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PyeongChang should assess value of hosting Olympics: IMF report
By Kim Young-gyo
HONG KONG, March 15 (Yonhap) -- PyeongChang, the South Korean bidder for the 2018 Winter Olympics, should carefully assess the value of hosting the event, a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Monday.
"The economic and noneconomic value of hosting a major event like the Olympic Games is complex and likely to vary from one situation to another," said Andrew Zimbalist in the monthly publication called Finance and Development issued by the IMF.
"The bidders for the next Winter Olympics -- France's Annecy, Germany's Munich and South Korea's PyeongChang -- would do well to steer clear of the inevitable Olympic hype and to take a long, hard, and sober look at their regions' long-term development goals," the professor at the U.S. Smith College said in the March edition.
PyeongChang, an alpine resort county about 180 kilometers east of Seoul, said last week it has finalized its application file to be presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by Monday.
PyeongChang, which lost twice to Canada's Vancouver and Russia's Sochi in its previous Olympic bids, is now competing against the two cities in Germany and France for the 2018 Olympics.
The host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics will be selected at an IOC general meeting in July 2011 in Durban, South Africa.
According to Zimbalist, total revenue from the Winter Games averages US$2 billion to $2.5 billion, which is half of the average revenue for the Summer Olympic Games. He explained that the Winter Games have lower costs thanks to fewer participants, fewer venues, and less construction.
Close to half the money earned supports the activities of the international federations, the national Olympic committees, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) itself, he added.
The scholar also warned that projected budgets for staging the games have never been enough to cover actual costs.
"The 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, were initially budgeted at about $12 billion. The projected cost in late 2009 reached $33 billion of which $23 billion was from public sources," he said citing the U.S.-based Sports Business Daily.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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