How Much Does it Cost to Host the Olympics?

We know that Brisbane will be hosting the 2032 Olympics which made me wonder...

How much does it cost to host the Olympics?

Over the years, the final price tag has varied greatly from city to city.

Visual Capitalist looked at the estimated cost of hosting the games (both summer and winter) since 1998.

The scope of the Olympics has scaled up drastically.

Over a century ago, the first modern games had approximately 280 athletes competing from 12 different countries—these days, more than 10,000 athletes from 200+ countries participate in this prestigious athletic event.

As the games have increased in scope and size, so too has the cost of putting them on.

Estimated Cost of Hosting the Olympics, by City

A major expense for a host city is building out infrastructure to support the tourism and traffic generated by the games.

For instance, when Sochi hosted the Winter Olympics in 2014, the city spent roughly $50.7 billion on non-sports-related infrastructure—approximately 85% of its total budget.

Year	City	Type	Est. Cost (adjusted for inflation)
1998	Nagano	Winter	$17.9B
2000	Sydney	Summer	$8.1B
2002	Salt Lake City	Winter	$2.9B
2004	Athens	Summer	$18.7B
2006	Turin	Winter	$5.3B
2008	Bejing	Summer	$52.7B
2010	Vancouver	Winter	$8.9B
2012	London	Summer	$13.3B
2014	Sochi	Winter	$59.7B
2016	Rio de Janeiro	Summer	$13.0B
2018	Pyeongchang	Winter	$15.4B
2020	Tokyo	Summer	$35.0B

Of course, the hope is that non-sports-related infrastructure will benefit the host city long-term, which is how countries rationalize the cost.

But sports-related facilities also cost a fortune to build and are often not utilized once the games are over.

For instance, Beijing’s national stadium cost $460 million to build initially, with millions needed to maintain it each year.

The facility has barely been used in the years following the 2008 games.

That said, it is worth noting that Beijing plans on using the national stadium for the Opening and Closing ceremonies when they host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Source: Visual Capitalist

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About Brett Warren Brett Warren is National Director of Metropole Properties and uses his two decades of property investment experience to advise clients how to grow, protect and pass on their wealth through strategic property advice.