JaredMilne JaredMilne:
Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau claimed that the 1976 Olympics could no more run a deficit than a man could have a baby. Cue a bunch of political cartoons depicting him getting pre-natal testing, buying diapers, etc.
Is there any recent Olympics, aside from maybe the 1988 one in Calgary, that wasn't a complete money pit that left a bunch of decaying white elephants when it was all over?
Vancouver 2010 apparently had positive numbers (assuming you believe the IOC and VANOC):
$1:
VANOC’s final financial accounting reports both revenues and expenses of approximately CAD 1.9 million, with all suppliers paid and all revenues collected. As promised in December 2010, the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver have been concluded free of debt, and with no additional government funds needed.
https://olympics.com/ioc/news/vancouver ... al-figures The financial problems typically are typically in places that host the Summer Olympics, which are two or three times the size of the Winter Olympics, and because they require venues for sports that may not be in high demand in the host nation (a baseball stadium in Athens or the BMX track in Beijing for example):
https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyl ... ic-venues/FWIW, I'm fine with Whistler wanting to host it, but I think the Games (Summer and Winter), the Olympics should find a permanent host city and keep them in one place.
That would remove the ability of dictatorships to leverage them for propaganda purposes AND ensure that facilities are used and maintained after the Olympics are held. However, that would require finding a city to support hosting them AND the IOC to adequately fund the Olympics out of their profits, neither of which is likely to happen.