No Public Money for Olympics

Los Angeles is set to break even on the Olympics.

LOS ANGELES—Even with an $11 billion in economic output and tens of thousands of jobs, the Olympic Games aren’t a guaranteed win for the City. In fact, the cost of the Olympics is so significant, it is often a burden for the host city. However, Los Angeles is in luck. With little to no new infrastructure needed and the promise that no public money will be used, the City of Los Angeles will likely break even after the Olympics.

“There is a benefit to the local economy and it is measured in billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs that will be created,” Robert Kleinhenz, executive director of research at Beacon Economics, tells GlobeSt.com. “There are some true economic benefits. The question is: will the Olympic Committee be able to meet the cost [of the Olympics] with these benefits to at least break even. They have promised to do so, and that was one of the hallmark achievements of the 1984 Olympics. They have created a way to cover all of the costs, and that would be the best way to determine if this would be a net benefit.”