PUBLIC DEBT AND 2010

“Not only does the IOC demand financial guarantees to cover the Olympic debts, which in the majority of cases are underwritten by city, state or national levels of government, but all recent Olympic Games have required major infrastructure projects—highway, airport, transit improvements—subsidized by state and national funds..”
(Inside the Olympic Industry, p. 105)

“The winning of a bid for the Olympic Games is the result of a long process that typically costs aspiring hosts tens of millions of dollars… largely funded by public monies but dominated by local elites—industrialists, media moguls, owners of hotels and tourist attractions, advertising companies—for whom the bid process itself produces marketing opportunities to associate themselves with the Olympic rings. The city that wins then enters a long process of preparation, invariably involving major facilities and infrastructure projects that radically change the face of the host city and cost the public hundreds of millions of dollars.”
(Inside the Olympic Industry, p. x)

Olympic Games are notorious for leaving host cities with large public debts, the result of venue construction, expansion of infrastructure, and security costs:

• The 1976 Montreal Olympics acquired a debt of some $1.2 billion (which was finally paid off in 2002)

• The 1988 Calgary Olympics left a debt of $910 million

• Barcelona 1992 had a debt of $1.4 billion

• The Sydney 2000 Olympics, portrayed as self-financing, in reality left a debt of some $2.3 billion

• The 2004 Athens Olympics, originally estimated to cost $1 billion, mushroomed to at least $9 billion

For 2010, VANOC and Olympic promoters have stated the total costs to be approximately $2 billion, paid for largely through corporate sponsors and ticket & merchandise sales. They claim the Games will be self-financing. In reality, the total cost for 2010 and related construction will be closer to $6 billion!

‘Hidden’ Olympic Costs

In March 2007, John Furlong, CEO of VANOC, stated “This is a massive project to manage, a project that’s north of $2 billion” (24 Hours, March 14, 2007). As noted, Furlong’s estimate does not include related infrastructure or security costs (although it does include other operational costs associated with Games).

Including these, however, makes the total cost of 2010 some $6 billion. It is common for VANOC & Olympic boosters to not include these ‘hidden’ costs, using the rationale that such work was going to be done anyway, and are therefore not Olympic costs.

The venues & infrastructure projects, however, must be completed by 2010 and were part of the initial bid contract. The IOC sought & received assurances of completion by 2010 of these projects, without which Vancouver-Whistler would not have been awarded the Olympics.

Security costs are likewise ignored, since police or military personnel are ‘employed’ anyway, so there is no real cost to deploy them for the Olympics. As Chris Shaw points out in Five Ring Circus (his book), however, these personnel are taken from other work they could be doing, require transport, shelter, and food, and in the case of the military a large number will most likely be comprised of reservists, who are only paid for times when they are deployed.

Olympic Venues:

• Richmond Indoor Speed Skating Oval ($125 million)

• Whistler Sliding Center ($43 million)

• Vancouver Olympic Village ($76 million)

• Whistler Nordic Center ($120 million)

• UBC Winter Sports Center (two rinks, $32.9
million)

• Hillcrest Park Stadium (curling, $23 million)

• Whistler Olympic Village ($41 million)

• Upgrades to BC Place, General Motors, and Pacific Coliseum stadiums ($27 million for Coliseum, $18 million for GM Place)

Total: over $600 million

2010 Olympic & Related Construction:

• Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion: $600 million

• Canada Line/Richmond-Airport-Vancouver (RAV): $1.7 billion

• Vancouver Convention Center: $800 million (will house 2010 broadcast center)

• Gateway Project: $3 billion expansion to transport infrastructure in lower mainland, including: expanding Trans-Canada Highway from Vancouver to Langley; twinning of Port Mann Bridge ($1.5 billion, to be a toll bridge); new Pitt River Bridge; new South Fraser bypass route from Delta Port to Surrey.

Total: (without total Gateway, but inc. Port Mann Bridge): $4.7 billion

Security Costs

For years, the official cost for security was placed at $175 million, despite widespread doubts that this was sufficient. In 2007, it was finally acknowledged that security costs would be far more. One estimate places the actual cost at half a billion dollars for the military alone (see “Fortress British Columbia,” by Jeff Lee & Miro Cernetig, The Vancouver Sun, August 4, 2007).
Total: (est.) $500 million to $1 billion

Sources

Inside the Olympic Industry; Power, Politics and Activism, by Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, State University of New York Press, Albany NY 2000

Vaughn Palmer, “Dear Taxpayer: Here’s your Olympics bill,” Vancouver Sun, June 14, 2002 (Palmer estimated the total costs to be $6 billion)

Daphne Bramham, “Olympic budget keeps growing,” Vancouver Sun, January 31, 2003 (Bramham estimated total costs to be $4.1. billion)

Chris Shaw, Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games, (draft copy of book, to be published 2008; Shaw estimates total costs at over $5 billion)

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