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Another day another cost report goes up for the Olympics. Just days after learning that the debt of the Rio Organizing Committee for the 2016 Summer Games was more than three times greater than what she was supposed to be at the time. Originally, we have a report that indicates that cost overruns have already affected the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. This time, the cost of opening and closing ceremonies has increased. The ceremonies, which had initially been budgeted at a cost of $ 82 million, or only $ 40 million per ceremony, will now cost $ 117 million. This is an increase of 43%.
I do not know what is the right price for a show like the opening and closing ceremonies. The most important event I have ever organized is my mother's 70th birthday party. I only called the restaurant, booked the space and ordered a cake. (I'm lazy, she deserves a better girl.) The problem is not whether it's an appropriate budget for an activity the size of the ceremonies; it is the fact that, again, the organizers have largely underestimated the cost of things. According to recent estimates, the total cost of the 2020 Olympic Games would be $ 25 billion, four times more than the bid committee, which projected that the Games would be held during the Tokyo victory in 2013. This means that the bid committee has unknowingly submitted a budget was very far from reality when they made the offer.
And guess who bears the responsibility for cost overruns? Taxpayers. One of the conditions for hosting the Games that the IOC has mandated for all cities is that they must agree to sign a guarantee for taxpayers. This "safety net" hardly encourages prudent budgeting and cost savings if, in the end, someone else will have no choice. than to charge it.
Bent Flyvberg, an Olympic budgeting expert, recently drafted a study that concluded that no Olympic Games had been held within budget. "It's the most amazing thing that the Olympics are the only type of mega-project ever to exceed their budget," he said.
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