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Big Sporting Events: !A Colossal Waste of Money
Photo Source: The Atlantic Cities
Emilia Spitz Leeds University, November 2013
Why countries that cannot leverage off infrastructure should not bid to host big sporting events
Photo Source: Jornal Atual
What Can Go !Well?
True tourists might stay away (Ex: 10% drop in summer tourism,
Athens 2004) Brazil is high profile enough anyway
Increase in Tourism, Raised Profile
Job Creation & Boost to the Economy
Stefan Szymanski (Soccernomics): “Short Term Impact Only”
Long Term Legacy Barcelona + Sydney + London
(Olympics) + Germany (World Cup) = all cities/countries with existing
infrastructure
Photo Source: Anne Thorne Architects
What Can Go Wrong?
Low Quality Construction due to strained workforce
Rushed Planning, Poor Delivery, Overruns
Bad PR Brazil (recent protests),
Commonwealth Games in India (not enough showers for the athletes!)
White Elephant Syndrome
High Maintenance Costs
WSJ Study: “21 out of 22 venues in
Athens now empty/wasted”
South Africa: Cape Town, etc.
Photo Source: ABC Parish Blog
By The Numbers:
Andrew Zimbalist (The Economics of Mega Sporting Events): “Nearly half of the revenue goes to the organizations [FIFA, IOC]”
South Africa WC: recouped 1/10th of cost
Brazil WC estimate = 3x Germany WC
Rio 2016 estimate = 3x London 2012 budget
Data Source: Andrew Zimbalist, Americas Quarterly
Image Source: Blacknight & Rugs to My Door
In Conclusion:
Photo Source: io9 “After the Games...”
An Expensive Mistake “The answer does not lie in holding a one-off sporting event”
Former India Sports Minister & MP Mani Shankar at Intelligence Squared (Kiev, 2010)