Holding the Olympic torch is an honor for those who get the opportunity. But hosting the Olympics? The way host countries burn through money, it’s really become more of a financial burden.
Take the Beijing Winter Olympics. China is officially reporting that it’ll cost $3.9 billion to host, which would be the cheapest Olympics in decades. But a Business Insider investigation reveals the actual sum is a lot closer to $38.5 billion, 10 times what China is reporting.
To compare, when Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, the real cost was north of $40 billion.
It’s not a one-off, either. Since 1960, every Olympics has been over budget by an average of 172%, according to an analysis by Oxford researchers.
“It’s the highest overrun on record for any type of megaproject,” the researchers wrote.
Tokyo said it would spend $7.3 billion for the 2020 Olympics, but a government audit revealed the real cost was at least $28 billion. For Rio 2016, $14 billion was budgeted but the country spent $20 billion. In 2014, the Sochi budget was $10.3 billion. The actual cost blew it out of the water at $51 billion.
Between the cost of operating the 2-week affair, building the venues, and providing security and lodging and food for athletes, the price of being the center of sports for a season is getting too high for some countries to stomach.
For this Winter Olympics, only two countries were even in contention, China and Kazakhstan. Norway’s Oslo was also a finalist but dropped its bid after the government voted against paying for it. More countries are following Norway’s lead more frequently.
While the International Olympic Committee has always fought the idea of a permanent location to host the Olympics, with fewer and fewer cities signing up to bid for the hosting honor, it might not have a choice in the future.
