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So Greece, for example, becomes responsible for the maintenance and updates to the facilities, which they obviously can't afford now? Having a single host count

So Greece, for example, becomes responsible for the maintenance and updates to the facilities, which they obviously can't afford now? Having a single host country works only if all the participating countries chip in annually according to their GNP or some other measure of their financial worth. How, then, is that enforced? You can always exclude those countries who are in arrears but that only harms the athletes. For example, losing the Kenyan runners from the Olympics because their country won't or can't pay would be a travesty and cheapen the events. Either that or the world class athletes would relocate to a wealthy nation, sending yet another blow to their home country.

untog 10y ago
I'd be interested to know how the financial benefit of hosting the Olympics (tourism, etc) would compare to upkeep of permanent facilities. In theory the crowds coming to town every 4 years would be a big economic boost, though perhaps not enough of one.
- nhaehnle 10y ago
  It depends a lot on whether the facilities can be put to good use and how big the tourism effect is in the interim. An interesting case to study here is the town of Oberammergau in Bavaria. Several centuries ago, the people there vowed to put on a passion play every ten years if they were spared by the plague. They stuck to that vow and have been doing it ever since, putting on an absolutely top quality production each time. The next one will be in 2020, and tickets tend to be sold out years in advance. Even though the town rakes in a lot of money during passion play years, they tended to be in financial dire straits all the time because of the enormous fluctuation, and (comparatively recently) started to use the rather large facilities that were built for the play also for other cultural events in off-years. 10 years gives you a bigger gap than the 4 years of the Olympics, but I'd expect similar issues to arise. BTW, the story of Oberammergau really is absolutely fascinating. One of the rules is that only people born there can participate in the play, with the consequence being that the town systematically produces a massive amount of talented musicians, actors, and other artists, considering how small it is. Really makes you think: if there's so much potential there, then how much human potential are we wasting almost everywhere else! Another fun fact is that one of the first electrified railways in Germany was built specifically to connect Munich to Oberammergau.
  - mulmen 10y ago
    I think previous commenters have suggested this but what about splitting the Olympics up into four years of competitions. So 1/4 of the the events are played every year. There would be "premiere" events to draw people in but the less-viewed sports could actually get more attention because there is less competition for viewership.
revelation 10y ago
No, whoever received the billions in TV rights money pays for that. Obviously.
- M_Grey 10y ago
  How long will 'TV right' be worth billions?
  - imglorp 10y ago
    Well, "streaming and broadcast". So far the content owner has been super aggressive about policing their intellectual property they paid for the exclusive right to distribute. Of course, geography keeps interfering with the ideal case for consumers. So we all lose as usual.
    - M_Grey 10y ago
      I'm getting really tired of losing that way, over and over and over with no end in sight. It's so tiring when every conceivable entity has an interest, and it so often conflicts with your own. It's like living your life mobbed by children desperately trying to sell you chiclets or little toys, while others are picking your pockets.
    - ctdonath 10y ago
      I was quite delighted with the Rio Olympics in terms of accessibility: streaming gave on-demand largely/completely commercial-free to some 6,000 hours of content (live & replay). Only quirk was having to AirPlay it from my iPhone to my Apple TV, and it may have leveraged some rights with AT&T/U-verse for otherwise free viewing.
  - revelation 10y ago
    No idea, but after the initial expense you can pretty much fund ongoing maintenance from the leftovers you have wisely invested instead of embezzled.
wishinghand 10y ago
> Either that or the world class athletes would relocate to a wealthy nation, sending yet another blow to their home country. This already happens but for other reasons. Some athletes will move to a country that underperforms in the Olympics for their sport so they can qualify easier.
- gozur88 10y ago
  Heh heh. I used to work with a guy who came from a country which doesn't (or didn't at the time, anyway) send a team to every sport in the winter Olympics. As a lark the office was pushing to get him into the games in one of the skiing events (he didn't ski). Sadly, the country in question wanted to see some evidence he could ski well, since they didn't want to be embarrassed.

untog 10y ago

I'd be interested to know how the financial benefit of hosting the Olympics (tourism, etc) would compare to upkeep of permanent facilities. In theory the crowds coming to town every 4 years would be a big economic boost, though perhaps not enough of one.

nhaehnle 10y ago
It depends a lot on whether the facilities can be put to good use and how big the tourism effect is in the interim. An interesting case to study here is the town of Oberammergau in Bavaria. Several centuries ago, the people there vowed to put on a passion play every ten years if they were spared by the plague. They stuck to that vow and have been doing it ever since, putting on an absolutely top quality production each time. The next one will be in 2020, and tickets tend to be sold out years in advance. Even though the town rakes in a lot of money during passion play years, they tended to be in financial dire straits all the time because of the enormous fluctuation, and (comparatively recently) started to use the rather large facilities that were built for the play also for other cultural events in off-years. 10 years gives you a bigger gap than the 4 years of the Olympics, but I'd expect similar issues to arise. BTW, the story of Oberammergau really is absolutely fascinating. One of the rules is that only people born there can participate in the play, with the consequence being that the town systematically produces a massive amount of talented musicians, actors, and other artists, considering how small it is. Really makes you think: if there's so much potential there, then how much human potential are we wasting almost everywhere else! Another fun fact is that one of the first electrified railways in Germany was built specifically to connect Munich to Oberammergau.
- mulmen 10y ago
  I think previous commenters have suggested this but what about splitting the Olympics up into four years of competitions. So 1/4 of the the events are played every year. There would be "premiere" events to draw people in but the less-viewed sports could actually get more attention because there is less competition for viewership.

revelation 10y ago

No, whoever received the billions in TV rights money pays for that. Obviously.

M_Grey 10y ago
How long will 'TV right' be worth billions?
- imglorp 10y ago
  Well, "streaming and broadcast". So far the content owner has been super aggressive about policing their intellectual property they paid for the exclusive right to distribute. Of course, geography keeps interfering with the ideal case for consumers. So we all lose as usual.
  - M_Grey 10y ago
    I'm getting really tired of losing that way, over and over and over with no end in sight. It's so tiring when every conceivable entity has an interest, and it so often conflicts with your own. It's like living your life mobbed by children desperately trying to sell you chiclets or little toys, while others are picking your pockets.
  - ctdonath 10y ago
    I was quite delighted with the Rio Olympics in terms of accessibility: streaming gave on-demand largely/completely commercial-free to some 6,000 hours of content (live & replay). Only quirk was having to AirPlay it from my iPhone to my Apple TV, and it may have leveraged some rights with AT&T/U-verse for otherwise free viewing.
- revelation 10y ago
  No idea, but after the initial expense you can pretty much fund ongoing maintenance from the leftovers you have wisely invested instead of embezzled.

wishinghand 10y ago

> Either that or the world class athletes would relocate to a wealthy nation, sending yet another blow to their home country. This already happens but for other reasons. Some athletes will move to a country that underperforms in the Olympics for their sport so they can qualify easier.

gozur88 10y ago
Heh heh. I used to work with a guy who came from a country which doesn't (or didn't at the time, anyway) send a team to every sport in the winter Olympics. As a lark the office was pushing to get him into the games in one of the skiing events (he didn't ski). Sadly, the country in question wanted to see some evidence he could ski well, since they didn't want to be embarrassed.