3 Key Takeaways from Paris on Hosting a Successful Olympics

Athletes train for years, if not decades, to prepare for the Olympics—as do the host cities. It’s no small feat when there are 329 medal events around the world. 32 different sportsabout 10,000 athletes and even more while welcoming millions of visitors.

The stakes are high in Paris’ case as it is hosting the event for the first time in 100 years. They hope to do things differently by becoming “greenest“The Olympics so far have featured a move to renewable energy sources, plant-based foods and rental sports equipment.

Paris’ investment in the games didn’t stop there. The French capital cleared the Seine River for use in open-water swimming events—a move that, well, didn’t go as planned. They also built a new rail line to help improve connectivity to Olympic venues.

While Paris has taken a new approach in some areas, it still faces the same problems that host cities inevitably face: cost overruns.

The 2024 Olympics are estimated to cost nearly $10 billion, 25% over budget, Estimates by S&P Global Ratings. That’s not as big as the Sochi (2014) or Rio (2016) Olympics, but it still reflects the difficult trade-offs cities have to make when they take on the enormous task of hosting the Games.

“We see more overspending on the infrastructure side, but the operational side is not free from pressure either,” said Alexander Budzier, a fellow in management practice at Oxford University’s Said Business School who co-authored a study on the Games’ legacy of overspending.

In some ways, the Paris Olympics are the pinnacle of rethinking about future events of this magnitude: should they continue as they are or do they really need to change?

The Struggle of Paris

In preparation for the Olympics, Paris decided to limit the number of new venues it built to control costs and carbon emissions. And it did. But in the process, the city engaged in what some have called “social cleansing” because it displaced hundreds of people living near Île-Saint-Denis, where the Olympic Village is located, and elsewhere. The government has denied this displacement. any correlation with the Olympics.

The event looked to be off to a bad start as the opening ceremony was marred by heavy, unsynchronized rain. filmand controversial actions that some see as a mockery of “The Last Supper” drawing.

The readiness of the Seine for an event of this scale is also an issue. The river has been polluted until it was almost time for the Olympics to start. Then the athletes began sick after swimming in a river (although it has not been confirmed whether the Seine was the cause).

Ken Hanscom, a former U.S. Olympic team player and CEO of ticketing platform TicketManager, said some of these incidents were predictable and difficult to plan for.
“Some bumps are expected along the way. But I think the bumps are here. [in Paris] was very, very small,” Hanscom said. Luck.

Olympic hangover

Cities have historically been “intoxicated” after hosting the Olympics. The 2004 Athens Olympics, while significant in its origins, came with a high price It is believed to have led to the financial crisis in Greece.

Meanwhile, the Rio Olympics eight years ago left the Brazilian capital abandoned facility after the Olympics. In Tokyo, corruption the scandals has been following the city’s efforts to host events and attract attention amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Has Paris been spared these effects? Probably not, but it has certainly made progress on the mistakes some of its predecessors made.

Cost concerns, for example, persist despite the French capital switching to cardboard beds and fewer new venues.

The paper, co-written by Budzier, found that Paris was actually 115 percent more expensive than originally estimated in real terms. Those costs could otherwise be spent on public services—a concern that Budapest residents recognized and signed a petition that led to Hungary scrapping the 2024 plan. Olympic Bidding seven years ago. The Paris Olympics were fair. Critics’ share for the same reason, although the event still went ahead as planned.

Since the IOC Launch of Agenda 2020 To change the way the Olympics are held in the future, cities—including Paris—must think more about how to host sustainable events. This has made progress, but it will take time before it becomes sustainable.

“The estimated cost of this will come down. At the same time, the overruns are still there,” Budzier said. “It seems that Paris, right now, is not benefiting economically from it.” [the Olympics]so the benefits will come later.”

There have also been great successes through the legacy of the Olympics. For example, when Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Olympics, it left the city Profit of $223 millionThe 2012 London Olympics are seen as a model for how the Olympics can promote urban regeneration and create infrastructure that benefits local communities.

3 characteristics of an Olympic success

So what does it take to make the Olympics successful? Hanscom, who has attended four Olympics to date, cites three things alongside the fundamentals, such as safety.

First, staying within a reasonable budget is a win. The Paris Olympics didn’t exactly achieve that, but they did help curb some of the big spending on infrastructure and operations. That’s part of an ongoing, evolving effort to get the numbers right. Paris officials justify the costs when they reuse plan Olympic Village units are being built as housing after the Games, and the rewards of doing so are hard to quantify.

Second, strong local involvement means that everyone directly affected while in the host country or city is immersed in the big sporting experience. In Paris, a large portion of the audience is expected to be French—a trend Hanscom also observed.

There was a buzz about unsold tickets and hotel room not booked because fewer international tourists come to the city (which hurts Air France KLM) revenue) before the Olympics. But hey, at least the French made it through.

Ultimately, Hanscom stressed that the Olympics have been a great show for both live and television viewers. The Olympics have suffered from declining viewership in recent years and have been keen to reverse that trend. But this year, opening ceremony became the most watched event on French television. Data shows that viewership figures has increased globally.

So, all in all, Paris may have succeeded, Hanscom said.

“I think there’s an ongoing evolution of how they can continue to improve and grow because now, when you look at LA as well, I don’t believe there’s not a new facility being built,” he said. “It can always get better.”

Budzier pointed out that the attention on hosting the Olympics could create a positive “leverage effect.”

“Hosting the Olympics allows you to do things that might otherwise take decades of public debate and piecemeal intervention in a city,” he said.

Take cleaning up the Seine, for example. French leaders had previously promised to make the river swimmable again, but the deadline kept getting pushed back—until Paris committed to hosting the Olympics. The city spent $1.5 billionmake the river less polluted. Sure, the Seine isn’t in the best of shape, but more has been done to clean it up in the last few years than in previous decades.

The world is eagerly watching to see how the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics will improve through the tournament and its legacy. For now, there is enough optimism that the idea of ​​a repeat of the Games’ success is slowly but surely growing.