Should the Olympics be abolished?

[Meadmaker]

The Olympics had meaning in the days before international travel became easy, an era when athletes from different countries rarely competed against each other. But in our modern world, international competitions are an every day thing. We have a world cup ski circuit, which most skiers consider to be more important than the Olympics. We have an international track and field circuit. Gymnasts and figure skaters have official world championships tournaments every year, plus other international competitions. Soccer has its World Cup, which is far more prestigious than the Olympics. Basketball and ice hockey even have world championship tournaments.

There are only a few sports, mostly sports that few spectators pay attention to and therefore don't provide sufficient revenue to make international competitions economically viable, in which winning in the Olympics is considered to be winning the championship.

Probably the main beneficiaries are the athletes, who get to live for a few weeks in a sheltered, gender-integrated village. I've heard reliable reports of athletes bringing garbage bags full of condoms so that none of their fellow athletes would ever find themselves without one.

the general idea of your post is valid. But, technically, you are wrong. Every olympic sport hhas a world championship other than the olympics.

 

[DuvalHMFIC]

If that's true, then shouldn't there be sufficient financial backers to build a stadium without having to use tax dollars?

I just don't see government's proper role as forcing its citizens to invest in these things.

If the financial benefit is to the city getting more tax dollars from people visiting downtown, people coming from out of town and using hotels, eating at restaurants, why would financial backers want to do it? The money the city makes isn't so much from the actual stadium, it's from bringing people into the city and getting them to spend money around the city. Hotels, restaurants, airport, cabs, gift shops, bars, etc.

 

[AvalonXQ]

If the financial benefit is to the city getting more tax dollars from people visiting downtown, people coming from out of town and using hotels, eating at restaurants, why would financial backers want to do it?

Because the financial benefit isn't to the city government; it's to city businesses.

The money the city makes isn't so much from the actual stadium, it's from bringing people into the city and getting them to spend money around the city. Hotels, restaurants, airport, cabs, gift shops, bars, etc.

Exactly. Either the extra traffic is worth the expense, in which case individuals and companies who benefit will pay for it, or it's not, in which case they won't.

... unless businesses can cheat, by making the rest of us pay for it.

Business investment is not the government's concern; quite frankly they shouldn't have the income available to do crap like this. It's not their job.

 

[MG1962]

Business investment is not the government's concern; quite frankly they shouldn't have the income available to do crap like this. It's not their job.

However it is a governments job to create economic conditions to encourage business growth. A city that devotes resources to infra structure growth is going to be more successful than those that dont

 

[amensae]

..

You reply is better than what I was about to post. My only disagreement is that commercialism and professionalism have been a feature of the Olympics for decades.

But this made me laugh out loud...

It has gone too far, that and the use of professional athletes. You have NBA stars in basket ball and the Williams sisters playing tennis.

Of course, it’s only those darned Americans.
It’s a good thing we have Roger, Andy, Maria et al. to maintain the amateur integrity of Olympic tennis.

 

[DuvalHMFIC]

Because the financial benefit isn't to the city government; it's to city businesses.



Exactly. Either the extra traffic is worth the expense, in which case individuals and companies who benefit will pay for it, or it's not, in which case they won't.

... unless businesses can cheat, by making the rest of us pay for it.

Business investment is not the government's concern; quite frankly they shouldn't have the income available to do crap like this. It's not their job.

You're missing the point. Here in Florida at least, a lot of our city and state revenue comes in the form of sales tax. This is why we don't have a state income tax. So people spending money at those businesses DOES increase the government's money...by quite a lot. I'm at work or I'd find you the chart. I can't speak for other cities, but I know our stadium has been far and away a financial success vs. the tax dollars spent to build and renovate the stadium over the years.

Edit-Not to mention that having that stadium and the football team is THE reason AOL (ha ha now I know, but it was a big deal years ago), Modis, Prudential, Lender Processing, Fidelity National Financial, AT&T, Bank of America, Citibank, and the expansion of the Souteast Toyota Distributors (although they were here before the football team because of our port, but they expanded after the team came).

Before the football team came we were a smaller country town that was known for a military base and two ports. The city has grown a ton in the 17 years since we got the team, and there is no way that all of those new jobs would have been here without the prestige of a football team. Jacksonville didn't grow much more vs. the national average until we got a football team. Now in the last 17 years we have tripled our size, and our number of available jobs.

 

[Travis]

If that's true, then shouldn't there be sufficient financial backers to build a stadium without having to use tax dollars?

I just don't see government's proper role as forcing its citizens to invest in these things.

Different cities use different funding models.

Los Angeles and Atlanta both hosted the summer games with almost no government support. They accomplished this by using copious corporate sponsorship. This offended some who wished to keep commerce away from the games. Of course to do that you need a model like Athens and Beijing where almost everything was government funded and unfortunately left a bunch of useless white elephant facilities after the games were over.

I was a huge backer of the San Francisco bid to get the 2012 games. We understood the huge commitment but also understood the long term benefits. Infrastructure improvements, for example, benefit the host city decades after the games are gone.

 

[geni]

How could the Olympics be "abolished"? Who would abolish them? What would be the mechanism for this? The only way for the Olympics to end is if enough significant countries decided to stop participating and interest dwindles to an insignificant level.

Well the Swiss police could always conduct an investigation into the IOC which would probably finish it off pretty quickly.

 

[triforcharity]

Because the financial benefit isn't to the city government; it's to city businesses.
.

Which bring in more money for almost an entire month, which in turn pays more taxes. It's a win-win for everyone involved.

A few years back, I had a house in Atlanta. (Didn't live there, but was a rental property)

During the Olympics, I rented out that house for quite a large amount of money to an overseas family who was traveling. This allowed ME to in turn spend more money at the Olympic venue. It was a win-win.

