Fewer cities can afford to host the Olympics, but Paris 2024 may be clever enough to turn a profit
Many of the world’s best athletes are currently competing in the first Olympic Games to be held in Paris since 1924. The French capital is buoyant with excitement and its local businesses filled with paying tourists from all over the world. Indeed, it’s difficult not to be tempted into booking a weekend getaway to see the spectacle up close.
But are the Olympics really a good deal for host cities? The evidence suggests a resounding no. Host cities almost always blow their budget on the Games, having to invest heavily in specific sporting facilities, as well as accommodation and transportation for the influx of athletes and tourists.
The delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, for example, ended up costing an estimated US$15.4 billion (£12 billion), exceeding the proposed budget by 244%. And it was a similar story four years before – the Rio Olympics cost 352% more than the initial proposal.
As part of the bidding process to stage the Games, potential host cities and governments are required to guarantee that they will cover these costly overruns. So, given the financial drain a home Olympics so often proves to be, it is no surprise that there has been a steady decline in the number of formal bids to host the Games over the past decade.
A total of 11 cities submitted applications to host the 2004 Athens Olympics, followed by ten bids for Beijing in 2008 and nine for London in 2012. After London there was a significant reduction. The 2016 Olympics was awarded to Rio from just four bids, 2020 went to Tokyo from three and there were only two bids submitted by cities wanting to host the 2024 Games.
This declining interest prompted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to award the 2028 Olympics to Los Angeles, the only other bidder for the 2024 Games, without undertaking a public bidding process.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2024 QS World University Rankings – the eighth year running.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is ranked 6th in The UK Complete University Guide 2025, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
Many of the world’s best athletes are currently competing in the first Olympic Games to be held in Paris since 1924. The French capital is buoyant with excitement and its local businesses filled with paying tourists from all over the world. Indeed, it’s difficult not to be tempted into booking a weekend getaway to see the spectacle up close.
But are the Olympics really a good deal for host cities? The evidence suggests a resounding no. Host cities almost always blow their budget on the Games, having to invest heavily in specific sporting facilities, as well as accommodation and transportation for the influx of athletes and tourists.
The delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, for example, ended up costing an estimated US$15.4 billion (£12 billion), exceeding the proposed budget by 244%. And it was a similar story four years before – the Rio Olympics cost 352% more than the initial proposal.
As part of the bidding process to stage the Games, potential host cities and governments are required to guarantee that they will cover these costly overruns. So, given the financial drain a home Olympics so often proves to be, it is no surprise that there has been a steady decline in the number of formal bids to host the Games over the past decade.
A total of 11 cities submitted applications to host the 2004 Athens Olympics, followed by ten bids for Beijing in 2008 and nine for London in 2012. After London there was a significant reduction. The 2016 Olympics was awarded to Rio from just four bids, 2020 went to Tokyo from three and there were only two bids submitted by cities wanting to host the 2024 Games.
This declining interest prompted the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to award the 2028 Olympics to Los Angeles, the only other bidder for the 2024 Games, without undertaking a public bidding process.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.
It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2024 QS World University Rankings – the eighth year running.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is ranked 6th in The UK Complete University Guide 2025, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.
The º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.
