Cost to B.C. to Host Olympics Higher than Promised

[Spork]

Of course, the Sea to Sky is ridiculous to include. You could always include any costs spent to speed up construction, as these are incrementally related to the games, but I believe that they finished ahead of schedule?

I'm not sure if keeping the venues operating after the games has any relevancy, unless that means the costs associated with setting up and taking down their Olympics-related configurations. As well, I have no idea what the "infrastructure deal" is supposed to be.

At least we will finally get some truth in the media about the spending, and no the $3 billion, $5 billion, $7 billion that they've stated in the past.

The B.C. government promised that hosting the Olympics would cost $600 million, but CTV News has started crunching the numbers and it all adds up to much more than we thought.

The true cost is set to be revealed Friday morning, but initial calculations put the total at a minimum of $765 million:

* $310 million on venues and live sites
* $55 million to keep the venues operating after the games
* $100 million in security and medical costs
* $20 million on the Paralympics
* $36 million on First Nations and municipal legacies
* $79 million in contingency spending
* $165 million on an infrastructure deal with Ottawa

Finance Minister Colin Hansen acknowledged during a press conference Thursday that the cost could be even higher.

"The cost of leveraging the games was over and above that, and we will have a full accounting of that in this report tomorrow," he said.

That means the government could be considering other costs like operating pavilions in Torino and Beijing as part of the Olympic price tag.

Some, like NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston, believe the $37-million "You gotta be here" ad campaign that ran during the Games should also be included in the final tally.

"The ‘You gotta be here' campaign is, I think, more reasonably attributed to the Olympics, and it's also part of a political feel-good strategy," Ralston said.

Critics say the millions spent by crown corporations like ICBC, BC Hydo and the BC Lottery Corporation should also be included.

As for the $785-million upgrade to the Sea-to-Sky Highway: "If anybody wanted to include that in their definition of ‘Olympic-related' they're certainly welcome to do it, and that's why we set out the numbers," Hansen said.

"I think everybody has differing definitions."

The finance minister refused to hint at the final total, but did say it won't be more than $1 billion.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Mike Killeen

SRC: http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local..._100708/20100708?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

[mr.x]

Great to see this forum is now back open, odd how it was locked so quickly after the Games (though every topic is locked). You guys/mods couldn't even wait until the end of summer or even the end of year?


What B.C. and Canada spent on the Games was by far affordable, that is if you use the real numbers and some actual common sense on determining what's an Olympic cost and what's not.

Sensationalist dribble like the Province's headlines of "$6,000,000,000 OLYMPIC COST" on the front page artificially killed much enthusiasm for the Games in the years leading up.

Some, like NDP finance critic Bruce Ralston, believe the $37-million "You gotta be here" ad campaign that ran during the Games should also be included in the final tally.

"The ‘You gotta be here' campaign is, I think, more reasonably attributed to the Olympics, and it's also part of a political feel-good strategy," Ralston said.

It was a tourism ad, genius. It was on almost during every NBC commercial break.

That means the government could be considering other costs like operating pavilions in Torino and Beijing as part of the Olympic price tag.

That would be fair.

Critics say the millions spent by crown corporations like ICBC, BC Hydo and the BC Lottery Corporation should also be included.

Crown corporation budgets should be separate from government expenditures.

[dleung]

Stupidest campaign ever... anyone who was able to see the redundant you-gotta-be-here signs was, obviously, already "here".

[Spork]

Originally Posted by dleung

Stupidest campaign ever... anyone who was able to see the redundant you-gotta-be-here signs was, obviously, already "here".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrated_marketing_communications

[AlexYVR]

Originally Posted by dleung

Stupidest campaign ever... anyone who was able to see the redundant you-gotta-be-here signs was, obviously, already "here".

Yeah anecdotally I'm gonna have to call bullshit. I traveled quite a bit in the period directly following the big O and saw the BC ads in Boston, Vegas, and San Diego. Vegas in particular struck me as inspired - everyone there is on vacation and therefore likely to be traveling more often than your average bear. Plus, (this coming from an American, of course) there's absolutely nothing wrong with feeling proud of the place you came from - and those BC ads are certainly a great way to show off some of the spectacular parts of what we've created/what we cherish to the rest of the world.

So worth it.

[Yume-sama]

The "You Gotta Be Here" TV advertising campaign was all across Canada, and the USA, and supposedly quite successful.

[dleung]

Yeah I know, but after they do come here from all over, they don't need to be told again, lol

[ozonemania]

That ad campaign was just spectacular, in my opinion. I have also heard references about it being well-received, and well-utilized. It worked for locals too... I think some people fail to realize that it did have a positive impact on locals, who picked up on the positive reminders of what a beautiful corner of the world we live in, and sharing it with the world was something to celebrate.

