The PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics cost an average of $10 million per hour according to the Korea Times Daily, lamenting that the Games’ main stadium will be demolished after the Games.
“Hosting the Olympics could be seen as an opportunity to upgrade the country’s infrastructure or to bring in more tourists from all over the globe,” writes Kim Hyun-bin, adding: “However, the event comes with a hefty price tag.”
The article continues: “Korea has spent $13 billion dollars to host the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics including $1.5 billion in erecting state-of-the-art stadia used for the 17-day sporting event… But after the Olympics many of the shiny new stadia will be left unused, becoming costly burdens to the host cities to maintain. Just the PyeongChang Olympic stadium alone cost $109 million to build.
“The 35,000 seat stadium will only be used four times during the event including the closing ceremony, slated for Feb. 25. But it is scheduled to be demolished after the Winter Games. PyeongChang, with a population of 40,000, will find it impossible to regularly fill and operate Olympic grade facilities, the reason why some of the stadia are scheduled to be decommissioned.”
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This story first appeared in the blog, The Sport Intern. The editor is Karl-Heinz Huba of Lorsch, Germany. He can be reached at ISMG@aol.com. The article is reprinted here with permission of Huba.