Is it worth £3.3 BILLION to hold the OLYMPIC GAMES in London

[JoolsToo]

here

Just pondering where that amount of money could be better spent

Preventing hospital departments being closed down
Herceptin and other cancer drugs
Education
etc etc

What I find a little bit irritating is how much of the total 8 billion is going to be spent on regenerating the East End.

As previous posters have pointed out, London is already overheated - and prices in E London have already rocketed. The last thing the local people need is a load more city bankers bed and breakfasting on their doorstep. Who does this benefit - most likely property developers and speculators?

Meanwhile other areas of the country could desperately benefit from this sort of investment into infrastructure.

It seems to me that London gets everything like this - remember Wembley? London is already by far the richest place in the country, yet the government continues to pour investment here.

BTW I live in London, and I love the place. I just despair of the govt and media being so wholly biased towards here.

Yes agree GQM, London definitely doesn't need this. Should have gone to 'racetrack-Brum' or 'shootemup-Notts'.

its a penis waving competition IMO

Well my dd2 would like to be in the Olympics and is quite excited about 2012 in London, however, she doesn't have a penis, so where does that leave her?

But, I don't think it is worth the money, I think it should have been in a city other than London, but I am glad that I don't have to pay extra council tax to fund it. Birmingham (where I live) is desperately trying to get some money to rebuild that black hole called New Street Station, but it appears not to be getting anywhere - yet £3 billion for London - wow. Labour seems very short sighted = the Millenium Dome was £750 million wasted and now they want to waste another £3 billion in about 4 - 6 weeks in 2012. Words fail me.

I live in London and I don't want it. I REALLY don't want it.

Oh and re compartmentalised spending and how it couldn't have been spent any other way...well it could. A friend of mine works in heritage and her organisation (which works to save old buildings a la that programme with Griff Rhys Jones) was told by Tessa Jowell that they could whistle for money as it was all going to the Olympics. Heritage Media and Sport is the department - or just Sport as it is now.

YES.

I'm so overwhelmingly proud that we won that bid, and I dont' think that the benefits are financially quantifiable....there will be massive sponsorship and investment in sport, a generation will be inspired (our children).

I'm so glad that ds will be of an age to really feel the excitement of this.

Whilst I prefer watching the Olympics to football I would have rather seen us host the Wrold Cup tbh. It is our most popular sport, would have been done nationally and would have cost a fraction of the Olympic bid. It would still have given us the feel good factor - probably more so as the only time we won previously was when we hosted. It is not as if we're going to head the medals table just because we're Olympic hosts.

Have you any evidence that previous Olympics anywhere in the world have led to more participation in sport long term by ordinary people? All the evidence I have seen says not.
So if that's the case...is it still worth £3BILLION and the loss of the Hackney Marshes playing fields and green space?

I agree it is quite inspirational for children - my dd is working really hard at her chosen sport because she has worked out her age and how she coudl possibly do it. However, they are such a tiny minority of children involved and I wonder if the money could be better spent on improving sports facilities across the country. My dd swims and the number of Olympic size swimming pools in this country could be counted on one hand. So London will end up with fabulous facilities, but what about the rest of the country? In Birmingham we are faced with pool closures.

But 'London' is a big place. A swimming pool in Stratford is about as much use to me as a swimming pool in Birmingham, frankly. I agree. Swimming pools are being closed down in London at a horrendous rate, and I imagine it is the same all over the country. Playing fields have been sold off. What is the point of 'inspiring' people to do sport (if that is what happens, which I doubt) if there is nowhere to do it, except a giant white elephant in Stratford?

and it's not just "running" - there are 28 different sports, and 300 different events.

The number of tourists will rise dramtically - after all there are usually about 10,000 atheletes taking part - and many people will come to Britain to watch them.

Would you go half way (or even all the way) across the world - and not visit anything other than the one (well actually it's not "one") place where the events are taking place - or would you take, what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit some of the rest of the country??

i live in east london. it is marvellous that the olympics are coming here, something positive for us all. there are going to be loads of jobs, amazing opportunities for local people and, as custardo said, it seems pretty cheap to me.

oh and the football pitches are going to be resurfaced and reinstated directly after the games and its only part of them anyway.

and last time I checked - Old Trafford (one of the many venues) wasn't in London....and neither is the Millenium Stadium..

and this seems like a good opportunity for sports training grounds around the country to make some money even before the games - I should imagine any places in the UK which are used by one of the teams for training would employ extra staff to meet the high standards required.

And if you like volunteering (or perhaps have older children that do!) they could register there interest to be a volunteer at the games.

