Why host cities lose money on the Olympics

The International Olympic Committee retains more than half of all television revenue generated by the games.

Montreal required thirty years to fully pay off the debt incurred from the nineteen seventy-six Olympics.

Beijing spends ten million dollars every year just to maintain the underutilized Birds Nest stadium.

Regular tourists often avoid host cities during the games, leading to an overall decrease in total tourism.

Los Angeles nineteen eighty-four achieved a two hundred fifteen million dollar surplus by leveraging existing infrastructure.

Athens spent over one and a half billion dollars on security alone for the two thousand four games.