Mega‐sporting events in urban and regional policy: a history of the Winter Olympics

Figures & data

The emergence of mega‐events as a tool of urban and regional public policy in the postindustrial city.

Comparison of the costs of staging the Summer and Winter Olympic Games, 1984–2002

Winter Games			Summer Games
	Cost	Cost per citizen of host city		Cost	Cost per citizen of host city
	$US million	$US million		$US million	$US million
Sarajevo, 1984	179	400	Los Angeles, 1984	412	121
Calgary, 1988	628	981	Seoul, 1988	3297	326
Albertville, 1992	767	38 350	Barcelona, 1992	9165	5578
Lillehammer, 1994	1511	65 695	Atlanta, 1996	2021	5129
Nagano, 1998	3412*	9451	Sydney, 2000	3438	929
Salt Lake City, 2002	1330	7628	Athens, 2004	–	–
*excludes speed train (Shinkansen) and highway network ($US8408 million). Source: Preuss [22]. Source: Preuss [22].

Comparison of sports facilities provided for the Winter Olympic Games of 1932, 1980 and 2002

Lake Placid, 1932	Lake Placid, 1980	Salt Lake City, 2002
Bob‐run (Mt Van Hoevenberg) – new construction	Luge and Bob‐run (Mt Van Hoevenberg) – renovated	Olympic Village
Cross‐country ski‐trails – 70 miles of new trails	Cross‐country ski‐trails	Olympic Stadium
Indoor Ice Arena (Main Street) – new construction	Indoor Ice Arena (Main Street) – renovated and new construction	Olympic Medal Plazza
Intervales Ski‐hill – extended	Intervales Ski‐hill – renovated	Media Center
Olympic Stadium – new construction	James B. Sheffield Speed Skating Oval – new construction on site of old Olympic Stadium	Judges' and Referees' Village
Olympic Village – new construction	Delta Center (Ice hockey and figure skating)
		Salt Lake Arena (Ice hockey and short‐track speed skating)
		Ogden/Weber Ice Arena (Women's Ice hockey)
		Oquirrh Park Oval (Speed skating)
		Cottonwood Heights Ice Arena (Curling)
		Mountain Dell Park (Biathlon, cross‐country and Nordic skiing)
		Winter Sports Park (Bobsleigh, Luge, Nordic combined Ski jump)
		Park City/Deer Valley Ski Areas (Alpine skiing and freestyle)
		Snow Basin ski area (Alpine skiing)
Source: Various [106].

The number of bids to stage the Winter Olympics, 1924–2022. (Source: Olympic Almanac [103].)

Host centres of the Winter Olympic Games, 1924–2006. (Source: IOC [107].)

Population size of host centres of the Winter Olympic Games, 1924–2006. (Source: Population Statistics [104].)

Expenditure on the organization and non‐Olympic urban development of the Winter Olympic Games, 1924–2006 (values $US 1982–4). Dark‐shaded bar represents organisational costs and the light‐shaded bar non‐Olympic infrastructural costs. (Source: Official Reports of the Organizing Committees (1924–98); data for 1976–92 and for 2002 from IOC [77] and Salt Lake City Bid Committee [106], respectively. Conversion from host currency into US dollars used Officer [44] and was standardized using US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics [44].)

Funding models of the Winter Olympic Games, 1924–2006. (Source: Official Reports of the Organizing Committees (1924–98); data for 1976–92 and for 2002 from IOC [77] and Salt Lake City Bid Committee [106], respectively.)

Cost of television rights for the Winter Olympic Games, 1956–2006. (Source: Olympic Almanac [103].)

Scale of the Winter Olympic Games and phases in the evolution of the event, 1924–2006.

Changes in the scale of the Winter Olympics, 1924–98

Phase	Countries	Sports	Events	Athletes	Spectators
1924–32	16–25	5–6	14	252–464	10 044–78 310
	(19)	(5)	(14)	(325)	(127 736)
1936–60	28–32	6–7	17–27	665–820	59 037–561 438
	(30)	(6)	(22)	(703)	(312 02)
1964–80	36–37	8	34–38	1006–1158	337 731–732 726
	(36)	(8)	(36)	(1090)	(529 978)
1984–98	49–67	7–10	39–68	1274–1801	433 784–1 338 199
	(59)	(9)	(54)	(1559)	(974 256)
Figures refer to range (with mean in brackets)

Ratio of athletes to personnel involved in the Winter Olympic Games

Personnel	Cortina D'Ampezzo, 1956	Albertville, 1992
Athlete	1	1
Performers (Ceremonies)	0	2
Reporters	0.4	4
Security	1.3	5
Volunteers	not available	5
Staff	2	10
Source: Various [105]