And if you want your children to soak up some of the atmosphere (or perhaps you do??) and really can't afford to save up for tickets (given that you've got 5yrs before they go on sale ) you can always go and watch some of the free events like the Triathlon, Marathon or Road Cycling.

very timely thread for me as the Doha Asian Games (asian olympics) kick off here in 8 days time. They have prompted a hell of a lot of infrastructure development here but bear in mind it was a desert before so we needed a lot building. It has been hugely beneficial for the economy - my business doubled overnight thanks to one of the sponsors, there are thousands of people employed by the Doha Asian Games Organising Committe, who have come here with kids meaning knock on effects for schools, hospitals, shops etc. Has it been good for Qatar? Undoubtedly. Companies have come here to do business because of the Games, Qatar has almost come of age as a result. Sports is a key part of the Qatari national health, research and political agenda.

However, on the downside - rents skyrocketed, prices for commodities have shot up, the traffic is horrendous and the risk of terrorist attack is very real in what is otherwise a very safe place.

London though - different story. Can the city accommodate so many more people? Don't be fooled for a moment that the people working for the Olympics will be locals - theres a whole community of Olympic professionals who travel from one event to the next. The associated jobs yes, but also lots and lots of volunteers will be drafted in. Rents will rocket and there'll be huge disruption and in the end, London will be much as it ever was.

OH and about the spectators.... the people who come in, the visitors, are athletes, media, sports officials from the countries, sponsor company workers, and a very very tiny number of fans. In Athens the stadiums were less than 40% full, here they give tickets away to anyone to get enough people for the cameras.

3.3 billion ha ha ha ha ha
Will be at least 12 by the time it's been held IMHO.
Not quire sure how much tickets/tv rights/advertising are going to be or hotels but in order for the economy to recoup...
Cannot see it
look at Greece it cost Greece 5% of their entire GDP to host Athens - that was 12 milion Euros
Inflation alone would see that cost soar.
How do you assess worth though?
the regeneration of many areas of London will definitely by a huge positive.

Have to agree with dara on this. I live about as far away from Stratford as it is possible to get and still live in London. The games will have very little impact on my family and certainly I cant see us ever benefitting in any way from them. Still have to pay out tho even tho we are struggling to live on what little we have.
Read in our local paper that one of our leisure centres may close as they can afford to run them all. thats gonna really help my dd do sports isnt it?

wasn't the millenium dome something this government inherited from the previous conservative government????

FWIW I thought it was quite a good concept. the crowds were poorly managed & the body zone (much hyped) was completely shite, but the rest was interesting, thought provoking & competitively priced.

The olympics are coming to the UK now, rather then all whinge about it, wouldn't it be better to make sure it actually works - or should we just say now-ooh sorry mistake - we can't do it now, but we've got a letter from our mum's is that okay?

Ah, I see the NIMBYS and BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone) are out in force.

Of course it will be worth it. The regeneration of that part of London would costs billions anyway so why not do it in parallel with one of the greatest sporting events in the world.

One should not be dismissive of this because of the intial high costs. The benefits, in my opinion will far outweigh the costs. I went to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and the benefits they reaped in terms of tourism, being at the centre of attention on the world stage, improvements in public transport, motivating the next generation to get involved with sports etc is incalculable.

With any luck, my niece will be taking part in the Olympics in 2012 and all the family will be there to cheer her on (she aspires to be a sprinter and is doing very well regionally).

No doubt when the country does start reaping the benefits of holding the olympics, the moaning NIMBYS and BANANAS will be first to complain about not personally receiving anything.

peoples' negativity about the olympics pisses me off more than I can express into words.

Yes it is worth every penny and then some.

This is the only time in ours, and probably our children's lifetime, that we will be able to witness an olympic games in our country. Have people no pride in that?

This will not just be for London - do you really think that people will come to the games and stay in London for the duration of their stay? of course they won't. They will branch out, and tourism will increase.

And of course it had to be London. London is our capital city fgs. Most people who come to the UK, and those who have never been to the UK, have heard of London. HAve they heard of, or is there anything worth seeing in Birmingham/manchester? No. Besides which, Manchester had the commonwealth games in 2002, so why shouldn't London have the Olympics.

Hotel prices have already been set - an agreement has been reached that they won't rise - I don't know what the rates are supposed to be, but am sure that there's a way to find out.

As for tickets - tickets will be made available to schools, so many children will be able to go and see the events as part of school provision. And those who say they won't be able to afford them, well you have 6 years to save - I think even the poorest of us could save for a couple of tickets in 6 years if we really wanted to go.

I know many people who were in Aus during the 2000 olympics. It was marvellous. People were positive, and had national pride - it's only in this country where all people can do is winge about bloody everything

I agree with custardo. It's easy to spend money when you're not actually the one spending it isn't it.

I couldn't have put it better myself wannaBe. Moan, moan, moan - fast becoming the most self-indulgent hobby in the UK.

I'm glad we won the bid. I agree with Soph, Custy and wannabe.

I think the Olympics will be great but,

"is there anything worth seeing in Birmingham/manchester?"

Yes, a hell of a lot