Exactly. Either the extra traffic is worth the expense, in which case individuals and companies who benefit will pay for it, or it's not, in which case they won't.

... unless businesses can cheat, by making the rest of us pay for it.

Business investment is not the government's concern; quite frankly they shouldn't have the income available to do crap like this. It's not their job.

I disagree. If the government of a county can help create more income for the businesses in their country, I am all for it. I don't have the exact numbers, but I believe it all works out in the end.

 

[Andy_Ross]

I have never understood the snobbishnes about professional athletes. Just an excuse to keep the oiks down and let the ruling elite have the fun and glory.

Some sports are still just for the wealthy ruling classes, look at Rowing and Horse riding.

 

[DavidJames]

You should probably try it some time. It is an interesting experience. It is easy to demonize enemies when they are nameless faceless masses. That changes when you meet them face to face, share a drink, see them smile.

The sport at the Olympics is merely an excuse. An excuse to bring millions of people from all over the world together. Friendships, memories and opinions are forged during those times. Taken back to individual nations and expressed to wider audiences.

The Olympics is about celebrating humanity. It is about bringing us together celebrating what we have in common, and for a few short weeks distracting us from all that divides us.

This ^^

Not everything has to be about the bottom line.

Bravo, well said.

 

[WildCat]

If it were abolished how could we tell which country is the best in the world?

 

[AvalonXQ]

If it were abolished how could we tell which country is the best in the world?

Count nukes.

 

[lionking]

You should probably try it some time. It is an interesting experience. It is easy to demonize enemies when they are nameless faceless masses. That changes when you meet them face to face, share a drink, see them smile.

The sport at the Olympics is merely an excuse. An excuse to bring millions of people from all over the world together. Friendships, memories and opinions are forged during those times. Taken back to individual nations and expressed to wider audiences.

The Olympics is about celebrating humanity. It is about bringing us together celebrating what we have in common, and for a few short weeks distracting us from all that divides us.

Well said.

 

[Sam.I.Am]

As it has been pointed out, in most cities they end up with some long term benefits in addition to the short term bump in their economies and the resulting bump in sales tax revenues.

Montreal was a miscalculation and there were some lessons learned from it by the later host cities. Athens got it primarily based upon it being the original home of the games and not so much on the actual merits of the remaining infrastructure after the fact, I think this had a lot to do with it already being heavily reliant on being a tourist destination before the games so there wasn't a whole lot of room for growth in that direction.

However, if you look at the majority of cities that have hosted the Olympics (or have spent tax dollars to build large venues) they have at least broken even or, in most cases, have seen an overall increase in business (and the resulting jobs and taxes that those businesses generate) as a direct result of those venues. In addition there are the more intangible things like a perceived increase in the desirability to visit or live near those locations due to the availability of entertainment, restaurants and shopping that pop up around those venues for the events and then remain there long after the event is finished.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I dunno, people can say pretty things all they want about "bringing us together", but 99.99% of the time I just hear people asking if "we/our guy" won. 'Course, same thing happens with sports teams at the more local level.

 

[Sam.I.Am]

I dunno, people can say pretty things all they want about "bringing us together", but 99.99% of the time I just hear people asking if "we/our guy" won. 'Course, same thing happens with sports teams at the more local level.

I don't know about that. I felt a lot of sympathy for the Russian girl gymnast that probably cost her team the gold medal (even though "My team" won). I've been there (at a much lower level of course) and I know that she did her best at something that she probably had worked her entire short life for only to lose it in less than two minutes. The agony of defeat indeed.

 

[Meadmaker]

I have never understood the snobbishnes about professional athletes. Just an excuse to keep the oiks down and let the ruling elite have the fun and glory.

Some sports are still just for the wealthy ruling classes, look at Rowing and Horse riding.

I knew an Olympic rower. He was not a wealthy man.

Now horses, pretty much yes. The darned things eat a whole bunch.

 

[Kahalachan]

I dunno, people can say pretty things all they want about "bringing us together", but 99.99% of the time I just hear people asking if "we/our guy" won. 'Course, same thing happens with sports teams at the more local level.

"Did both teams have a good time?"
"Did all contestants smile?"

There's no suspense in that compared to "What was the score?" and "Who won?"

Just cause you want your side to win doesn't take away from your ability to respect the other side's skill and technique. In fact, a boring game is when one side dominates the other. So obviously winning isn't what matters most. It's fun and puts you on edge if your side actually almost loses.

 

[Beerina]

For me it's the commercialism this year. It hs gone too far, that and the use of professional athletes. You have NBA stars in basket ball and the Williams sisters playing tennis.

Wasn't the intent supposed to be ameteur competition. Corporate greed ruins everything.

Ironically that's a left over snottyism from the olden days when kings and lords took artists, and in some cases, athletes, in and would be their patron.

"That's the noble way -- a patron pays for you. A person doing it for money might as well be a street performer, AKA a drifter or gypsie, someone of the lowest class.

"It's just not done!"


Modern governments come along and do the same thing, loudly aping the nobility of it while decrying the low, low nature of the professional.

"It just isn't done!"


A few decades go by, and the bastardization that is communism makes their athletes professional all the while maintaining that, because it was communism, they weren't actually professional.

Even more disturbingly, they aped capitalism by dangling goodies in front of their athletes like nicer apartments for the families, dacha vacations, and letting them keep the stuff they bought in the west.

These carrots were doubly perverted as the system basically forbid people from bettering themselves this way normally.

So good riddance to the fraud of the amateur Olympic athlete. You were never the respect-deserving thing politicians, AKA modern patrons (with other peoples' money) claimed you were.

And the pro athlete was never the lowly street performer singing for his supper. It all changed this century.