Who Pays for the Olympics?

The Olympic Games are a costly celebration of sport paid for by both private and public resources. A portion of money—on the order of one or two billion dollars—comes from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is a nonprofit organization that itself is funded through private sector revenue derived primarily from broadcast rights, marketing, and sponsorships. Host countries pay for remaining costs, often investing heavily in preparations such as transportation upgrades, venue construction, security, and day-to-day operations.

The IOC collects money through various avenues. Its largest source of financing is through the sale of broadcast rights, with global brands paying significant fees for exclusive television and marketing rights. These partners supply substantial financial backing and essential services that help make the Olympics possible, while benefiting from increased global visibility. The Olympic Partner program, a sponsorship initiative run by the IOC, is the second largest avenue of funding, bringing in billions of dollars from multinational corporations. The IOC also generates revenue from ticket sales and intellectual property licensing, though significantly less than through broadcast and marketing. In years between events, the IOC redistributes some 90 percent of its income to support the Olympic Movement.

Host cities typically shoulder the largest costs, however—often because they leverage the opportunity as host to make vast improvements in city infrastructure. Building or modernizing competition venues, creating housing for athletes and officials, expanding transportation networks such as roads and airports, and upgrading essential city infrastructure—including utilities and hotels—can collectively drive Olympic-related costs into the tens of billions of dollars. Costs are paid through a combination of taxpayer support, private capital, and government assistance.

For host cities, such ambitious planning, as well as costs associated with factors such as security, technology, and operations, explain why Olympic budgets often reach extraordinary levels. More than half of Beijing’s $45 billion budget for the 2008 Summer Olympics, for example, was spent on upgrades to transportation infrastructure, and about 85 percent of Sochi, Russia’s $50 billion budget for the 2014 Winter Olympics was devoted to new infrastructure. Indeed, most host cities face significant debt: Montreal took decades to pay off the debt for its 1976 Olympic stadium, and Rio de Janeiro has faced crushing debt since hosting the 2016 Olympics.