With the opening ceremony less than a month away, Brazil’s Olympic Games have a cost overrun of $1.6 billion, according to a new study. The preliminary cost, which is running 51 percent over budget, is still modest compared to previous games, but comes at a time when Brazil is facing an economic and political crisis.
A new study from Oxford University’s Saïd Business School has analyzed the costs of the Olympic Games since 1960 and benchmarked the Rio 2016 Olympics against previous games.
“The billion-dollar-plus cost overrun on the Rio Games comes at a time when Brazil can ill afford it, given that it’s facing its worst economic and political crisis since the 1930s. The state of Rio de Janeiro is particularly hard hit by the recession,” said Professor Bent Flyvbjerg, lead researcher of the study.
