This text is all about the cost of the London Olympic Games and the next stage in its legacy. The Financial English that you should learn to improve your Business English vocabulary is highlighted in bold and explained in the Vocabulary glossary below.
The 2012 London Olympics was spectacular by anyone’s standards. The organisers created an unforgettable event with a wonderful atmosphere. They also built and adapted some amazing facilities which helped combine traditional and modern London.
Lets talk money
The original budget for the games was set in 2007. It was almost four times the estimated cost of the London 2005 bid. The higher price was when VAT, security costs, and regeneration costs were included.
The Beijing 2008 games had been extremely expensive. So, when the financial crisis started British tax payers began to worry. Some people even talked about cancelling the games. They were scared that the games would cost too much, the organisers would go over budget and possibly bankrupt the nation.
Now it is all over, the Department for Culture Media and Sport has released some interesting information about the financial side of the games. Originally, it had been forecasted to cost £9.3bn but in the end only £8.92 billion was needed. That means that the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics combined were £377m under budget. That’s an incredible saving.
Where did all the money come from?
A quarter of the Olympic money came from the Organising Committee’s own £2.2bn operational budget. It was generated from sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandise and the rest came from the actual International Olympic Committee.
Another £3bn was for the running of the games itself like security and ceremonies. This money came out of the public purse.
More savings were made by the Olympic Delivery Authority from the building of the facilities and reduced transport savings. This accounted for £1bn in saved money.
What’s next?
The Olympics may be over but not the legacy. The next challenge is to turn the Olympic Village apartments into almost 3000 homes for new residents and the East London site into the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The government says the saved money may still be needed though to cover any large costs to do with the revamping of the Olympic Park.
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FINANCIAL ENGLISH
- budget
- a set amount of money reserved for one purpose
- estimated cost
- the predicted price
- VAT
- Value Added Tax is added to products and purchases
- security costs
- the price of making something safe and protected
- regeneration costs
- the price of making something better
- to go over budget
- to spend more money than you have
- to bankrupt the nation
- to spend all the money a country has and more
- the financial side of the games
- a perspective to do with money
- forecasted
- predicted
- to be under budget
- to have spent less money than you had set aside
- public purse
- money raised through taxing people
- revamping
- making something better
