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Cost And Benefits Of Hosting The Olympic Games

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Is It Worth It?: Analyzing the Costs and Benefits of Hosting the Olympic Games

It's a gorgeous early August day. You just want to be outside, regardless of what you are doing. Are you? Nope. You are sitting in your car, stuck in traffic as your evening commute home has tripled in time. For a brief moment, you attribute the traffic to rush hour or perhaps an accident. Then you remember the cause of all this traffic: your city is serving as host city for the Olympic Games. On top of the traffic, you’re are facing a noticeable increase in your yearly taxes.
These are common side effects felt by citizens of an Olympic Games host city. On the other hand, the influx of people coming into the city has a positive effect local economy and a spotlight …show more content…

Boston 2024, the group leading the charge for Boston to be the eventual hosts, was challenged by the grassroots organization No Boston Olympics. NBO led by three Bostonians involved in the Boston political scene: Chris Dempsey, Liam Kerr, and Kelly Gossett. The campaign focused on the negative aspects that citizens would experience were Boston to host the Olympics. For example, the bid would require a public transportation infrastructure investment of $5.2 billion, as stated by Smith College Professor of economics Andrew Zimbalist. Despite that high number, the co-chair of the state legislature’s transportation committee, Bill Straus, said the infrastructure investment would actually total $13 billion. Although some of this is fronted by the State Government and IOC, a tax increase on citizens would still come with it. Possibly add in 1 or 2 more sentences in here on …show more content…

This requires you to step back and contemplate who the Olympic actually for? Is it for sports fans looking for an amazing spectacle, or is it meant to line the pockets of those people who would certainly be well-off even without it. Despite the drastic difference in funding ($15 million for Boston 2024 vs. $10,000 for NBO), NBO and other similar resistance groups were successful in their campaign to showcase why the Olympics should not be held in Boston. By March of 2015, only 36% of residents polled supported Boston 2024. The members of NBO were so adamant because they consider the benefits of hosting a modern day Olympic Games to be far outweighed by costs, and many economists and city officials

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