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!