Over the last decade, the number of cities interested in applying for the Olympics has dropped dramatically. Compared to the boom of the 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium - following the positive experiences of Los Angeles 1984 and above all of Barcelona 1992 - there has been a steady decline which has involved, in particular, countries governed by liberal democracies, where the influence of public opinion is greater. The reasons for this decline in interest are many. With some simplification, it can be said that with full transition to professionalism, Olympic rhetoric has lost effectiveness, while the level of sport professionalism and its spectacularization have risen remarkably. For the IOC, for companies and for media, the organization of the Games has become a business that has imposed ever-higher standards and, consequently, increasing costs. Despite the greater involvement of the private sector, however, it is always the government of the organizing country which, ultimately, is the guarantor to cover all possible expenses. As a result, knowing that they can still count on government support, private individuals do not take the risk of doing business and in this way ‘the public pays more, thereby taking on more of the risk. And the IOC plays a unique role in unilaterally imposing strictures on Games organizers, rendering neoliberalism’s deregulation a myth’ (Boykoff 2016: 195). Moreover, as Andrew Zimbalist has shown in a study on the economic impact of the latest mega-events on job creation “In sixteen cases, the games were found to have no statistically significant effect on employment or income, in seven cases a modest positive effect on income or short-run employment was found, and in three cases a negative effect on income was found” (Zimbalist 2015: 38). If we add that the planned costs tend to grow exponentially after the allocation and that wasting and corruption should be taken into account, it is easy to explain why in countries where the economy is not growing strongly the organization of an Olympics is seen with distrust.

The legacy of great sports events in Italy. Historical-political excursus and sociological considerations

ESPOSITO, Maurizio
2017-01-01

Abstract

Over the last decade, the number of cities interested in applying for the Olympics has dropped dramatically. Compared to the boom of the 1990s and the beginning of the new millennium - following the positive experiences of Los Angeles 1984 and above all of Barcelona 1992 - there has been a steady decline which has involved, in particular, countries governed by liberal democracies, where the influence of public opinion is greater. The reasons for this decline in interest are many. With some simplification, it can be said that with full transition to professionalism, Olympic rhetoric has lost effectiveness, while the level of sport professionalism and its spectacularization have risen remarkably. For the IOC, for companies and for media, the organization of the Games has become a business that has imposed ever-higher standards and, consequently, increasing costs. Despite the greater involvement of the private sector, however, it is always the government of the organizing country which, ultimately, is the guarantor to cover all possible expenses. As a result, knowing that they can still count on government support, private individuals do not take the risk of doing business and in this way ‘the public pays more, thereby taking on more of the risk. And the IOC plays a unique role in unilaterally imposing strictures on Games organizers, rendering neoliberalism’s deregulation a myth’ (Boykoff 2016: 195). Moreover, as Andrew Zimbalist has shown in a study on the economic impact of the latest mega-events on job creation “In sixteen cases, the games were found to have no statistically significant effect on employment or income, in seven cases a modest positive effect on income or short-run employment was found, and in three cases a negative effect on income was found” (Zimbalist 2015: 38). If we add that the planned costs tend to grow exponentially after the allocation and that wasting and corruption should be taken into account, it is easy to explain why in countries where the economy is not growing strongly the organization of an Olympics is seen with distrust.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11580/64619
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