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Keith Strudler: A Buyer's Market For Olympics

Consider this the Olympic winter clearance sale. For the time being, the International Olympic Committee will be seriously slashing the entry fee to have your very own nation host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. Historically, the price tag to buy one of these luxury items has been uniquely high. In fact, Russia just spent some $51 billion hosting the winter games in Sochi. And for that price, they got a whole bunch of unfinished buildings, a massive dog round up, and a whole lot of negative press. Given that, there seems to be a remarkable drought in potential buyers of Sochi’s legacy. While the 2018 Winter Games were long ago awarded to South Korea, the bidding for the 2022 event is ongoing as we speak. And it seems, unlike recent history, it’s a buyer’s market.

That’s what we’d have to believe, given the events of the past several months. Of the six semi-finalists, two have rescinded their bids. First came Stockholm, which pulled its bid in December from financial concerns. Then this week, Krakow dropped its bid when some 70% of voters voted against a referendum to host the games. That leaves the IOC with four cities left, with still six weeks until they announce their finalists. They may not need to wait that long. Of the four, two cities, Oslo, Norway, and Lviv, Ukraine, have serious doubts. Oslo can’t secure government backing amidst public opposition to the Games, and Lviv is in the middle of what could be a hostile takeover. It’s like the 50’s all over, only this time with the Internet.

That leaves the IOC with only two strong contenders, and I use the term loosely. That includes Almaty, Kazahkstan, and Beijing. So it’s either a near dictatorship with horrid human rights pedigree or China. And yes, I am being ironic.

If you like this winter sale, there might be a summer version coming up soon. You know, for seersucker and capri pants. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio just announced his town won’t bid for the 2024 summer games, despite the fact they may be perhaps the world’s single most prepared place to host a true mega-event. Given the recent protests in Brazil on their cost overruns for this summer’s World Cup and ensuing 2016 Summer Olympics, I can imagine more than a few other political figures around the globe might follow suit.

It’s odd the difference a decade or two can make. It seemed like only yesterday that virtually every village with a water tower craved the global potential of hosting an Olympic Games. From Europe to South America to Africa, which did finally get a mega-event in the form of a World Cup, nations viewed the Olympics as a means of rebuilding infrastructure, generating revenue, and announcing to the world that you are open for business. But as the years have passed since the eye opening 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, where capitalism became the Games’ sixth ring, it seems the take has come much more slowly than the give. Behind the glamour of the world gaze has come massive debt, security concerns, and a legacy of unusable and unmaintained facilities that dot the landscape of post-Olympic cities. These former stadiums, known as white elephants, are as symbolic as they are real.

So now, as while political leaders across the globe have contemplated joining the ranks of Athens, Sochi, Montreal, and a host of others that have lost far more than they’ve gained, the people have largely spoken for them. Through democratic processes and protests, citizens are increasingly choosing schools, food, highways, and other essentials over the chaotic and seemingly corrupt expenditures of the Olympics. That leaves places like Russia and China and Kazahkstan, where citizens don’t really have a choice.

What’s going to happen to the 2022 Winter Olympic Games?  It’s hard to know for sure. Clearly, the IOC would like for one of the remaining safer choices, namely Oslo, to stay in the race. On the other hand, for the IOC, it’s certainly easier to negotiate with one corrupt leader than millions of angry citizens that can actually vote. So who knows.

But regardless of what happens eight years from now, the IOC must know this. Their decisions aren’t simply about location, they're far more existential than that. And if the Olympics can’t put themselves on a financial diet, where billion dollar buildings get less use than an exercise bike in a pizza shop, then they might not have to worry about any this anymore. Because sooner or later, the price will go so high, not even a winter sale, will save the franchise.

Keith Strudler is the director of the Marist College Center for Sports Communication and an associate professor of communication. You can follow him on twitter at @KeithStrudler

 

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.

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