Adept Economics Director Gene Tunny was recently quoted in CPA Australia’s In the Black magazine in an article written by Susan Muldowney titled Is hosting the Olympics Games worth the investment? The article discusses both the risks and the economic costs and benefits of hosting the Olympic Games.
The article outlines the economic benefits of the hosting the games, such as the promise of increased tourism, new infrastructure, and foreign investment for host cities. However, as the article notes, hosting the Olympics typically results in cost overruns and, in the recent past, the cost of hosting the Olympics has driven many potential host cities to withdraw their bids. Indeed, at the moment, Brisbane is the only serious bidder for the 2032 Olympics owing to a lack of interest from other cities around the world.
While acknowledging that there will be stakeholders who will benefit from the games, Gene notes that the economic benefits of hosting the Olympic Games are not evenly distributed. He states that “there will be people who benefit from it – the businesses that supply goods and services to the Games… however, these things end up being subsidised by the taxpayers, and the return isn’t always there.”
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