Cost of Hosting Olympics 1988 to 2024 and Budget Overruns

Key points from the chart

The chart gives the estimated cost of hosting 19 Olympic Games, from Calgary 1988 to Paris 2024, in billions of US dollars at constant 2022 prices.
Sochi 2014 was the most expensive at US$28.9 billion, followed by Rio de Janeiro 2016 at US$23.6 billion and London 2012 at US$16.8 billion.
Calgary 1988 was the cheapest at US$1.2 billion. Most Winter Games on the chart cost between US$2 billion and US$5 billion.
Rio de Janeiro ran 352% over budget, the largest overrun shown. Sochi (289%), Lillehammer (277%) and Barcelona (266%) follow. Beijing 2008 and Pyeongchang 2018 overran by only 2%.
Paris 2024 cost US$8.7 billion with a 115% overrun, according to the chart’s source.

The cost of hosting Olympics chart in text

Title: The Huge Costs Behind The Olympic Games. Subtitle: Estimated cost of hosting the Olympics since 1988 (in billion U.S. dollars). Bars are coloured light sand for Summer Games and gold for Winter Games, and a circle on the right gives each Games’ overrun in percent. Footnote: In constant 2022 dollars. Includes operational and construction costs. Does not include wider capital costs, such as investments in urban and transportation infrastructure. Source: Council on Foreign Relations. Footer: Creative Commons licence icons and the Statista logo.

Host city	Year	Games	Cost (US$ billion, 2022 dollars)	Overrun (%)
Calgary	1988	Winter	1.2	65
Albertville	1992	Winter	2.1	137
Barcelona	1992	Summer	11.6	266
Lillehammer	1994	Winter	3.4	277
Atlanta	1996	Summer	4.7	151
Nagano	1998	Winter	2.2	56
Sydney	2000	Summer	5.2	90
Salt Lake City	2002	Winter	2.7	24
Athens	2004	Summer	3.1	49
Turin	2006	Winter	4.7	80
Beijing	2008	Summer	8.3	2
Vancouver	2010	Winter	3.2	13
London	2012	Summer	16.8	76
Sochi	2014	Winter	28.9	289
Rio de Janeiro	2016	Summer	23.6	352
Pyeongchang (printed “Pyeonchang”)	2018	Winter	3.4	2
Tokyo	2021	Summer	13.7	128
Beijing	2022	Winter	8.7	149
Paris	2024	Summer	8.7	115

Why the totals are so high

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) backgrounder that the chart draws on explains where the money goes [2]. Bidding alone usually costs a city US$50 million to US$100 million. Once chosen, a host has around a decade to build or upgrade specialised venues, an Olympic Village and a stadium for the ceremonies. The Summer Games are far larger, with more than ten thousand athletes in about three hundred events, against under three thousand athletes in about one hundred events at the Winter Games. Security spending rose after the 9/11 attacks, from US$250 million at Sydney 2000 to over US$1.5 billion at Athens 2004, and has stayed between US$1 billion and US$2 billion since.

CFR cites a 2024 University of Oxford study that found the average cost of hosting since 1960 has been triple the bid price [2]. That pattern is what the overrun column shows. Statista’s article with the chart notes that spending more than budgeted “has become the norm for host cities”, and that Hamburg withdrew its bid on cost grounds after a public referendum [1].

Costs against revenue

CFR reports that revenue covers only a fraction of the spending [2]. Beijing’s 2008 Games generated US$3.6 billion in revenue against over US$40 billion in costs, and Tokyo’s delayed Games generated US$5.8 billion against US$13 billion. The International Olympic Committee keeps more than half of all television revenue, usually the largest single source of income [2].

The economic benefits are disputed. CFR summarises research finding that promised jobs and tourism gains are often far smaller than forecast. A study of Salt Lake City 2002 found about seven thousand extra jobs in the short term, around a tenth of the number promised, and no long-term rise in employment. Barcelona is the main tourism success story, rising from the eleventh to the sixth most popular destination in Europe after 1992 [2]. Los Angeles 1984, which relied almost entirely on existing venues, finished with a US$215 million operating surplus [2].

Notes on this infographic

Infrastructure is left out. The chart counts operating and construction costs only. Totals that include roads, railways and other infrastructure are much higher. CFR puts Sochi at more than US$50 billion, Rio at more than US$20 billion and Beijing 2008 at a budget of US$45 billion on that wider basis, and says Beijing 2022 cost a reported US$39 billion by one estimate, against China’s own figure of US$4 billion [2].
Later estimates. CFR now cites a French Court of Auditors estimate that the French government shouldered US$7.85 billion for Paris 2024, and an independent Japanese government agency figure of US$13 billion for Tokyo [2]. Both are close to, but not the same as, the chart’s figures.
Spelling. The chart prints “Pyeonchang”. The usual spelling, used elsewhere by Statista, is PyeongChang or Pyeongchang [1].
Start date. Statista’s description says the chart covers Games since 1992, but the chart itself starts with Calgary 1988 [1].

Questions about the cost of hosting the Olympics

How much does it cost to host the Olympics?

On this chart, operating and construction costs for Games since 1988 range from US$1.2 billion (Calgary 1988) to US$28.9 billion (Sochi 2014), in 2022 dollars. Recent Summer Games cost between US$8.7 billion (Paris 2024) and US$23.6 billion (Rio 2016). CFR says total infrastructure costs alone can range from US$5 billion to more than US$50 billion [2].

How much did the Olympics cost?

For the most recent Games on the chart, Paris 2024, the figure is US$8.7 billion with a 115% overrun [1]. A later French Court of Auditors estimate quoted by CFR put the French government’s total at US$7.85 billion, which CFR describes as the cheapest Summer Games in decades [2].