- [Narrator] Ah, the Olympics. The glory of our best athletes
competing for greatness in shiny new stadiums for
viewers around the world. But recent game are
rife with overspending, wastes, and controversy. And most viewers don't
even see the lasting damage the games do to the host city. Could we be watching the
death of the Olympics? Well, right now it's hard to tell. But this honored tradition
is looking sicker every year. Hosting is expensive. Every game in the last 50
years has gone over budget. The 2014 Sochi Winter Games went over it's 10 billion dollar budget by an additional 41 billion dollars. No one knows this better than
Professor Andrew Zimbalist. He's written several
books on the Olympics, including "Rio 2016: Olympic
Myths, Hard Realities." - These days they require about 35 different athletic vendors. They require an Olympic village
that costs one and a half, two, three billion dollars
depending on the circumstance. They require a media and
television production facility, which could very easily
go for half a billion to a billion dollars. They require a media village. They require ceremonial
space, and green space. They require transportation
amongst all of them, and special lanes for the
IOC executives transportation amongst all of the venues. - [Narrator] Cities used to
make a profit from the games. Partly because they collected a lot of revenue in TV rights. But recently the International
Olympic Committee has been taking a larger percentages. In the 90's for instance,
it took 4% of revenue. Compare that with the 70% it pocketed from the 2016 Rio Games. The newly built stadium can
cost up to 30 million dollars a year to maintain and they are
often on valuable real estate. Most cities don't even know what to use them for after the games. Those facilities fall into
decay if they're not kept up, and that hurts property value. - There could also be a lot of
environmentalist disruption. The Winter Olympics they'll
be having in Pyeong Chang, they destroyed a whole mountainside. Trees and animals that are there, and some of them close to extinction. - [Narrator] So who'd
want to host the Olympics in the first place? Not many. After each financial failure
fewer cities bid to host the following decades games. After all, it takes 10 years of planning just to be in the running to host. Chicago spent and estimated
100 million on the campaign to host in 2016, and they lost. Boston famously pulled it's
bid for the 2024 Summer Games, after citizen group No Boston Olympics convinced the city otherwise. 12 cities bid for the
2004 games, five for 2020, and just two for 2022 Winter
Games: China and Kazakhstan. So is that it? RIP Olympic games? - (chuckles) It won't end. Thomas Bach, the President of the IOC, for all the criticisms that I
have of him, he's a smart guy, and he knows when he's
up against the wall. And they've been up against the wall. - [Narrator] In 2014 IOC
President Thomas Bach suggested a list of 40 actions the IOC could take to shape the future of
the Olympic Movement. Among them, evaluate bid cities by assessing key opportunities and risks, reduce the cost of bidding, and include sustainability in all aspects of the Olympic Games. It sounds good on paper, but time will tell if
these actions take root. - We're gonna become more sustainable, we're gonna become more affordable, we're gonna become more flexible, and by doing that, by tweaking
the model a little bit and making pronouncements, they reengage cities to participate. And what's generally happened
is the model has been slightly reformed. It's a little bit more
sensible now then it was before the end of 2020. - [Narrator] Zimbalist
supports a different idea to keep the Olympics alive. Get rid of the bidding system
and pick a permanent host. Somewhere that has the
built in facilities, infrastructure, and venues. - [Zimbalist] We happen
to have such a city for the Summer Olympics, it's Los Angeles. They don't have to do
any building virtual. They've got the infrastructure, transportation infrastructure. Because it's the second largest city and the entertainment
capital of the country. They've got all of the professional teams from all the leagues. - [Narrator] A permanent
city could benefit the Winter Games as well. As the climate changes,
less cities that have hosted Games in the past
can reliably keep snow. The IOC isn't a fan of this idea, but as bidding hosts
dwindle, so do their options. The future Summer Games are
planned out through 2028, and the Winter Games through 2022. The 2026 Olympics have
several cities exploring bids, including two previous hosts, Salt Lake City and Sapporo Japan. Germany, Australia, and India have all expressed interest
in the 2032 Summer Games. Despite its flaws, the Olympic Games is
still a people pleaser. The IOC polled candidate host
cities for the 2020 Games and 70% of Tokoyo, 76% of Madrid, and 83% of Istanbul were in support. So maybe the Olympics aren't dying, but it's certainly up to the International Olympic Committee
to keep the games in check. Both on the field and off. (gentle orchestra music)
I've always wondered why there isn't a bigger push for more international contribution; if you want your team to compete, you need to chip in. Obviously weight it based on the ability of a country to contribute but rather than having one country or city bear some enormous costs, spread that out among competitors.
And hard. fucking. lol. Los Angeles. I lived there for 30 years. LA does not have the infrastructure or transportation. There was a lot of muted enthusiasm for the 2028 announcement. The Olympics represents an absolute crush on transportation that nobody wants to deal with.
Most people I know in London would gladly host it again. Could just be my social bubble. Not that it wasn't expensive but I think the atmosphere and pride helped compensate. There are problems but the area around the Olympic village but it seems to be doing well overall (new housing, nice park - expensive but it is London).
Although we did have the advantage of having a lot of infrastructure to start and a fair bit of money to cope with the added costs.
I'm more interested in the olympic village debauchery that goes on than the actual events.
Netflix get on this shit.
Permanent stations sound like the most reasonable approach. Pick a summer game location in a temperate climate and a winter game location where snow can be expected for some years to come.
Spending billions in national money each year doesn't make sense (except for the profiteers), and the ecological cost is high as well.