Cost Of London Olympics Set To Increase By More Than US$2.7B

Cost Of 2012 London Olympics To Increase By US$2.76B

The cost of the 2012 London Games is set to increase by US$2.76B, and ministers will be “asked to increase the budget to about [US$9.19B] in the autumn after radical reappraisals of facilities, costs and the proposals for a lasting legacy” in the Lea Valley, where the Games will be held, according to Philip Webster of the LONDON TIMES. The extra cost will come from “funding the infrastructure for what will be effectively a new city from now, rather than leaving most of it until after the Games.” Also, the US$349.1M security budget “may have to more than double.” The estimated cost for the entire Olympics has been set at US$4.36B, with an extra US$1.84B of government money set aside for the Lea Valley. However, that estimate “will rise by at least another [US$2.76B] and possibly [US$3.67B]”
(LONDON TIMES, 7/6).

POLITICAL SUPPORT: In L.A., Alan Abrahamson writes British Prime Minister Tony Blair “may have revolutionized the Olympic bid process by lobbying intently for London in its successful quest” for the 2012 Games. Blair said, “From now on in I don’t think you will find the bids being done in anything other than a very, very professionally worked-out way, and obviously the fact that government stands behind it is an important part of that.” But Abrahamson writes Blair “stopped well short of advising U.S. officials to directly involve the president.” Blair: “Being the American president, you’ve got to work out –- and you work this out at the time –- whether having your president there helps or not.” USOC Chair Peter Ueberroth said, “I don’t know who is going to be our president in 2009 [when the host of the 2016 Games will be announced], but for us to win we need a new form of political support.” He added that London “would not have won without Blair’s enthusiastic backing” (L.A. TIMES, 7/7).