According to a budget released to The Associated Press by Salt Lake 2002 organizers, the Winter Games will cost $640,050 for Olympic family perks and Olympic ceremonies will cost $37.6 million, leaving $32.8 million for sports.
It seems that sporting events cost less than the pomp, pageantry and the elaborate technology. The costs are so large, the logistics so complicated with little profit that Salt Lake Olympic head Mitt Romney has questioned whether U.S. cities should bother bidding for the Games. He has said, the Olympics are driven by “giganticism” with more sports, demonstration sports and frills added every two years.
Romany said Friday, “it’s a fair question for people to ask, ‘is it worth it or not?’” “My own position is the Games make sense not as a money making enterprise but as a statement for peace”.
Reducing the size and cost of the Olympics is a priority for IOC president Jacques Rogge.
Many of the costs are mandated by the IOC, which requires Olympic cities to assume full financial responsibility. Then it takes a cut of the sponsorship pacts.
When Salt Lake City signed a contract with the IOC, Salt Lake City attorney Roger Cutler complained that the deal was “open-ended, one-sided and onerous”.
According to the contract, the Games organizing committee must deploy a “reliable system of transportation for the Olympic family”. The cost is $322,201 with chauffeur-driven cars for IOC members.
It must book at least 1,000 rooms “in such hotels as shall be designated by the IOC executive board” which will cost $1,358,232.
Romney said that even though the IOC will reimburse organizers for its own delegates’ hotel rooms, “we owe them a lot more money in royalties than they owe us”.
Salt Lake will spend $640,050 on “Olympic family services” – a category that wasn’t broken down or explained in the budget document.
Salt Lake Olympic trustee Ken Bullock said, “it’s just taking care of them. It’s meals and all the little perks. These are just amenities to make their stay pleasant”.
The organizing committee also keeps VIP apartments costing $343,841.
Salt Lake planned to launch Olympic and Paralaympic ceremonies for a reasonable $20 million but Bullock said the IOC insisted on a better show. Now the ceremonies, plus the medals plaza and a rodeo, will cost $37.6 million, according to the budget. The Mormon Church is contributing land and $5 million for the medals plaza.
Organizers will have to pay almost $100 million to reimburse Utah taxpayers for building Olympic venues and to leave a fund for their maintenance.
And to entertain Olympic volunteers, organizers will spend $209,999 on pre- and post-Games celebrations. Deploying the army of 30,000 volunteers will cost $2.1 million.
