Cost of the Olympic Games
Budget of Olympic Games
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The Olympic Games are considered to be the world's foremost international sporting event with over 200 nations participating.[1] It historically had the highest costs and expenses for the hosts, with the estimated cost of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro being at approximately US$11.1 billion.[2]
Sports-related costs since 1960 have been on average US$5.2 billion for the Summer Games and US$393.1 million for the Winter Games. The highest recorded total cost was that of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, costing approximately US$55 billion. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games experienced the biggest loss recorded at approximately US$2 billion.[3]
Host City Contract principles set by the International Olympic Committee require host cities, National Olympic Committees, and Organizing Committees to assume full financial responsibility for staging the Olympic Games. The contract also requires legally binding financial guarantees from host governments, making public authorities ultimately responsible for covering any financial shortfalls incurred by the Games.[4]
Costs
The current highest cost of hosting the Olympic Games was the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games, costing approximately US$11.1 billion. In order to meet the requirements set out by the International Olympic Committee (IOC),[5] the Rio de Janeiro council had to invest heavily in building the necessary facilities/venues, and an entirely new subway line. The lack of a solid infrastructure to support these investments led to the council underestimating their costs by 25%.[6]
The costs of hosting the Olympic Games can be classified into 2 categories: infrastructure and operational costs.
General infrastructure
The costs of general infrastructure consist of preparing the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the influx of tourists and athletes in the host city. The International Olympic Committee requires a minimum of 40,000 hotel rooms available for visiting spectators and an Olympic Village that is able to house 15,000 athletes, referees, and officials.
Internal and external transportation facilities that can transport spectators into and out of the host city and from venue to venue are also required by the Committee. These requirements are often met through renovations to already-built facilities or construction of entirely new facilities. These facilities include train/subway lines, roads, and airports.
Sports infrastructure
The host city is also required by the Olympic Committee to invest in sport-specific infrastructure that meets their requirements. Facilities must have specified minimum sizes and reach the specific seating and safety protocols which often require refurbishments or new construction, particularly less-used facilities such as natatoriums, velodromes and sliding tracks.
Host city selection
The Winter Games require high mountains, especially for the alpine events. Traditionally, there were requirements of fairly short distance between the host city and the alpine slopes, which often has made smaller cities to be chosen as winter host cities, such as Lake Placid, Lillehammer and Sochi. After 2012 when no democratic country bid for the Winter Games due to the high cost, a larger distance was accepted, allowing existing slopes to be used together with a large host city with more existing infrastructure, for example Milan at a distance of 410 km by road to Cortina.
Operating costs
Once the necessary infrastructure is put in place, the Olympics require a large amount of spending on operating costs throughout the duration of the Games. Historically, the most significant operating costs for the hosts have been in event management, organization and preparation of the opening and closing ceremonies, and increasingly in recent years, security.
Surplus distribution
In the event that an Olympic Games organizing committee generates a financial surplus, the distribution of that surplus is typically governed by agreements between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the local Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG), and the relevant National Olympic Committee (NOC). Following the Paris 2024 games, the Organising Committee reported a budget surplus after Games operations, and its agreement allocated portions of the surplus to the IOC, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), and towards sports development programs in France rather than retaining the surplus for the host government or city.[7]
Table
The table below lists the costs of hosting the Olympic Games. Due to the multitude of reporting methods, the table contains both the operating costs and total final costs (which include various infrastructure upgrades and security costs), as well as both known and not estimated figures. Net loss or gain are measured against the operating budgets. Intangible costs (such as to the environment and society) and benefits (through tourism) are not included here.
