Wealthy Switzerland seeks to host low-budget Winter Olympics
Switzerland wants to host the first Winter Olympics spread across an entire country. It also wants to overcome historic opposition by proposing that the games be the cheapest on record.
Winter Games are usually held by a certain region or city, and they can be pricey. The 2018 edition held in Pyeongchang, South Korea, cost about $13 billion. Even back in 2002, Salt Lake City still spent $2.2 billion on the Games.
+ Can Switzerland host sustainable Winter Olympics?
But Switzerland’s sports federations voted unanimously on Friday to approve the local bid, clearing the way for a $1.6 billion proposal for the 2030 Games. Accounting for inflation, that would make it arguably the cheapest Olympics in history — and the most cost-effective since Los Angeles eked out a profit in 1984.
The bid marks a shift from governments spending billions on hosting Games as a show of power and urban renewal toward a more sustainable Olympics that’s focused on sport.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said he wants the Paris 2024 Games to be the cheapest in decades, with the state on the hook for just a quarter of the cost of the two-and-a-half week event.
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Report outlines details of possible Swiss 2030 Winter Olympics bid
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