section_path: Modern Games/Cost of the Games
section_name: Cost of the Games
paragraph_text: Cost of the Games
  
  The Oxford Olympics Study 2016 found that, since 1960, sports-related costs for the Summer Games were on average US$5.2 billion and for the Winter Games $3.1 billion. These figures do not include wider infrastructure costs like roads, urban rail, and airports, which often cost as much or more than the sports-related costs. The most expensive Summer Games were Beijing 2008 at US$40–44 billion, and the most expensive Winter Games were Sochi 2014 at US$51 billion. As of 2016, costs per athlete were, on average, US$599,000 for the Summer Games and $1.3 million for the Winter Games; for London 2012, the cost per athlete was $1.4 million, and the figure was $7.9 million for Sochi 2014.
  
  Where ambitious construction for the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow had burdened organisers with expenses greatly in excess of revenues, Los Angeles strictly controlled expenses for the 1984 Summer Games by using existing facilities and only two new that were paid for by corporate sponsors. The Organizing Committee led by Peter Ueberroth used some of the profits to endow the LA84 Foundation to promote youth sports in Southern California, educate coaches and maintain a sports library. The 1984 Summer Olympics are often considered until that date, the most financially successful modern Olympics and a model for future Games.
  
  Budget overruns are common for the Games. Average overrun for Games since 1960 is 156% in real terms, which means that actual costs turned out to be on average 2.56 times the budget that was estimated at the time of winning the bid to host the Games. Montreal 1976 had the highest cost overrun for Summer Games, and for any Games, at 720%; Lake Placid 1980 had the highest cost overrun for Winter Games, at 324%. London 2012 had a cost overrun of 76%, Sochi 2014 of 289%.
  
  It has been documented that cost and cost overrun for the Games follow a power-law distribution, which means that, first, the Games are prone to large cost overruns and, second, it is only a matter of time until an overrun occurs that is larger than the largest to date. In short, hosting the Games is economically and financially extremely risky.
  
  The final cost for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was reported to be JPY 1,423.8 billion (US$13 billion). This was achieved by balancing revenues and expenditures through various efforts to increase revenue and continuously review expenditures. The primary sources of revenue included the International Olympic Committee (IOC) contribution of JPY 86.8 billion (US$0.8 billion), TOP sponsorship of JPY 56.9 billion (US$0.5 billion), local sponsorship of JPY 376.1 billion (US$3.4 billion), an insurance payout of JPY 50 billion (US$0.5 billion) for the postponement of the Games, and other sources including licensing. The expenditures included JPY 195.5 billion (US$1.8 billion) for venue-related costs and JPY 444.9 billion (US$4 billion) for service expenditures. The total cost also accounted for COVID-19 countermeasures amounting to JPY 35.3 billion (US$0.3 billion). Despite initial estimates, the total costs were reduced by JPY 220.2 billion (US$2 billion) from the budget announced in December 2020, and JPY 29.2 billion (US$0.3 billion) from the estimated budget in December 2021. This successful financial management resulted in a balanced budget for the Tokyo 2020 Games.