lost its Major League baseball team, the
Expos. Montreal’s Velodrome for bicycle racing also long sat empty and is today
– after major renovation and redesign -- an interactive biosphere ‘musuem’ in private
hands.
Similar
specialized structures from Beijing’s 2008 games are left empty and
decomposing, due to neglect.
So on the construction front, host
cities gain little and usually loose much.
Tourism
A number of
articles recently have burst this bubble and delusion. London, as a result of the Olympics, has LOST 200,000 tourists compared to a
normal summer!!! Yes, 100,000 Olympic fans
and contestants did show up, but London normally gets 300,000 regular tourists
at this time of year.
Fearing congestion
and hotel shortages, 200,000 people stayed away!!! Hotels were left with scores of empty rooms during peak season and forced into
discounts, restaurants and theatres are on the verge of bankruptcy due to
reduced tourism and the fact British locals staying home to watch the games on
TV.
According to
the Globe and Mail, August 1, 2012,
page A3, the 2000 Sydney games saw only 97,000 visitors while expecting 132,000;
and Athens got a paltry 14,000 tourists per night when anticipating 105,000.
Conclusion
We need to
rethink where the Olympic games are to be held.
The current
approach is wasteful in terms of tax dollars and consistently undermines the
ability of ordinary people to make a living.
Only the fat cat Olympic bosses benefit as they travel the great cities
on some else’s money and bribes.
A recent
study on New York, a city that lost to London for the 2012 games, is helpful in
this regard. The city and government
have built the needed improvements to local infrastructure – not gaudy, one
time monumental money sinkholes -- at a reasonable pace and on budget. And New York tourism has not nosedived as in
London.
As the study
concludes, New York was the real winner of the 2012 Olympic Games, not London.
SOLUTION
So what do
we do?
Simple, hold
the games in permanent facilities. Summer games in their native Greece,
either at Mount Olympus as in ancient times, or elsewhere. And have the winter games permanently in a
truly snowy part of the world, unlike Vancouver’s rain bowl.
Put the athletes and
sportsmanship first and foremost.End the delusional money wasting rotation of competing hosts,
and shut down the IOC barons’ high-on-the-hog lifestyle!
