The world’s biggest sporting event will be the first ‘green’ Olympics with equal participation for men and women. A total of 15,000 athletes from 200 nations will compete in 32 sports. A recent study by the Centre de Droit et d’Économie du Sport (CDES) estimates that the event will generate a net economic benefit of around 10 billion dollars (987.8 billion meticais).
The 2024 Olympic Games will take place from 26 July to 11 August in Paris. It’s not the first time that the Olympics have been held in the ‘City of Light’: the previous ones were held in 1900 and 1924, exactly 100 years ago. In fact, this is one of the records that will be achieved this year: Paris will equal London at the top of the ranking of cities that have hosted the most editions of the Olympic Games.
Another milestone of this edition is that it will be the first ‘green Olympics’ – in the sense that it will endeavour to respect the protocols of the climate agreement also signed in Paris – and the first to have the same number of female and male athletes. In Tokyo 2020, there were 45.6 per cent female athletes. In total, there will be around 15,000 athletes representing 200 nations and 203 Olympic committees. Those from Russia and Belarus will compete individually under a neutral flag, while there will be a delegation made up entirely of refugee athletes.
Breakdancing is a new Olympic discipline
Another novelty is that there will be 329 competitions in 32 sports at the Olympic Games. Paris has added four sports aimed especially at young people: breakdancing, which is a first, sport climbing, skateboarding and surfing. Compared to the previous edition, baseball, softball and karate have been dropped. The competitions will be held in 35 different venues, some of which are emblematic, such as the Stade de France, the Olympic Aquatic Centre, the Grand Palais Éphémère and the Palace of Versailles. The athletes will be housed in the Olympic Village in Seine-St-Denis, on the outskirts of the city.
Also for the first time, the opening ceremony will be held outside the stadium and will take over the streets of Paris, particularly the River Seine, where hundreds of boats with the countries’ delegations and around 600,000 people will pass through. The number of television or streaming viewers is expected to reach one billion, with 350,000 hours of transmission. In person, 15.3 million people are expected at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, 12 per cent of whom will be foreigners. There will be 45,000 volunteers, who will help carry out 6,000 anti-doping tests, and 26,000 accredited journalists. Another curiosity is that the organisation plans to serve 13 million meals, 80% of which will have to be produced in France.
Economic and social impact for Paris
The organisation expects to sell 13.4 million tickets, the average price of which is around 55.50 dollars (4,000 meticais) and ranges from 26.64 dollars (1920 meticais) to 1054.50 dollars (76,000 meticais) , excluding the opening and closing ceremonies. Revenues are expected to amount to 3.9 billion dollars (384.9 billion meticais). According to a recent study by the Centre de Droit et d’Économie du Sport (CDES) at the University of Limoges, the event will generate a net economic benefit of between 7.4 billion dollars (735 billion meticais) and 12.3 billion dollars (1.2 billion meticais), with 8.9 billion in the intermediate scenario, a figure almost similar to the official budget, whose final estimate was updated at the beginning of July.
The biggest impact will come from the injection of resources into the region, which would never have happened without the Games. This is the case with the economic benefits related to tourism (30% of the total), construction (28%) and the organisation of the event (42%). The study discloses other interesting statistics.
More than 8.1 billion dollars (844.7 billion meticais) in private funding came from ticket sales, broadcasting rights and sponsorship. On the public side, 3.3 billion dollars (361.5 billion meticais) were spent, 80 per cent of which went to the disadvantaged area of Seine-St-Denis, where the Olympic Village with 2,800 new homes is located, plus two new schools benefiting 6,000 residents.
“The organisation expects to sell 13.4 million tickets, the average price of which is around 55.50 dollars (4,000 meticais) and ranges from 26.64 dollars (1920 meticais) to 1054.50 dollars (76,000 meticais), excluding the opening and closing ceremonies.Revenues should amount to 3.9 billion dollars (384.9 billion meticais)”
On the sustainability front, while tourists are expected to spend 2.9 billion dollars (311.9 billion meticais) on travel during the 19 days of the event, according to the Paris Tourism Office, the organisation has committed itself to the goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50% compared to the Tokyo Games. Another significant measure was the ‘social agreement’, signed with more than 2,000 employers and trade unions, based on offering exemplary working conditions and social diversity and inclusion.
The revenue and spending champions
Another study, by the Council on Foreign Relations, based on historical data from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) until 2020, reveals that revenues have been growing with each edition, especially those from television broadcasts. In terms of costs, the most expensive Summer Games ever were in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, which were also the champions of the biggest budget overruns. They were followed by London (2012), Tokyo (2020) and, surprisingly, Barcelona (1992). The Paris Games, as yet only officially estimated, are already the fifth biggest spender.
Jaime Fidalgo
