Hosting the Olympic Games
The Real Costs for Cities

Hosting the Olympic Games reveals the true costs involved for the cities that hold these large-scale sporting events. It uncovers the financing of the Games, reviewing existing studies to evaluate the costs and benefits, and draws on case study experiences of the Summer and Winter Games from the past forty years to assess the short- and long-term urban legacies for host cities.

Written in an easily accessible style and format, it provides an in-depth critical analysis into the franchise model of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and offers an alternative vision for future Games. This book is an important contribution to understanding the consequences for the host cities of Olympic Games.

1. Setting The Scene 2. The Olympics: Past and Present 3. Financing the Games 4. Bidding 5. Rising Costs 6. Costs and Benefits 7. Urban Legacies 8. Alternatives to Event Capture A Guide to Further Reading.

John Rennie Short is a Professor in the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA. His research interests include cities, history of cartography, and geopolitics. He has published widely in a range of journals and is the author of 47 books. His work has been translated into Chinese, Czech, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish. His essays have appeared in Associated Press, Business Insider, Citiscope, City Metric, Market Watch, Newsweek, PBS NewsHour, Quartz, Salon, Slate, Time, US News and World Report, Washington Post, and World Economic Forum.