Exclusive: Olympic Bidding Countries Should Focus Less On Monetary Gains says Reedie

Sir Craig Reedie, clinic Vice President of the International Olympic Committee, believes that any bidding cities should look beyond the pure monetary gains which comes hand-in-hand with hosting the Olympic Games. 

From its birth, LOCOG devised a strategy to balance the books, but the overall cost of the construction of the infrastructure has turned out at an estimated £8.5billion. 

Sir Craig, who will chair the 2020 Evaluation Committee, hopes that LOCOG will make a small profit to reinvest in British sport, but points out that the transformation of East London is priceless. 

“I’m not sure how you value that, except that it is the most enormous physical entity,” Sir Craig told iSportconnect. 

“I mean, one of the most contaminated and deprived parts of the city has turned into a magic place, so I’m not quite sure what value you put on that. But that’s what a city should understand, that cities frequently use the Games as a means of doing things to the city that otherwise wouldn’t be done unless the Games came.” 

The redevelopment of Stratford bears a striking resemblance to the change that occurred when the Commonwealth Games arrived in Manchester in 2002. 

Sir Craig said: “That happened for the Manchester bid, East Manchester was a most dreadful place, it was completely redeveloped and rebuilt on the basis of the Games. So it works for cities and countries of that kind of interest. 

“The organising committee should want to at least break even, but if it makes a surplus, that surplus can be invested in sport.”