I'd love to talk, but I'm kind of worried somebody's going to foreclose on me before I get the words out
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We'd better own the podium, we paid for it
- February 4, 2010 2:21 PM |
- By Bruce Arthur
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Look, I'd love to talk, but I'm kind of worried somebody's going to foreclose on me before I get the words out. As someone with a tangential connection to the Olympics -- I'll be covering my second Games in Vancouver this month -- it only seems likely, since these Olympics seem designed to ensure financial ruin, or at least financial inconvenience.
First, there was the whole escalating costs thing. For instance, the Vancouver Organizing Committee, or VANOC, budgeted approximately $25 for security when this all began, which made perfect sense in a world where international terrorism has been dormant for a generation. Oh no, wait. That's the opposite of what has happened, so in fact the original estimate -- $175-million was the actual number -- has risen to just north of $1-billion. On the plus side, it could still increase.
Then there was the athletes village, whose cost went from $950-million to $1.2-billion, which caused the Fortress Investing Group to cut of funding, which resulted eventually in the city of Vancouver being on the hook for any cost overruns,, while also doubling the city's debt. Vancouver's credit rating has been downgraded from "good" to "pretty dodgy, man."
Then there were the venues, the medal ceremonies, rustproofing, power locks and windows, and all kinds of costs that just kept coming. We're not even going to get into the fact that NBC is now projected to lose about a quarter of a billion dollars on the Games -- hard to believe from the network that keeps employing Jay Leno, right? -- and the CTV/Rogers/everybody consortium might be in the red too, and oh, Intrawest, the owner of Whistler Blackcomb, couldn't pay its mortgage, and so now those charming financiers from Fortress are going to auction the whole resort off in the middle of the Games. Better ski fast while you can, everybody.
On and on it has gone, until the cost of these Olympics now stands at an estimated $6-billion. Well, Beijing spent $43-billion, right? And London said they would spent something like $4.5-billion on the 2012 Games. Let's just see what Vancouver originally committed to ... oh. It was, er, $600-million. Apparently the plan was to conduct the entirety of the competition using only the Nintendo Wii. Somebody probably should have Googled "Olympics" and "Montreal."
In fairness, Calgary made a profit, back when the world was young. When B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell dropped by our offices a little while ago to boost the Olympics, I cornered him near the elevators. "There's no way you're going to make money on this," I said. "We'll make money," he said with a smile. I disagreed, he hit the down button, we shook hands and said goodbye. I should have bet him money on it, but I suspect there's no way he would have agreed.
Meanwhile, London 2012 will cost at least three and probably four times the original bid figure, and that fiscal debacle has got over two years to become faster, higher, and stronger.
At this point it should be clear that while the sport of the Olympics can be among the most inspiring athletic feats on our planet, the Olympics as a business enterprise are something close to a giant global scam, going from city to city, country to country, and leaving mushroom clouds of debt behind. Let's put it this way: We'd better own the podium. We paid enough for it.
About the Author
- Bruce Arthur Bruce Arthur is the National Post's national sports columnist. A Vancouver native, he has been with the Post since 2001, and a columnist since 2005. He is covering his second Olympics, after the 2008 Games in Beijing. He expects these Games to be slightly less propagandistic, and for China to win slightly fewer medals.
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