Olympics.

kneemos

Listening to Moncrief earlier and apparently no city has made a profit since the eighties from holding the games,when costs such as infrastructure and building stadiums and arenas is included.

Why can't we spread out the olympics around world and hold each sport in an appropriate location,such as beach volleyball on a warm beach rather than a car park in London or indoor sports in areas where facilities already exist.
Building huge arenas for minority sports that may seldom if ever be filled again is madness.

Good idea or hairy fairy.

Guy:Incognito

That wouldn't be a festival or an event or any sort of coming together of any sort. It'd just be another meet in the calendar of each sport.

YFlyer

1976 Montreal Olympics cost a bomb as well.

namloc1980

Why does it have to be about money only. The London Olympics cleaned up a pretty grimy part of East London into a world class civic and sporting facility. Also transport infrastructure is there forever and will produce benefits for years to come. Shouldn't be part of the costs of Olympics per se but seen as long term investment.

Valetta

How do they calculate whether they made a profit or not?

Do they take into account intangibles, like additional business brought to the city, feel-good factors resulting in extra spending etc?

kneemos

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

That wouldn't be a festival or an event or any sort of coming together of any sort. It'd just be another meet in the calendar of each sport.

Most of the sports are spread out throughout the country anyway.

strobe

namloc1980 wrote: »

Why does it have to be about money only. The London Olympics cleaned up a pretty grimy part of East London into a world class civic and sporting facility. Also transport infrastructure is there forever and will produce benefits for years to come. Shouldn't be part of the costs of Olympics per se but seen as long term investment.

Good point. Maybe this is the reasoning behind countries wanting to host them. They don't expect to turn a profit, just subsidise somewhat the cost of infrastructure improvements?

YFlyer

Encourage more gullible people to play the Lotto.

Karl Stein

Valetta wrote: »

Do they take into account intangibles, like additional business brought to the city, feel-good factors resulting in extra spending etc?

The London Olympics saw a downturn in the London economy. The infrastructure gains are minimal. The $15Bn wasted on hosting a prestige event could have been better spent on creating thousands of long term jobs for regular construction and service workers by upgrading infrastructure, building affordable homes, refurbishing schools and hospitals etc.

Brendan Bendar

YFlyer wrote: »

Encourage more gullible people to play the Lotto.

They don't have to be encouraged.

MoodeRator

Wiki suggests that London made a profit of over £50 million. Beijing is reportedly even a lot higher, though not sure how that figure can be proved right or wrong

kneemos

MoodeRator wrote: »

Wiki suggests that London made a profit of over £50 million. Beijing is reportedly even a lot higher, though not sure how that figure can be proved right or wrong

They don't include the cost of infrastructure or arenas apparently.

Nodin

kneemos wrote: »

Listening to Moncrief earlier and apparently no city has made a profit since the eighties from holding the games,when costs such as infrastructure and building stadiums and arenas is included.

Why can't we spread out the olympics around world and hold each sport in an appropriate location,such as beach volleyball on a warm beach rather than a car park in London or indoor sports in areas where facilities already exist.
Building huge arenas for minority sports that may seldom if ever be filled again is madness.

Good idea or hairy fairy.

Put them in one country permanently.

Desolation Of Smug

Valetta wrote: »

How do they calculate whether they made a profit or not?

Do they take into account intangibles, like additional business brought to the city, feel-good factors resulting in extra spending etc?

Indeed, and kick-backs to Councillors, corrupt payments to politicians, cash pocketed by Landowners, the huge windfall to friendly contractors and service providers? Unprofitable? All depends on your angle..

Lapin

kneemos wrote: »

Listening to Moncrief earlier and apparently no city has made a profit since the eighties from holding the games,when costs such as infrastructure and building stadiums and arenas is included.

Why can't we spread out the olympics around world and hold each sport in an appropriate location,such as beach volleyball on a warm beach rather than a car park in London or indoor sports in areas where facilities already exist.
Building huge arenas for minority sports that may seldom if ever be filled again is madness.

