Have the winter Olympics had their day?

Looks like no one really wants to host the 2022 games.

The Bidding For The 2022 Olympics Is A Disaster Because Everyone Figured Out That Hosting Is A Total Waste

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/2022-olympics-host-bidding-2014-10#ixzz3FZpghbPD

Oslo has pulled out of the running for the 2022 Winter Olympics after the Norwegian government advised against hosting. That leaves Beijing and Almaty, Kazakhstan, as the only remaining cities involved in the bidding process.
Researchers have known for years that hosting large sporting events like the Olympics always costs more than expected and always yields less revenue and useful long-term infrastructure than estimated. Now voters and politicians in countries with democratically elected governments are starting to realize the same thing.
Potential host cities began dropping out of the bidding process for the 2022 Winter Olympics like crazy early in 2014.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/2022-olympics-host-bidding-2014-10#ixzz3FZqAoqfL

Looks like the governments have finally copped on to the fact that it's a waste of money to invest billions in hosting the games in the hope of kick starting a new economic growth cycle in the region.

I don't know why they can't just use pre-existing sports venues and block booking hotels for the athletes, rather than building (almost) everything from scratch.

Iwasfrozen

It's never really been a mystery that government investment doesn't lead to sustainable job growth. So with money being tighter worldwide and many developed countries in debt it's easy to see why a lot of countries aren't bidding.

Turtyturd

A bit misleading, no?

It's the winter Olympics, there's probably more interest in hosting the Special Olympics.

eeepaulo

An orgy of advertising with a bit of sport

wp_rathead

Something something Coolrunnings

Karl Stein

Government investment in tangibles such as education, roads, rail, ports, airports, public health, energy supply etc shouldn't be ignorantly (or perhaps deliberately) conflated with wasting money on 'prestige' events such as the Olympics or wasting it propping up failed banks, speculators etc.

To do so is ignorant and/or 'the-darn-gubberment-is-evil' Faux News style soap-boxing, or some combination of the two.

Duckworth_Luas

The Chinese city outside Athlone should submit a bid

Turtyturd

Turtyturd wrote: »

A bit misleading, no?

It's the winter Olympics, there's probably more interest in hosting the Special Olympics.

Not really, not everyone who hosted the summer Olympics prospered either, just look at Greece.

Bacon and Cabbage

Winter olympics doesn't count

UCDVet

Maybe they could save some money by.....I dunno.....not building a new set of everything for the games?

Every Olympics seem to bring a giant construction project. Can't we just use an old olympic sized swimming pool and the old football stadiums?

Richard Hillman

eeepaulo wrote: »

An orgy of advertising with a bit of sport

What Olympics have you been watching?

The only advertising I ever see is by Rolex or Omega who provide the timing gear and tiny logos for the kits sponsors. Even the BBC dont have ads. Its probably the least amount of advertising you can find for a mainstream event.

Richard Hillman

Richard Hillman wrote: »

What Olympics have you been watching?

The only advertising I ever see is by Rolex or Omega who provide the timing gear and tiny logos for the kits sponsors. Even the BBC dont have ads. Its probably the least amount of advertising you can find for a mainstream event.

I think he's referring to the flood of "Olympic themed" advertising that appears everywhere rather than at at the actual event.

mailforkev

The fact that the IOC (like FIFA with the World Cup) now have a book of demands basically placing them completely above the law in the host nation doesn't help either.

eeepaulo

Deleted User wrote: »

I think he's referring to the flood of "Olympic themed" advertising that appears everywhere rather than at at the actual event.

From companies like mcdonalds and coke, the last thing anyone who actually wants to compete in the olympics will consume

The last Olympics was memorable and epic. The Winter Olympics although not as mainstream, have also provided us with huge moments over the years.

It could be unfeasible for countries/cities to host the Olympics in future, but i think we could possibly then see a shift towards joint held olympics. There may come a time where it is held in two or more cities or across two or more countries akin to the Euro in Soccer. I hope they continue tbh. I love the summer olympics but i have watched one or two events in the winter olympics too.

Karl Stein

UCDVet wrote: »

Maybe they could save some money by.....I dunno.....not building a new set of everything for the games?

Places like the UK, France, Germany already have the infrastructure for large-scale field sports competitions so it can be profitable for them to host The Euros or the World Cup.

The Olympics is competed for by cities and is little more than a waste of vast sums of public money with little tangible return except for those flown in by their sponsors to win medals, those who can afford the overpriced tickets, or those who further their careers on the back of its 'success'.

Richard Hillman wrote: »

What Olympics have you been watching?

The ones where the athletes are wearing corporate logos on every item of sports gear?

dxhound2005

mailforkev wrote: »

The fact that the IOC (like FIFA with the World Cup) now have a book of demands basically placing them completely above the law in the host nation doesn't help either.

Yes, I read the David Walsh article in the Sunday Times as well. Nice colourful piece but his contention that the Norwegians turned it down because the IOC members wanted champagne on tap or whatever is hardly the real reason. Just down to economics and local opposition. More interesting is the possibility that the 2022 Winter Games will have to be rescheduled to make way for a winter time soccer World Cup in Qatar.

Muahahaha

Deleted User wrote: »

Not really, not everyone who hosted the summer Olympics prospered either, just look at Greece.

True, I'd be putting Atlanta 1996 in the same basket as Athens too. Conversely though Barcelona felt an economic boom in the aftermath as all their waterside areas were regenerated and it made for a permanent tourist attraction and public space enjoyed by many locals. I worked at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the local economy there took off like a rocket in the aftermath and it hasn't really stopped growing in Sydney since then. It made things a lot more expensive there, eg a can of Coke in 1999 Sydney was typically $1, two years after the Olympics it was around $1.50, prices of everything there went bat crazy post Olympics. I was in Beijing back in 2002 and there was already a massive building boom going on so their 2008 Olympics were more like a triumphalism event and a sign of their coming of age. Rio seems to be aiming for the same effect.

