Residents of Washington D.C. could be seeing Olympic sized increases to their taxes. Amongst six cities including Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, Washington D.C. is under consideration to host the 2024 Olympic games.
Wednesday morning’sWashington Post stated under the United States Olympic Committee’s (USOC) requirements, the chosen city would have to provide 45,000 hotel rooms, housing in the Olympic village to fit 16,500 athletes, work space for 15,000 journalists, an “extensive public-transport system,” a work force of 200,000 and should expect an operations budget of $3 billion. However, Bob Sweeny, who is leading the DC 2024 Olympic Initiative, estimates the total costs at $4-6 Billion.
The Olympic Committee has become notorious for underestimating Olympic budgets. A study conducted by the University of Oxford examines cost overruns in the Olympic Games by studying both the summer and winter Olympics between 1960 and 2012. The project discovered that The Games overran their budget in every case without exception, averaging an overrun in nominal terms of 324 percent.
If you’ve done the math, by following the trend presented in the study the 2024 Olympic games could cost Washington D.C. between $12.96 and $19.44 Billion. But even this estimate seems suspiciously low when looking at the recent Sochi Olympics, which cost around $51 Billion.
Advocates of the DC 2024 Olympic Initiative explain their plan will eliminate cost by integrating existing facilities and locating the Olympic Stadium and village in a region that needs redevelopment as is. But with the rising cost of extravagant stadiums, this plan doesn’t seem reassuring.
National Taxpayers Union’s own study, “Stadiums and Subsidies: Home Run for Wealthy Team Owners, Strike-out for Taxpayers,” explains megaprojects funded by the public, such as Olympic Stadium, are an inefficient investment of taxpayer dollars. The study illustrates trends in taxpayer subsidies and rising construction costs, concluding taxpayer tabs and stadium construction costs have direct relationships. As the taxpayer tab increases, so does the total stadium construction cost.
Olympic games showcase cities, bring in tourists and supposedly promote general infrastructure development. But D.C. is already host to frequent political events attracting the public eye and tourists alike. Unless taxpayers voice their concerns to the USOC, D.C. could soon be home to the 2024 Olympics and the financial bane that comes with them.