Good idea or hairy fairy.

The beach volleyball events at London 2012 were held in Horse Guards Parade.
A ceremonial area surrounded by Downing Street, the Cabinet Office, The Northern Ireland Office and the Admiralty Buildings of the Ministry of Defence as well as a number of other high ranking government offices.

It also the location of State occasions like the Trooping of the Colour and Beating the Retreat and the daily changing of the Queen's Life Guard.

The part of the ground where the Olympic events took place are among the most security sensitive areas on the planet.



Try parking a car there nowadays and see how far you get.

Brendan Bendar

Nodin wrote: »

Put them in one country permanently.

Erm... Olympics are assigned to a city, not a country.

kneemos

Lapin wrote: »

The beach volleyball events at London 2012 were held in Horse Guards Parade.
A ceremonial area surrounded by Downing Street, the Cabinet Office, The Northern Ireland Office and the Admiralty Buildings of the Ministry of Defence as well as a number of other high ranking government offices.

It also the location of State occasions like the Trooping of the Colour and Beating the Retreat and the daily changing of the Queen's Life Guard.

The part of the ground where the Olympic events took place are among the most security sensitive areas on the planet.



Try parking a car there nowadays and see how far you get.

Security is another factor when you mention it.
Much easier to secure a single event than a vast area within or next to a city.

conorhal

Nodin wrote: »

Put them in one country permanently.

Greece would be an ideal candidate, it hosted to original games after all, and it could use the dosh on an annual basis once the infrastructure was all complete that's for sure.

There is a reason that lately all these major sporting events from the World Cup to the Olympics have been hosted by some seriously shady countries like Qatar, Russia, China and so on. These are countries willing and able to pay for an overblown extravaganza that will never generate a cent, but will imbue them with the warm glow of positive international attention and respectability that such dodgy regimes tend to crave, in much the same way that Roman emperors liked throw 'bread and circuses' at the populous. As with Rome, only Imperial power can throw open the coffers for such an event, democracies have a little more trouble convincing people that the money is best spent in such a manner, just look at the riots and protests in Brazil over the last world cup.
Major sporting events are just a rolling gravy train, the taxpayer shells out and a bunch of IOC and FIFA officials get fat.

For Forks Sake

conorhal wrote: »

Greece would be an ideal candidate, it hosted to original games after all, and it could use the dosh on an annual basis once the infrastructure was all complete that's for sure.

http://www.businessinsider.com/2004-athens-olympics-venues-abandoned-today-photos-2012-8?op=1&IR=T

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/aug/13/abandoned-athens-olympic-2004-venues-10-years-on-in-pictures

conorhal

For Forks Sake wrote: »

http://www.businessinsider.com/2004-athens-olympics-venues-abandoned-today-photos-2012-8?op=1&IR=T

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/aug/13/abandoned-athens-olympic-2004-venues-10-years-on-in-pictures

That pretty much proves my point, if they were in use every four years they wouldn't be derelict white elephants.

gramar

I think the world cup should be played around the world too.
Each group in a different country. 32 teams in groups of 4 mean 8 countries can benefit from hosting without huge infrastructural requirements. Most will already have the stadiums, hotels, transport facilities etc to deal with the group games.

A second round game in each one, quarters in 4 of them, semi's in two and then the final.
The WC wouldn't be awarded to a country but the final to a city.

Modern players are used to travelling. Champions league and internationals mean they fly regularly. Teams that don't make it past the first round needn't worry. A team reaching the final might need to travel a few times but it's not anything they don't do already.
The only big issue would be time zones so it would be best to contain it to neighbouring continents that don't have a huge time difference.

Guy:Incognito

I'm amazed no one with a truck has hauled all those abandoned barriers off to the scrapper. Is free money even too much effort for those lads.

Wacker The Attacker

YFlyer wrote: »

1976 Montreal Olympics cost a bomb as well.

wasnt that munich 72