It's so easy to nitpick after-the-fact, isn't it?

[deasine]

Whatever... no one cares how much it is now that everyone had a great time during the games.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by deasine

Whatever... no one cares how much it is now that everyone had a great time during the games.

loll...tell that to the Greeks.

But I couldn't agree more. And nearly all of us in this board know the actual costs of the Games, not the ones flung around in the sensationalist media. Like Expo '86, I truly believed we pulled off hosting an incredible Winter Olympic experience for locals, visitors, and the worldwide tv audience without sending ourselves to the poor house.


As for the "You Gotta Be Here" campaign, it was really worth its $38-million price. We advertised ourselves to the world just when they were paying attention to us. This was by far the most effective year to do such an advertising campaign. Of that $38M, something like $18-million was to NBC and apparently the Office episode with Dwight mentioning a visit to Vancouver and British Columbia was part of the campaign.

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by mr.x

We advertised ourselves to the world just when they were paying attention to us.

You mean when they were laughing at us?

[nova9]

Originally Posted by EdinVan

You mean when they were laughing at us?

seriously, get that stick out of your ass (figuratively now)

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by nova9

seriously, get that stick out of your ass (figuratively now)

It's called leftarded syndrome. If only it could be cured by a smack in the head.


Where are those leftarded idiots these days with their claims the CCTV cameras would still be around or that civil liberties would be taken away? or that this was going to be a police state with armed soldiers on every corner?

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by deasine

Whatever... no one cares how much it is now that everyone had a great time during the games.

"No one"? "Everyone"?

Do you know everyone?

[joeyedm]

it was only the brits and the ignorant russians who were laughing at us...so who cares

[WarrenC12]

Given the frantic state of the city, I think we should be very happy at the way things turned out. It was a great time, and we won't be paying for it forever. Everybody complained about the security budget, and the G20 eclipsed that in 2 days, and had more go wrong in that area.

[SpongeG]

global reported the 925 figure but than said but it was really anywhere from 4-7 billion blah blah blah

[madmigs]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

global reported the 925 figure but than said but it was really anywhere from 4-7 billion blah blah blah

Having the Olympics no doubt raised Vancouver's visibility in the world and increased national pride, but strictly from a financial/economic standpoint we may never know if the benefits outweigh the costs as it is hard to say what would have happened without it.

Also keep in mind that the approx 1 billion is just the province of BC's portion. As per http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100709/national/oly_bc_bills, it is estimated the fed's spent another 1.2 billion and CoV estimates it spend 554 million(not including its investment in the athletes village). Which adds up to about 2.75 billion for direct taxpayer costs.

And while I agree with what was said earlier that crown corporation expenditures should be separate from gov't expenditures, whatever the crown corps spent should be included in the total Olympics cost. Let's say they spent 100 million bringing total costs to 2.85 billion.

Add in sea to sky - 785 million and Canada line - 2.1 billion and now the total jumps to 5.75 billion. While both of these items will no doubt have been expenditures that needed to be done sooner or later, they were pushed up probably by many years due to the Olympics. And since the other infrastructure costs like the arenas, etc are including in Olympic costs(even though they are still being used after), should not these infrastructure costs also be included?

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by madmigs

Having the Olympics no doubt raised Vancouver's visibility in the world and increased national pride, but strictly from a financial/economic standpoint we may never know if the benefits outweigh the costs as it is hard to say what would have happened without it.

Also keep in mind that the approx 1 billion is just the province of BC's portion. As per http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100709/national/oly_bc_bills, it is estimated the fed's spent another 1.2 billion and CoV estimates it spend 554 million(not including its investment in the athletes village). Which adds up to about 2.75 billion for direct taxpayer costs.

And while I agree with what was said earlier that crown corporation expenditures should be separate from gov't expenditures, whatever the crown corps spent should be included in the total Olympics cost. Let's say they spent 100 million bringing total costs to 2.85 billion.

Add in sea to sky - 785 million and Canada line - 2.1 billion and now the total jumps to 5.75 billion. While both of these items will no doubt have been expenditures that needed to be done sooner or later, they were pushed up probably by many years due to the Olympics. And since the other infrastructure costs like the arenas, etc are including in Olympic costs(even though they are still being used after), should not these infrastructure costs also be included?

So many things wrong with this one post...somehow, every infrastructure project from 2003-2010 is an Olympic cost, as if a city of 2.2-million were to stand still and not build anything. But the Olympics came into town and we had to get our lazy asses off the chair and start building crap, right?

[Pinion]

*sticks head in sand*

Everything is wonderful... Everything is wonderful... Everything is wonderful...

The truth is no one cared about the Winter games before we hosted it, and they still don't. We paid over a billion dollars for two weeks of "feel good" nationalism. If it made you feel good, fantastic, but IMO it wasn't worth it.