The Olympic Games are considered to be the world's foremost international sporting event with over 200 nations participating. It historically had the highest costs and expenses for the hosts, with the estimated cost of the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro being at approximately US$11.1 billion.
Sports-related costs since 1960 have been on average US$5.2 billion for the Summer Games and US$393.1 million for the Winter Games. The highest recorded total cost was that of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, costing approximately US$55 billion. The 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games experienced the biggest loss recorded at approximately US$2 billion.
Host City Contract principles set by the International Olympic Committee require host cities, National Olympic Committees, and Organizing Committees to assume full financial responsibility for staging the Olympic Games. The contract also requires legally binding financial guarantees from host governments, making public authorities ultimately responsible for covering any financial shortfalls incurred by the Games.
The current highest cost of hosting the Olympic Games was the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games, costing approximately US$11.1 billion. In order to meet the requirements set out by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Rio de Janeiro council had to invest heavily in building the necessary facilities/venues, and an entirely new subway line. The lack of a solid infrastructure to support these investments led to the council underestimating their costs by 25%.
The costs of hosting the Olympic Games can be classified into 2 categories: infrastructure and operational costs.
The costs of general infrastructure consist of preparing the necessary infrastructure to accommodate the influx of tourists and athletes in the host city. The International Olympic Committee requires a minimum of 40,000 hotel rooms available for visiting spectators and an Olympic Village that is able to house 15,000 athletes, referees, and officials.
Internal and external transportation facilities that can transport spectators into and out of the host city and from venue to venue are also required by the Committee. These requirements are often met through renovations to already-built facilities or construction of entirely new facilities. These facilities include train/subway lines, roads, and airports.
The host city is also required by the Olympic Committee to invest in sport-specific infrastructure that meets their requirements. Facilities must have specified minimum sizes and reach the specific seating and safety protocols which often require refurbishments or new construction, particularly less-used facilities such as natatoriums, velodromes and sliding tracks.
The Winter Games require high mountains, especially for the alpine events. Traditionally, there were requirements of fairly short distance between the host city and the alpine slopes, which often has made smaller cities to be chosen as winter host cities, such as Lake Placid, Lillehammer and Sochi. After 2012 when no democratic country bid for the Winter Games due to the high cost, a larger distance was accepted, allowing existing slopes to be used together with a large host city with more existing infrastructure, for example Milan at a distance of 410 km by road to Cortina.
Once the necessary infrastructure is put in place, the Olympics require a large amount of spending on operating costs throughout the duration of the Games. Historically, the most significant operating costs for the hosts have been in event management, organization and preparation of the opening and closing ceremonies, and increasingly in recent years, security.
In the event that an Olympic Games organizing committee generates a financial surplus, the distribution of that surplus is typically governed by agreements between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the local Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG), and the relevant National Olympic Committee (NOC). Following the Paris 2024 games, the Organising Committee reported a budget surplus after Games operations, and its agreement allocated portions of the surplus to the IOC, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), and towards sports development programs in France rather than retaining the surplus for the host government or city.
The table below lists the costs of hosting the Olympic Games. Due to the multitude of reporting methods, the table contains both the operating costs and total final costs (which include various infrastructure upgrades and security costs), as well as both known and not estimated figures. Net loss or gain are measured against the operating budgets. Intangible costs (such as to the environment and society) and benefits (through tourism) are not included here.