| Olympiad | Host | Final Operating Budget |
Total Costs | Taxpayer Contribution | Profit/Loss | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 Summer Olympics |  Athens |
3,740,000 ₯[8] | Donations by George Averoff of 1,000,000 ₯ covered potential losses | |||
| 1900 Summer Olympics |  Paris |
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| 1904 Summer Olympics |  St. Louis |
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| 1908 Summer Olympics |  London |
US$394,000 est.[8] |  £6,377 |
First & smallest known profit for an Olympic Games | ||
| 1912 Summer Olympics |  Stockholm |
|||||
| 1920 Summer Olympics |  Antwerp |
|||||
| 1924 Winter Olympics |  Chamonix |
₣3.5 million | ₣2 million | |||
| 1924 Summer Olympics | Paris |
 5,496,610₣[8] |
First known loss for an Olympic Games | |||
| 1928 Winter Olympics |  St. Moritz |
CHF706,000 | CHF104,800 |
First & smallest known loss for a Winter Olympics | ||
| 1928 Summer Olympics |  Amsterdam |
$1.183 million[8] | $18,000 |
Smallest known loss for an Olympic Games | ||
| 1932 Winter Olympics |  Lake Placid |
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| 1932 Summer Olympics | Los Angeles |
$1 million[8] |
||||
| 1936 Winter Olympics |  Garmisch-Partenkirchen |
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| 1936 Summer Olympics | Berlin |
$30 million[8] | ||||
| 1948 Winter Olympics | St. Moritz |
|||||
| 1948 Summer Olympics |  London |
£761,688[9] | £29,000[8] |
|||
| 1952 Winter Olympics |  Oslo |
|||||
| 1952 Summer Olympics |  Helsinki |
Mk1.58 billion[8] | Mk49 million |
|||
| 1956 Winter Olympics |  Cortina d'Ampezzo |
lira 460 million | ||||
| 1956 Summer Olympics |  Melbourne |
A£5.4 million[9] | A£300,000[8] |
|||
| 1960 Winter Olympics |  Squaw Valley |
US$80 million[10] | ||||
| 1960 Summer Olympics | Rome |
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| 1964 Winter Olympics |  Innsbruck |
|||||
| 1964 Summer Olympics |  Tokyo |
US$72 million[9] | US$1.926 billion[8] | |||
| 1968 Winter Olympics | Grenoble |
|||||
| 1968 Summer Olympics |  Mexico City |
US$176 million[9] | ||||
| 1972 Winter Olympics | Sapporo |
|||||
| 1972 Summer Olympics | Munich |
DM1.972 billion[8] | ||||
| 1976 Winter Olympics | Innsbruck |
|||||
| 1976 Summer Olympics |  Montreal |
CDN$207 million[11] | CDN$$1.596 billion[11] | CDN$990,000[11] |
A special tobacco tax was introduced in May 1976 to fund the loss. Debt paid off in 2006. | |
| 1980 Winter Olympics |  Lake Placid |
US$49 million[12] | US$169 million[12] | |||
| 1980 Summer Olympics |  Moscow |
US$231 million[13] | US$1.35 billion[13] US$2 billion[8] |
US$1.19 million deficit [citation needed] |
The United States and 64 other nations boycotted due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan | |
| 1984 Winter Olympics |  Sarajevo |
US$55.4 million[14] | US$110.9 million[14] | US$1 million[14] |
The first Olympics since 1948 to make a profit, and the first known Winter Olympics to make a profit | |
| 1984 Summer Olympics | Los Angeles |
US$320 million[15] | US$413 million[15] | $75 million[16][17] | US$250 million.[18] |
The first Summer Olympics since 1948 to make a profit[17] |
| 1988 Winter Olympics | Calgary |
CDN$438 million[19] | CDN$899 million[19] | CDN$425 million[19] | CDN$32 million[19] |
|
| 1988 Summer Olympics |  Seoul |
US$4 billion [citation needed] | US$479 million[20] |
Record profit for a government-run Olympiad[20] | ||
| 1992 Summer Olympics |  Barcelona |
US$850 million[citation needed] | US$9.3 billion[21] | US$10 million[citation needed] |
Operating costs were put at 9.1% of the total cost. The vast majority of spending was to improve infrastructure.[22] | |
| 1992 Winter Olympics | Albertville |
US$1.2 billion (infrastructure)[17] | US$67 million[17] |
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| 1994 Winter Olympics | Lillehammer |
US$1.1 billion[23][24] | US$250 million[23][24] | |||
| 1996 Summer Olympics | Atlanta |
US$1.8 billion[citation needed] | US$609 million[16] | US$19 million[citation needed] |
Following the model of LA 1984, Atlanta achieved a healthy profit | |
| 1998 Winter Olympics |  Nagano |
