The Olympics- is it worth it?

04nbod

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figures came out today that the olympics of 2012 has tripled its estimate in only two years since landing the games -

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6453575.stm


Olympics budget rises to £9.3bn

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The budget for the 2012 London Olympics has risen to £9.35bn, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has told MPs.
The revised budget is nearly four times the £2.4bn estimate when London's bid succeeded less than two years ago.
Construction is now budgeted at £5.3bn, there is a £2.7bn "contingency fund", and tax and security costs have risen.
The Tories attacked her decision to "raid" an extra £675m of lottery funds - which means £1 in every £5 of good cause money now going to the Olympics.
The budget outlined by Ms Jowell on Thursday largely covers construction costs of the Olympic Park and venues.
The contingency fund will ensure the government cannot be "held to ransom" as it aims to hit deadlines, Ms Jowell said.
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The government's contribution has risen to £6bn, she said, with £2.2bn coming from the National Lottery - including the additional £675m - and the rest from London's council tax payers.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has pledged to contribute an extra £300m, she said - but the money would not be funded from London's council tax, nor higher transport fares.
The cost of staging the event itself - currently estimated at £2bn - will be met through selling television rights, corporate sponsorship and ticket sales.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport later said the £2.4bn estimate from two years ago did not include costs for such items as regeneration and infrastructure - which the £9.3bn now does.
Responding to criticism of the decision to use more Lottery money, Ms Jowell said that in the "overall scheme of things" its contribution was relatively small.
She said the Lottery would benefit from profit sharing based on rises in land values in the Olympic park area.
"London 2012 will bring huge financial gain to the whole country ... and it is only fair that the Lottery good causes should share in any such windfall," she told MPs.
"I am determined to ensure that this temporary diversion from the existing good causes to the Olympic good cause is done with the least possible disruption."
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Winning the Olympics had brought an extra £7bn of private sector investment to one of the most deprived areas in Europe, Ms Jowell said.
"The announcement today means it's full steam ahead for 2012," she added.
But for the Conservatives, the shadow Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said: "If you add together all the separate parts, the budget for which the government is responsible has nearly trebled since the Olympic Bill left Parliament under a year ago.
"In raiding the Lottery for a further £675m to make up the shortfall the government will penalise precisely the clubs and small organisations, up and down the country, that were supposed to benefit from the Olympics."
Lottery 'piggy bank'
Scottish Nationalist Party MP Pete Wishart accused the government of using the National Lottery as "their own personal piggy bank" and said Scottish causes would suffer, to pay for London's regeneration.
But Big Lottery Fund chairman Sir Clive Booth told the BBC he thought it could have been worse.
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"When I go back to the beginning of February and the numbers we were looking at in terms of increasing costs and what that could have meant in terms of impact on us, this outcome is much, much better," he said.
Tory MP Mark Field suggested that the original budget was "a lot more slack than it might otherwise have been", because Ms Jowell had not expected London to win the bid.
She, in turn, accused the Conservatives of trying to undermine the Olympics and said they would have preferred it if London's bid had failed.
Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster said: "Properly managed, the 2012 Games will bring huge and lasting benefits to all parts of the country.
"But sadly today's statement and the chaos that has surrounded the last 12 months and more, calls into question the government's ability to provide that proper management."
Of the £5.3bn budget for the Olympic Delivery Authority announced on Thursday, £3.1bn will be allocated to build the Olympic Park and venues and £1.7bn for regeneration and infrastructure.
The ODA would also be given a £500m contingency allowance - but the rest of the overall £2.7bn contingency fund would be "locked away", Ms Jowell said.
Another £600m had been allocated for "wider security" outside the site, and £390m for other costs including the Paralympics and community sports coaches.





BUDGET BREAKDOWN
£3.1bn: Site construction
£1.7bn: Regeneration and infrastructure
£2.7bn: Programme contingency
£840m: Olympic Delivery Authority tax bill
£600m: Extra security
£390m: Non-ODA provision

HOW 2012 ESTIMATES HAVE CHANGED
2003: Consultants Arup put total cost of building and staging the Games at £1.796bn
2003: Tessa Jowell launches bid in May telling MPs it will cost £2.375bn - including a 50% contingency
2005: Bid succeeds in July with "prudent" estimate of preparing for games of £2.4bn
2006: Tessa Jowell says Olympic Park costs up to £3.3bn
2007: Olympic Park budget now at £5.3bn - including regeneration and infrastructure
2007: Total budget, including contingency, security and tax, reaches £9.35bn

Are the olympic games worth the money that could be spent on hospitals and schools? Would you stand for it if it was in your country?

