It seems like with the last few Olympic games, there has been an increasing amount of attention being paid to silly things like worker welfare and environmental sustainability. Headlines blast the billions of dollars being spent on erecting these magnificent structures, usually with mention of how the projects are a losing venture financially (not to forget socially as well).
Not long after the spirit of the Olympic games has left its most recent host city, you begin to see these monolithic arenas and housing villages become destitute ghost towns. Is there a better way to host the Olympics, or at the very least, recycle what was so frivolously created? It seems like such a waste, but at the same time I openly admit to not knowing much about the economics of the Olympics. Thoughts?
I am of the belief that it should be held in Greece every time. It is clear that hosting the Olympics is a financial burden (except the Salt Lake City Olympics I believe) and the last place they should be held is in a developing country with political and economical instability.
Short of that, held in established cities that either already have the infrastructure in place or have a solid plan for incorporating it. The London Olympics were great, as were the Atlanta Olympics, and Mitt Romney famously saved Salt Lake City. This shit happens when corrupt (Russia, Brazil), unstable (Bosnia & Herzegovina), or command economy (China) nations either bribe their way into contention or are awarded it for publicity's sake.
Totally agreed. Either that or make the IOC pitch in more on the costs and setup so that they don't end up being a clusterfuck.
Well that certainly rules out Greece.
I think their were some studies about the economic impact of events like the Olympics or which city hosts the Super Bowl. I am too lazy to look up the latest, but if anyone wants to search Google Scholar, I'd love to hear.
can't really compare the super bowl vs the olympics (i'm sure the superbowl is very profitable for the host city) but would be interesting to see the actual studies
I agree, but I was just referring to "big events" because I recall back from my dissertation that there were several studies on Super Bowl, World Series, Olympics, World Cup, etc....
Totally different scenarios. Superbowls are held in existing venues with no new infrastructure required*
*disclaimer: the Superbowl has definitely been used to get taxpayers to front more of the $ for new stadiums, but it's still a completely different scenario.
this has some info http://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-olympic-venues-around-the-worl…
Lol, literally just looked at a similar album on Imgur.
It seems like such a simple fix. Only put the games in cities that have the infrastructure to support it , use existing stadiums for the events, put the athletes in hotels, and sell out to sponsors even more heavily.
yeah it should be that simple.
how many years till the IOC mafia crumbles?
The FIFA mafia is still going strong. Don't get your hopes up.
Honestly, New York would be about the ideal place for the Olympics. Multiple giant stadiums for soccer and other field sports, basketball courts, baseball stadiums (I hear it's coming back), tennis courts, golf courses, places for road races (biking and long distance running), etc. Not sure about field and track, but maybe they could use a horse track as a building block (or Citi field). Of course, the congestion would be a pain in the balls for us not competing, but still......it's kind of amazing it hasn't happened yet.
To think that they're hosting the 2020 one in Tokyo, which is one of the most congested cities already....
Honestly, seriously, In all honesty, are you a sorority girl?
host in existing infrastructure.
Another idea is to put the Olympics in a region instead of a city. So for example put the Olympics in Texas or California and spread out the events over 2-4 cities. This would lower the need to build new shit even more and would reduce the congestion.
Not to mention that the regional approach has been done before. The 2002 World Cup was held in South Korea and Japan.
(here's a map of event cities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_FIFA_World_Cup#/media/File:Stadiums_…)
It's a pretty cool idea if you ask me.
I don't know how large Rio or some of the other recent cities are, but it sounds like they do spread them out a bit, probably because of congestion.
This is from Rio's website. They do spread out to other cities, but not very much. "The battle for Olympic medals will take place in 32 venues in Rio de Janeiro, plus five football co-host cities: Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Manaus, Salvador and São Paulo."
If I was an athlete there, I'd want to celebrate with the entire US team, not just my specific-sport team. If I am the lone team member in a different city, then I might as well celebrate my gold medal by pounding off in my dorm that night. But if I am in Olympic Village, maybe I'll get a happy-ending massage from a Thai athlete (100% woman) before a blowjob from some European, and maybe I'd finish with some crazy position sex with an of-age gymnast. When you finish your event early and have a week to enjoy the ride, that's the benefit of being in Olympic Village.
Wired Magazine took an interesting stance on this a week or so ago.
Here’s an Idea: Hold the Olympics in Multiple Cities at Once http://www.wired.com/2016/08/olympic-cities-everywhere/
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