The last three Summer Olympics prior to the Paris event cost a total of $51 billion, exceeding their budgets by 185% — and that’s not even taking into account additional expenses such as roads, railways, or other infrastructure, which often cost more than the event itself. This data comes from a study conducted by the University of Oxford. The Paris Olympics, on the other hand, are among the cheapest; their cost was estimated at around $9 billion prior to the event. This expense doesn’t necessarily have to pay off, especially considering the interest shown was lower than expected.
“Major events like the Olympics or the World Cup cannot be analysed solely in terms of simple revenues. They are powerful tools with a geostrategic, even geopolitical character,” assesses Grzegorz Kita, President of Sport Management Polska.
“The Paris Olympics gained the reputation of being the cheapest in modern history, costing only slightly more than the Sydney Olympics at around $9 billion. In comparison, recent Games such as those in Beijing, or major events like the World Cup in Russia, have cost significantly more. For instance, Tokyo said to have cost $35 billion and Beijing over $50 billion,” says Grzegorz Kita.
According to the “The Oxford Olympics Study 2024: Are Cost and Cost Overrun at the Games Coming Down?” by the University of Oxford, the three previous Summer Olympics – London (2012), Rio (2016), and Tokyo (2020) – cost a total of about $51 billion. The most expensive event was in Brazil, costing over $23.5 billion. The London Games were the second most expensive at $16.8 billion, while the Tokyo event cost $13.7 billion.
“The full cost of the Paris Olympics is around $9 billion. Half of this amount goes to operational costs, and the other $4.5 billion is what needs to be invested in infrastructure. However, in Paris, 95% of the venues were already in place, so there wasn’t much need for construction or modernisation, which is why these are considered the cheapest Games in history,” explains the President of Sport Management Polska.
The researchers from Oxford estimate that the Paris Games’ cost exceeded the planned budget by 115% anyway, a common occurrence for all previous Olympics. The International Olympic Committee has been combating this issue for several years by providing guidelines to help limit the costs of sporting events. One recommendation is to reutilise or modernise existing facilities, thus minimising the number of new constructions required for the Games.
Paris 2024 was the first event of this type where the organisers seriously approached the IOC policy included in Agenda 2020+5. The organisers only built one permanent sports facility (a water sports centre), which is low-emission, and they moved the competitions outside the stadiums and relied on venues that showcase the city’s famous landmarks.
“The Paris Olympics have one of the highest ratios in history of existing venues that did not need to be built from scratch and are in good condition. Stade de France, Parc des Princes, or Roland Garros tennis courts are still functioning, where not much modernisation is needed. Moreover, if the French modernise something, it will only benefit them, as they also promote landmarks like the Grand Palais during fencing, showing off the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower for beach volleyball,” points out the expert.
The French hope that the costs of organising the Games will be fully recouped. However, the French Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies indicates that the GDP growth in the third quarter will only increase by 0.5 percentage points on a quarterly basis, slightly more than the previous quarter.
Although sporting events, including the Olympics, attract a lot of people, there are also many tourists who will refrain from visiting for that very reason. Hence, the economic impact of sports tourism is lower than one might expect.
“Major sporting events, including the Olympics, are characterised by the potential to generate something like the ‘Barcelona effect’, which means promoting and awakening interest in a particular destination. But at the same time, the antithesis to the Barcelona effect is the so-called displacement effect. Many tourists interested in the destination will refrain from visiting if they hear a significant sporting event is taking place there,” says the President of Sport Management Polska.
Choose Paris Region estimates that the Olympic (26 July – 11 August) and Paralympic Games (28 August – 8 September) in Paris will attract over 15 million visitors in total. The opening ceremony of the Games counted 358.5 thousand tourists. 62% of them were visitors from abroad, mostly from the USA. Two-thirds of the French watching the ceremony live were residents of Paris and its surroundings. On the opening night of the Games, hotel occupancy was 90%. By August 2, it had dropped to about 80%. The expected hotel occupancy for the entire Olympic period is on average 15–20 percentage points higher than that recorded in the same period in 2023, and prices have increased by an average of 24%.
Nonetheless, interest is lower than expected. AirFrance-KLM airlines announced they expect a revenue drop in the third quarter by €150–170 million due to low demand for visits to Paris this summer.
“Paris has always been seen as a rather expensive city, and many people may have assumed from the outset that they would not visit during the Olympics, without even checking prices, because of the crowds and prices. This is in some sense the answer to why many restaurateurs, hoteliers, or representatives of airlines in France complain today,” assesses Grzegorz Kita.
Based on a study conducted by researchers from the University of Lausanne in 2022 on the economic impact of the Olympics and World Championships, it was concluded that in most cases, expenditures exceed revenues. Few countries have managed to make the direct costs incurred in organising these events pay off.
“In principle, events like the Olympics, a World Cup or a Euro cannot be considered only in terms of simple revenues and costs. In my view, these are complex and powerful tools with a geostrategic and even geopolitical character. They can create an image of a specific city, region, or country for years to come or ruin the existing image. For many countries, a major sporting event is a strong stimulus for progress and advancement,” the expert explains.
To organise the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, investments were made in transport — buses, metro, and urban railway — causing the Olympic budget to be exceeded by 289%. London overspent by 76% by building 10 railway lines, 30 bridges, and modernising “green” paths for pedestrians and cyclists. Tokyo exceeded the budget by 128% by investing in new facilities.
“We all remember Euro 2012 and the struggle to make the A2 motorway drivable, where the government gave all possible green lights to complete it on time. Now the simple question is, how many more problems or lost benefits would the Polish economy have faced if this motorway had been built two to four years later, which was probable? We saw how, at a great cost and literally at the last minute, this motorway — the economic lifeblood of the country — was completed,” points out Grzegorz Kita.