Personally i think it will be a great showcase but i don't see how they could have gotten the numbers so off in the first place
 
Oh god not only is England going down a **** hole we have to convince people we're great by making a great Olympic setting, Which in it'self is getting ripped by the press.
 
That reminds me I need to find out about volunteering for the Vancouver Olympics.
 
Why is it costing so much money? Are they building a stadium?
 
You're all being short sighted.

Think of the boost to tourism. Not just during the Olympics, but after aswell. Think about the boost to the local AND national economy. Again, not just during the Olympics, but long after it's over. The English suffered a bad terrorist attack, and could do with some national pride by holding the Olympics.

So yeah. It's worth it.
 
The Olympics are just a 16 day commercial for athletic companies
 
You're all being short sighted.

Think of the boost to tourism. Not just during the Olympics, but after aswell. Think about the boost to the local AND national economy. Again, not just during the Olympics, but long after it's over. The English suffered a bad terrorist attack, and could do with some national pride by holding the Olympics.

So yeah. It's worth it.
I completely agree with this. Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics and the structures and facilities built for the games have since become the primary training facilities in Canada for winter athletes.

While Vancouver's and London's costs are soaring, don't forget that Athens was almost bankrupted by the games as well. ANY city benefits from the rejuvenation of its sporting facilities. In 25 years, England's top atheletes will most likely be training at places that are just now being built or being restored.

The boost to national sports programs is only one of the many benefits besides the massive influx of tourists for months prior to and after the games, as well as getting to show off your culture to the rest of the world!
 
Does anyone even watch the Olympics?
 
The last time I watched the Olympics was the '88 Summer Games.
 
Does anyone even watch the Olympics?

I went to the winter ones last year in Italy.
That got me pumped and I continued to watch remainder of it once I got home.
 
Because nothing says Olympics like NBA players scoring 190 points against some college kids from Kazahkstan :dry:

The US has actually lost the past few Olympics... but it's not every day you see a US player jump over a 7'2" guy and dunk. That should be illegal; it's molestation.
 
I'm assuming "bn" means billion? If so, that is a tad excessive. But I still think the games are necessairy. If everyone did everything based on what's cost effective and practical, things would be pretty ****ing dull. People need things like the Olympics to inspire them, or give them hope, or at the very least give them something to look foreward to.
 
My future purchase of a 360 and the games for it that interest me is all I'm looking forward to
 
You're all being short sighted.

Think of the boost to tourism. Not just during the Olympics, but after aswell. Think about the boost to the local AND national economy. Again, not just during the Olympics, but long after it's over. The English suffered a bad terrorist attack, and could do with some national pride by holding the Olympics.

So yeah. It's worth it.

Damn. We agree on something. :csad:
 
I completely agree with this. Calgary hosted the 1988 Winter Olympics and the structures and facilities built for the games have since become the primary training facilities in Canada for winter athletes.

While Vancouver's and London's costs are soaring, don't forget that Athens was almost bankrupted by the games as well. ANY city benefits from the rejuvenation of its sporting facilities. In 25 years, England's top atheletes will most likely be training at places that are just now being built or being restored.

The boost to national sports programs is only one of the many benefits besides the massive influx of tourists for months prior to and after the games, as well as getting to show off your culture to the rest of the world!

I do not remember what the '96 games did for the Atlanta economy. I know The Dallas/Ft.Worth area was trying to land the Olympic Games. I think the DFW area would be better off getting the Super Bowl and or the NCAA Final Four.
 
Why is it costing so much money? Are they building a stadium?

It costs so much for a couple of reasons. One being that they are buying a whole area of the east end of london which is basically wasteland, so they have to regenerate it. Next any bussiness that are there have to be moved. Then we have to pay for redevelopment of the transport system. They all so have insure the project. There is Tax as well. Plus we have to pay the Polish builders which are gonna build it as british builders are lazy teamsters.

They are also gonna raid the lottery charity trust for money to pay for parts of it. All I know as a Londoner there is no way I am paying extra tax to fund this crap.
 

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