Anyway there is no way the Summer Olympics will ever come to an end, its a multi billion dollar advertising event at this stage. The Winter version is trickier as its never going to turn any kind of decent profits. People who ski/snowboard will know the Winter Olympics is in X location but it doesn't really make them any more likely to spend a holiday there post Olympics. Snow is snow and once you've got plenty of it people will go to their favoured resorts, going somewhere because they have hosted a Winter Olympics is not high on people's priority lists so its easy to see how there are much less economic benefits from hosting a Winter Olympics than a Summer one.

Karl Stein

Muahahaha wrote: »

Conversely though Barcelona felt an economic boom in the aftermath as all their waterside areas were regenerated and it made for a permanent tourist attraction and public space enjoyed by many locals.

The BCN Olympics cost USD $9.3Bn and made an insignificant profit of USD $10m. Apparently they did get a lot of public infrastructure out of it which probably has a long term return.

I worked at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the local economy there took off like a rocket in the aftermath and it hasn't really stopped growing in Sydney since then.

Sydney, 2000

First, the budget spiralled in familiar Olympic fashion, almost tripling to about A$6bn before a medal was won. The New South Wales government has said the financial result of the Games was a net cost to the public finances of at least A$1.5bn (about £720m). Then, Sydney Olympic Park – the centrepiece for the Games – became yet another white elephant after the Games closed. A long-term plan for its redevelopment, turning the site over to residential and commercial use, did not appear until 2005. "We didn't really have a policy for what would happen to the Olympic site after the Games," Holliday admits.

Until the Olympic Park is reborn as a new suburb, it serves largely as an attraction to the curious tourist, but the huge influx of foreign visitors the organisers hoped to generate never materialised. One study has said that, in the three years after the Games, foreign tourism to the state of New South Wales (whose capital is Sydney) rose less than for Australia as a whole.

independent.co.uk

AlmightyCushion

Richard Hillman wrote: »

What Olympics have you been watching?

The only advertising I ever see is by Rolex or Omega who provide the timing gear and tiny logos for the kits sponsors. Even the BBC dont have ads. Its probably the least amount of advertising you can find for a mainstream event.

What about Audi? Any time you see anything about the Olympics the Audi logo is there.

Balmed Out

Oh come on how can all your reference relate to the winter Olympics in a thread seemingly about the actual Olympics.
You may as well relate the fall in attendances in Seria A to the death of Rugby.

SilverScreen

I wish they would legalise all performance-enhancing drugs. Not only would there be no grey area and controversy over doping, but it would be like some kind of cool freak show. It might make it more interesting and get people watching who have no interest in sports otherwise.

eeepaulo

SilverScreen wrote: »

I wish they would legalise all performance-enhancing drugs. Not only would there be no grey area and controversy over doping, but it would be like some kind of cool freak show. It might make it more interesting and get people watching who have no interest in sports otherwise.

Instead of countries we could have glaxo smith klin vs pfizer vs johnson and johnson

Sh1tbag OToole

The Olympics were cool when I was a youngfella watching the opening ceremony for the first time in 1996 and what's her face was winning all the gold medals in the swimming. Now that I'm old it's all just a big blur, the 4 years come and go in the blink of an eye and sure all the athletes are on drugs anyway

Cookie_Monster

why can't they just use somewhere like Lillehammer? All the required infrastructure is already in place, minimal cost in comparison to modernise it. The IOC may have to lower some of their newly found ridiculous requirements but it could so easily be done.

All major sporting events; be it rugby, soccer, F1, Olympics etc all seems to be going the same way these days. Being about money and shiney venues first and fans last

joe swanson

It does be too cold anyway to be playing sports in that weather.

c_man

SilverScreen wrote: »

I wish they would legalise all performance-enhancing drugs. Not only would there be no grey area and controversy over doping, but it would be like some kind of cool freak show. It might make it more interesting and get people watching who have no interest in sports otherwise.

Yeah but... it would just become a showground for various pharmaceutical companies then.

I dunno what the future holds for it. I was very cynical on the whole farce but London 2012 really got me, I loved it tbh

Couldn't give two sh!ts about the Winter Olympics though. Let them off.

vicwatson

The IOC need to quit sending their 7,000 page document of demands for their members otherwise yes it will be the end of the Winter Olympics.

I love the way the government of Norway interacted with their people and asked them if they actually wanted it - the majority said no thanks.

I also respect the Norwegian Government for making the IOC list of demands for its members a public document so the whole procedure was transparent.

Irish Government are you reading??

osarusan

vicwatson wrote: »

I also respect the Norwegian Government for making the IOC list of demands for its members a public document so the whole procedure was transparent.

Irish Government are you reading??

We should get the IOC to list their criteria publicly too if we are thinking of hosting the winter olympics.

Yurt2

Norwegians are smart folks. Even though they pretty much have all the infrastructure and venues ready to go they still recognized they were being sold a pup.

IOC and FIFA need a good kick in the backside. It's so difficult to take them on though.

Grayson

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

It's never really been a mystery that government investment doesn't lead to sustainable job growth. So with money being tighter worldwide and many developed countries in debt it's easy to see why a lot of countries aren't bidding.

I presume you mean investment in gigantic sporting events because targeted spending, especially in infrastructure, can really help the economy.
Building multiple stadiums like Brazil or spending billions on corrupt companies like in Russia doesn't work though.