How about this partial solution for the Greek crisis and for economies worldwide: Give the Olympics back to Greece. Greece started the Olympics, let's give it back to them and save billions of yen in the process.
The Japan Times on July 9 reported that Olympic stadiums cost Atlanta ¥24.6 billion in 1986, Sydney ¥41.4 billion in 2000, Beijing ¥50.2 billion in 2008 and London ¥82.8 billion in 2012.
What did the Olympics cost Athens in 2004? A new roof for an existing stadium.
What are the Olympics set to cost Tokyo in 2020? ¥252 billion. And that is just for the stadium. Tokyo's whole infrastructure upgrade could cost ¥2.7 trillion.
We need to wake up to the fact that the current costs of hosting the Olympics are not worth the rewards.
Countries of the world, the next time the Olympic Committee offers you the possibility of hosting the Olympics, your best economic decision may very well be to decline. Give the Olympics back to Greece — forever.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.
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