The U.K.'s effort to “woo the 4,000 business leaders due to arrive in London" gathers pace today with the "opening of a ‘Make it in Great Britain’ exhibition at the Science Museum,” according to Brian Groom of the FINANCIAL TIMES. U.K. ministers on Thursday will “host a conference at Lancaster House, which has been converted into a ‘British Business Embassy’ for the duration” of the London Games. It will also “hold 17 industry-specific summits.” In addition, a “30-strong delegation of Chinese chief executives” is in the U.K. this week. Still, business leaders are “unsure whether the government’s ambitions for trade and investment can be achieved, mainly because of the difficulty of identifying which deals can be attributed to the Olympics” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/24). The FINANCIAL TIMES’ Burgess, Budden, Felsted, Thomas, Robinson & Blitz write under the header, “Retailers Fear Olympics Might Ring Hollow.” Optimism that the games “would generate a rise in economic activity, to offset the effects of the recession and the eurocrisis, has given way to scepticism as the opening ceremony creeps closer.” As August “looms, doubts are surfacing over how bright the Olympic halo effect might be” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/24).
NAME YOUR PRICE: In Boston, John Powers noted when London “becomes the only city to stage the Games three times," it will have spent nearly US$17B "amid the country’s worst recession in a century.” The price for the bid process alone -- an estimated US$30M -- "was more than 20 times the entire cost of staging the two earlier versions” (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/22). The WALL STREET JOURNAL’s Cassell Bryan-Low wrote when the Games end, the U.K. government aims "to build 11,000 homes and create 8,000 permanent jobs.” The plan marks “one of the largest urban regeneration efforts in years.” U.K. planners said that they were “aware of mistakes made at past Games and are intent on laying better plans for the long-term.” U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has said that transforming East London “has been built into the DNA of the Games, with 75% of all spending on the Olympic Park targeted at regeneration and renewal of the area.” London’s plan “calls for the urban revival to play out over two decades.” The Games “already have transformed the area in significant ways” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/21).
SALES PITCH: London Mayor Boris Johnson said, “I think the Olympics will prove to have been a successful investment.” He added the US$14.4B is “a lot of money and yes, it will take time before you see economic returns in east London on that scale.” Johnson: “But it will happen and there have already been very, very significant transformations to London that are of huge, huge benefit” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/21). The GUARDIAN’s Owen Gibson wrote the British government is “selling it as an investment in the future, promising a legacy for everything from tourism to inward investment.” Others remain “more sceptical, but most are looking forward to the sporting spectacle” (GUARDIAN, 7/22). In Cleveland, Tim Warsinskey writes London “has much to celebrate,” as the city in seven years “took a shovel to a historically gritty East End and built a new centerpiece, Olympic Park.” The Olympics have yet to begin, but London “is well ahead of the game” (Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 7/24).
LEGACY ON THE LINE: The GUARDIAN’s Andrew Rawnsley wrote the "legacy" of the Games is “only for those who are in love with white elephants.” The future of the Olympic Stadium “is still moot,” and the Olympic velodrome is “a handsome building for which no one can see a purpose after the Games.” There will be “some new housing in a previously derelict part of east London, but constructing an Olympic Park was a very expensive way of going about that” (GUARDIAN, 7/22).
