Opinion desk
From Montreal and Athens’ debt legacy to the hefty bills of Sochi, Rio, and Beijing, and then to Brisbane being awarded the 2032 hosting rights unopposed, the central contradiction of Olympic economics has shifted from “how to host better” to “who bears the cost, how it is shared, and whether it is still worth it.” A 2024 University of Oxford study shows that since 1960, the average cost of hosting the Olympics has been about three times the bid estimate; Sochi’s 2014 budget exceeded US$50 billion, about 85% of which went to non-sports infrastructure built from scratch. As the scarce attention of the television era is diluted by digital channels, and as fiscal space in advanced economies narrows while showcase infrastructure in emerging economies has largely already been built, the brand returns of the Olympics are declining. The reuse of materials between Milan-Cortina and Paris, regional co-hosting, and reliance on existing assets point to a colder model: downgrading the Olympics from a one-time peak investment into a service load that existing urban networks can bear.
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