Beijing Olympics Costs Reportedly 10 Times Higher Than Projected

The Beijing Olympics could have been a logical ingredient in China’s recipe to grow its sports industry to $773 billion by 2025, but according to a new report, the Winter Games may have provided a much greater financial burden than originally thought.

The 2022 Winter Olympics could cost China more than $38.5 billion, according to Business Insider — 10 times higher than the nation’s previous estimate of $3.9 billion.

• China reportedly didn’t count “dozens” of expenses, as many were classified as “capital improvements” rather than official costs.
• For example, a $9.2 billion bullet train was apparently not counted.
• The nation also allegedly neglected to include the costs of safety measures for its notoriously strict COVID-19 bubble, as well as environmental costs.

This estimate would easily top that of several other Olympic Games. Tokyo paid about $13.6 billion for the 2020 Summer Games. London spent about $15 billion in 2012. Though it would still rank lower than the price tag for China’s Summer Games in 2008, which cost a whopping $42 billion.

Additional Complications

The report comes, of course, on the heels of several other controversies that threaten the Games’ reputation in addition to its bottom line.

COVID-19 already contributed to fewer media and no fans — and now, cases are reportedly rising. Several nations have organized diplomatic boycotts over China’s human rights violations. And fears of technology-based surveillance on Team USA have grown.