The Paris Olympic Games are fast approaching. Such an event is synonymous with billions of euros of budget. And the amount is only increasing.
How much will the Paris 2024 Olympic Games really cost? The event obviously requires a considerable budget. In a recent interview with BFM TV given on April 15, 2024, Emmanuel Macron estimated the amount currently spent by the State at 2 billion euros. But according to him, it is an investment that will pay off quickly. It envisages, in fact, 6 billion euros in economic benefits. The president assured that this will cost the French nothing or little, because these costs would be covered by tax revenues and the infrastructure is intended to be sustainable. “The Games are financed by the Games,” summarized the Head of State.
However, his calculation is not unanimous. Pierre Moscovici, president of the Court of Auditors, rather targeted between 3 and 5 billion euros in spending of public money, as he declared on France Inter. He also assured that, despite everything, the impact of the Games on the public debt would be “moderate”. But not zero. In particular, there will be the cost of security to take into account. The latter tends towards an increase, given the current terrorist threat. Bonuses were also promised to the police forces mobilized during this period. According to France 24, additional costs for security could be around 2 to 3 billion euros.
The total amount spent on the Games is therefore significantly larger. How much are we talking about? The first estimate for the total budget of the Olympic Games was made at 6.8 billion euros. The amount has since exploded and seems to be getting closer and closer to the 10 billion mark. According to Capital, the bill would currently be around 9 billion, but everything has not yet been taken into account. In addition to the 2 billion of public money, the private money of sponsors is estimated at 1.2 billion, the investment of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also at 1.2 billion and the ticket office should bring in 1.4 billion. These sums are absorbed by the 4.4 billion euros necessary for the organizing committee of the Paris Olympics (COJOP) to rent the Stade de France, pay the security agents, welcome all the delegations, prepare the opening ceremony .
An almost equivalent sum, almost 4 billion, is necessary for Solidéo, the company delivering the Olympic works, which includes all the development of the Games (Olympic village, aquatic center, arena at the chapel door, etc.). ). Even if all these figures may seem exorbitant, the 10 billion mark has already been crossed several times during previous editions. In Tokyo in 2020, the Games cost around 12 billion euros, like in London in 2012.
The real budget for the French edition will only be revealed in the report from the Court of Auditors scheduled for fall 2025. And the calculations will also make it possible to establish returns on investments. With regard to public money, and therefore the money of French taxpayers, it will be necessary to verify in particular that the 3 to 5 billion public euros invested have indeed generated as much revenue for the State coffers. If this is indeed the case, as the Head of State assures us, the Olympic Games will indeed have cost the French nothing.