Sunday, July 29, 2012

An Olympic Capital Budget

While it may come as a surprise, even the Olympics can be viewed as a capital budgeting project. And the London Olympics could have had better financial planning. The 2012 Summer Olympics cost London nearly $15 billion, or about five times the original estimate. London gets repaid with broadcast dollars, and the broadcasters get repaid with sponsors' advertisements. Whether the sponsors actually receive a return on investment is more difficult to calculate.