Can Colo. Host The 2030 Winter Olympics At No Cost To Taxpayers?

DENVER, CO – By Alex Burness for The Colorado Independent. University of Oxford researchers in 2016 came to the conclusion that any city or region hosting the Olympics is highly likely to get a raw deal.

The Olympics, the researchers found, on average have higher cost overruns — 156 percent — than any other kind of major project, and hosting governments have almost always been required to foot the bill for those overruns with taxpayer money. It’s a big reason that cities are increasingly disinterested in these multi-billion-dollar endeavors, in spite of the considerable prestige and marketing value.

“For a city and nation to decide to stage the Olympic Games,” the Oxford study concluded, “is to decide to take on one of the most costly and financially most risky type of mega-project that exists, something that many cities and nations have learned to their peril.”

The city of Denver and the state of Colorado are contenders against only Salt Lake City to host the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. Unsurprisingly, there’s already a formidable movement in opposition to the idea, and activists here are coordinating with counterparts around the world who have either successfully thwarted the Olympics in their cities or are trying to do so.

“What I’d encourage Coloradans to do is to treat this as a public policy issue and not as a competition. Don’t fall into the trap of competing against Salt Lake City,” advised Chris Dempsey, co-founder of No Boston Olympics. “You have to soberly weigh the pros and cons, and cities that have done that overwhelmingly decide it’s not in their interest to take on an Olympic bid.”

READ MORE in The Colorado Independent.

(Photo via ODC/Creative Commons)