An overview of the economic impact of the Olympic games.
This paper examines how, for the organizers and advertisers of the Olympics, the event is much more than a series of sport competitions and how, from the moment the bid is placed to host the Olympics, host nations are vying companies for sponsorship, advertising, broadcasting rights, and merchandising rights. It looks at how the games have become much more than sporting achievements, but an opportune time to increase job opportunities and revenue for a country that prepares well in advance for a chance to host the Olympic games and all the visitors and athletes that will be visiting their shores. It analyzes how the Olympic games can make a positive impact on a country’s economy and how, in commercializing the games, the Olympics has turned into another money-making event for struggling economies and money-hungry countries.
Advertisers, as in the Super Bowl and World Series, are prepared to pay exorbitant prices for ad time during the Opening Ceremonies as well as significant events important to its viewers, i.e. basketball events and other events which feature prominent sport personalities. NBC acquired the rights to provide broadcast coverage of the Olympic Games for an 8 year period starting from 2000 in which they paid $3.6 billion for the rights (McClellan, 2003) and on top of their profits through advertising; the network stands to commercially gain beyond any Super Bowl or World Series.