Olympics To Bring Prosperity

According to Tony Blair the London Olympics in 2012 will bring prosperity.

During the launching of a charity website yesterday, he said:

"Six years of wrangling, one year of blind panic, two weeks of glory and an endless period of repentance at leisure. Welcome to the Olympics. We are going to show that there is another story to be told."

Adding:

"The Olympics can be a catalyst for the city which will be its host. It can inspire new infrastructure, school and hospital buildings, new housing, the regeneration of derelict sites.

We could inspire economic prosperity that is sustained long after the closing ceremony and which will pay for the games many, many times over."

I wonder how many times that politicians have said that about the Games?

For sure there will be some people who do very well out of the large sums of government money and sponsorship deals that will be sloshing around.

However, as to whether the good people of London notice a dramatic change (aside from increased traffic congestion, building sites and rocketing property prices in East London) remains to be seen.

Beijing On Track

Construction work for the 2008 Beijing Olympics is on track, with construction of all venues underway two years before the start of the Games.

That at least is the conclusion of the International Olympic Committee, whose chief inspector Hein Verbruggen issued a statement yesterday:

"BOCOG (Beijing Games Organising Committee) shows steady and strong involvement and achieves good progress in all fields of Games preparation.

We therefore look to the path to 2008 with great confidence. "

The operational budget for the Games is about US$2BN. However, another $40BN has been budgeted to upgrade Beijing's infrastructure and tackle pollution before the opening ceremony in August 2008.

Tu Mingde, BOCOG president assistant, is quoted as saying:

"The preparations have been going smoothly and well on schedule.

It (operational budget) will be much higher than the amount we had in the bid file."

The Chinese authorities expect the cost of the Games to be tax neutral.

£100M Funding Gap

It seems that, despite the enthusiasm of the politicians, there is a £100M funding gap in the finances of the 2012 London Olympics.

Indeed, it is expected that this figure may in fact grow.

The precise costs of the Games are unlikely to be known until after they have been held. However, some estimates are already being made.

UK Sport have come up with the £100M figure, which is hoped to be plugged by the private sector.

This will not be so easy, as company sponsorship is limited to individual Olympic sports rather than individual sportsmen; companies prefer to sponsor individuals rather than sports.

There also seems to be some confusion as to who is meant to be raising this money. UK Sport's performance director, Liz Nicholl, has said that her body are "not experts in raising money" and it would, she believes, "be inappropriate to divert our energies into that. Sponsorship is not our core business."

A very British confusion and reluctance to talk about money, may well scupper these games.