~US$10 billion (infrastructure)[25] | Net loss[citation needed] |
The full cost of the Nagano Olympics is unknown, due to Nagano Olympic Bid Committee vice-secretary general Sumikazu Yamaguchi ordering accounting documents to be burned.[25] Debt paid off around 2015.[25] | ||
| 2000 Summer Olympics | Sydney |
A$6 billion[26][27] | A$3 billion (A$3.635 billion borne by the public)[citation needed] | A$2.05 billion[28] | US$2.1 billion [29] |
Largest loss from hosting a Summer Olympic Games |
| 2002 Winter Olympics | Salt Lake City |
US$2 billion[30] | US$1.2 billion [31] | US$600 million[32] | US$101 million[33] |
Most profitable Winter Olympics. Additional security costs were incurred in the wake of the September 11 attacks. |
| 2004 Summer Olympics |  Athens |
EUR€8.5 billion[34] | EUR€1.9 billion[35] | EUR€6 billion[36] | EUR€130 million (operational costs only)[35] |
The cost of the 2004 Athens Summer Games has been cited as a contributor to the Greek government-debt crisis. IOBE study suggests that the Games increased Greece's GDP by 2.4%. [37] Most venues of the Hellinikon Olympic Complex had limited post-Olympic use and were later demolished as part of the development of the Hellinikon Metropolitan Park.[38] Venues of the Athens Olympic Sports Complex are still in use. |
| 2006 Winter Olympics | Turin |
US$700 million[39] | US$3.2 million[40] |
The Italian government created a lottery game to cover its financial losses[citation needed] | ||
| 2008 Summer Olympics |  Beijing |
US$44 billion[41] | CNY 1 billion (US$146 million)[42] |
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| 2010 Winter Olympics | Vancouver |
CDN$ 1.7 billion (US$1.26 billion)[43] | US$ 6.4 billion[44] | US$ 2.3 billion[45] | CDN$ 1.9 million[46] |
Included in the total US$6.4 billion cost are $1 billion for security, $2.5 billion for transportation extensions and upgrades, and $900 million for the new Vancouver Convention Centre. An additional $554 million was spent by the city including a portion on the Olympic Village.[44][47][48] Debt paid off in 2014.[49] |
| 2012 Summer Olympics | London |
£GBP8.92 billion[50] |
US$16.3 billion[51] | GBP 9.3 billion[52] | GBP £nil[53] | Additional costs include $90 million for converting the Olympic Stadium (London) to a football venue[54] |
| 2014 Winter Olympics |  Sochi |
US$51 billion[55] | US$53.15 million[56] |
The most expensive Olympic Games in history, surpassing the previous record set by the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games[57] | ||
| 2016 Summer Olympics |  Rio de Janeiro |
US$13.1 billion[58][59] | US$11.6 billion[60][61] | US$2.0 billion[62] |
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| 2018 Winter Olympics |  Pyeongchang |
US$2.19 billion[63] | US$12.9 billion[64] | US$55 million[65] |
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| 2020 Summer Olympics | Tokyo |
US$15.4 billion[66] | US$28 billion[67] | |||
| 2022 Winter Olympics | Beijing |
US$3.9 billion[68] | US$52 million[69] |
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| 2024 Summer Olympics | Paris |
US$8.2 billion[70] | EUR€5.96 billion[71][72] | EUR€76 million[73] |
The first Summer Olympics since 2008 to make a profit | |
| 2026 Winter Olympics | Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo |
US$1.7 billion[74][75] | EUR€6 billion[76] | EUR€130-300 million (preliminary estimate)[76] |
First Winter Olympics since 2006 to post a loss. Final report due Spring 2027. | |
| 2028 Summer Olympics | Los Angeles |
US$7.1 billion[77] | US$500 million | The city of Los Angeles and the state of California will each provide $250 million to cover possible shortfalls. The city's reserve would be spent first if needed. The Games overall are expected to be entirely funded by the private sector.[78] | ||
| 2030 Winter Olympics | French Alps |
US$2.3 billion[79] | Preliminary budget from the IOC's future host commission | |||
| 2032 Summer Olympics | Brisbane |
US$4.5 billion[80] | Preliminary budget from the IOC's future host commission | |||
| 2034 Winter Olympics | Salt Lake City–Utah |
US$3.9 billion[81] | Preliminary budget from the IOC's future host commission |