The world's biggest sporting event for 2020 will be decided on Saturday night and Madrid has presented its third bid in a row.
Third time lucky? … Or give up and concentrate on bigger problems?
The cost of previous Olympics such as Beijing : €40 billion, London: €19 billion and the next games in Rio will cost: €4 billion : so far…as their original Budget was €2.8 billion are numbers that should scare any European country right now and especially Spain. But as always there are people in favour and people against.
Madrid's €1.9 billion seems cheap but we all know how good the Spanish are with building budgets!!! The reason they say it will be so cheap is because 80% of the infrastructure is already in place. The City has 27 Olympic sites ready to be used and there is no need to purchase any land as it all belongs to the council, additionally public transport meets requirements of the Olympic committee, so it all sounds good…
It is estimated that that the games would create between 300,000 and 350,000 jobs of all types. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Madrid could expect 83,000 full-time jobs as a result of the event. Just what Spain needs...
The IOC has estimated that €3.9 billion will be generated if Madrid gets the games. All sounds good with a budget cost of €1.9 billion doesn’t it?
How they work this out seven years in advance I do not know especially when Europe is in the way it is. So if the IOC is correct Spain will lose money as they are yet to finish any event or construction without doubling the original Budget as history shows us!
Anyway the other side of the coin is that Madrid owes €8 billion euros, twice as much as all other Spanish cities put together. But that has never worried Spanish politicians before after all its just debt! And we all know that Olympic accounting can be made as attractive as you want , at the end of the day it isa ll theory. Look at Rio they are on the way to doubling their original Budget and the games are still a way off. Many believe thes event are money pits and once committied there is no way out, you have to keep ploughing money in no matter what comes up a long the way. Eventhough the majority os venues are already built, six new venues are needed and some consider that that money could be more wisely spent on social services, hospitals and schools.
Many say that Spain is already a big tourism destination which doesn't need a boost. Last year, Spain visitors grew by 3% and spent 6% more, according to the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism and this summer saw an increase on last years figures too.
Madrid 2020 organizers used a poll of 2,000 people to put support for the sporting event at around 80%, Catalonia's La Vanguardia newspaper published a poll collecting votes of over 15,000 people and showing that only 26% of people supported the capital's candidature.
Anyway what is your view? Whether they get it or not should Madrid have presented a bid for the 2020 Olympics in the first place?
Please cast your vote and leave a comment :)