With this year’s phenomenal Summer Olympic games in Paris concluding yesterday, new research has found that the most expensive Summer Olympics host city was Rio De Janeiro in 2016.
Playcasino.com analysed data from the Council of Foreign Relations to create a list that ranks the most expensive summer Olympics host cities from 1992 to 2024. The data factors in the operational and construction costs each city spent overall to host the Olympic Games and how much they exceeded their hosting budget.
- Rio De Janiero (2016)
According to the research, number one was the Rio Olympics in 2016, which cost 18.6bn to host. This is the most expensive host city for the last nine Olympics. The beautiful Brazilian city was the first to host the games in South America.
As soon as they won the rights to host the games, they set up three different modes of public transport to help fans get around and attend as many events as possible – the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the metro, and the Light Vehicle Rail System.
The games took place between the 5th and 21st August 2016.
They overran their hosting budget by 289%, and considering the amount of venues built that didn’t get used as permanent training facilities for athletes post games is a big factor as to why.
2. London (2012)
Arguably one of, if not the best Summer Olympic games in recent history, London 2012 cost the second highest amount of money to host. The research says it cost London £13.2bn to host the summer games.
After being selected as hosts for the first time since 1948, London invested in not only 10 new railway lines but also 30 new bridges to promote greener travel and they also spent money to upgrade pedestrian and cycling routes across the city.
The games took place between the 27th July and 12th August 2012. These were the games that saw Team GB earn their highest gold medal tally in Olympic history with 29 golds.
They also did fairly well to only overrun their budget by 76%, this may be because after the games a lot of the venues had usage for example the Olympic Stadium is now home to West Ham Utd, and the transport networks are used by thousands across the city, so a lot of money could be got back quickly.
3. Tokyo (2020)
The Tokyo Olympic games come in third place, according to the data, these cost £10.8bn to host. For the games themselves Tokyo invested in eight new venues including a National Olympic Stadium for both the opening and closing ceremony.
These Olympics were actually delayed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were strange to watch as little to no spectators were there to cheer on their loved ones, it was just the athletes. Adding to the cost, extra sustainability and safety measures had to be paid for and put into place.
The games took place between 23rd July and 8th August 2021.
The City did overrun its budget by 128%, but it did deliver unique and still incredible Olympic games despite the circumstances. And, since 2021, more people have started taking up sports in Japan. In 2022, 66 percent of Tokyo inhabitants practiced sports at least once a week, compared with 54 percent in 2012 according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (TMG)
Finance academic Tom Bason who studies major sporting events like the Olympics said: “Olympics are like other types of mega projects, which typically overrun in terms of time and cost, and don’t deliver the intended benefits.
“But the Olympics don’t have flexibility in terms of time, as the dates and times of events are set long in advance, and all the deadlines have to be met. This is why most host cities end up overrunning their budget by a significant amount.”
The most recent Olympic games in Paris, came in at the 5th most expensive, costing £6.8bn, even though the French capital exceeded their budget by 115%, by building a new climbing facility, an Olympics Aquatic Centre, plus Olympic and Media villages specifically for the games, they spent significantly less money than Rio, London and Tokyo.
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