举办一场奥运会的成本至少要100亿美元，实现盈利是不可能完成的任务吗？倒也未必。

里约奥运如火如荼，每届奥运成本花销（the costs behind the Olympic Games）的讨论不在少数。

经济学家罗伯特·巴德和维克托·马西森进行了一个调查，得出以下数据（numbers are collated by economists Robert Baade and Victor Matheson）：

?Every host of the summer Olympics from Seoul in 1988 to Rio in 2016 has spent many billions of dollars on the games.

从1988年的首尔奥运会到2016年的里约奥运会，每一届夏季奥运会的主办方都在奥运会上投入了数十到数百亿美元。

?The cheapest by some margin was Atlanta in 1996, which cost the equivalent of $3.6bn in today's money.

成本最低的一届夏季奥运会是1996年亚特兰大奥运会，花了相当于今天的36亿美元。

?The most expensive was Beijing in 2008, a national vanity project that cost an astonishing $45bn.

最昂贵的一届夏季奥运会是2008年北京奥运会，这个国家形象工程花费了惊人的450亿美元。

?A reasonable assumption is that today it costs at least $10bn to host a summer Olympics—the last to be cheaper was Sydney in 2000.

合理的假设是，现在要举办一届夏季奥运会至少要花100亿美元——上一次成本低于100亿美元的奥运会还是2000年悉尼奥运会。

Given likely costs of more than $10bn, an Olympic Games is all but guaranteed to lose money.A host city might expect roughly $4bn in revenue：$1bn from ticket sales, $1bn from sponsors, $1bn from local broadcast rights and $1bn as a share of the International Olympic Committee's global broadcast deals.

成本很可能超过100亿美元，举办奥运会几乎肯定是赔钱的。主办城市也许可预期获得差不多40亿美元的收入：10亿美元来自门票收入，10亿美元来自赞助商，10亿美元来自当地转播权，10亿美元来自国际奥委会（IOC）的全球转播协议收入分成。

Fireworks are seen over the Maracana stadium in Rio during the opening ceremony

实现盈利是不可能完成的任务？到底如何能让收支相抵呢？

除了“弄虚作假”（fudge them）外，英国《金融时报》专栏作家蒂姆·哈福德给出三项建议：

? First, make sure the games take place during a recession, so that the spending can boost aggregate demand.Rio did get this one right but, of course, nobody can forecast recessions eight months ahead of time, let alone eight years.

首先，确保在经济衰退时期举办奥运会，这样举办奥运会的支出就能提振总需求。里约满足这一点，但是，当然了，没有人能够提前8个月预测衰退，更不必说8年了。

? Second, be a hidden gem, so the games serve to spotlight your qualities and boost tourism for many years afterwards.Rio, London, Beijing, Athens and Sydney hardly qualify here but Barcelona did.

其次，想要举办一届划算的奥运会，举办城市必须是鲜为人知的宝地，这样就能让全世界看到这个城市的种种美妙之处，并在举办之后的许多年里持续提振当地的旅游业。这一条里约、伦敦、北京、雅典和悉尼都基本不符合，巴塞罗那倒是符合。

National Stadium in Beijing

In 1990 the city was half as popular as Madrid with tourists but, by 2010, it had outstripped its rival.Utah, similarly, enjoyed greater success as a destination for skiers after the Salt Lake City winter games.

1990年巴塞罗那的旅游热门度只有马德里的一半，但到2010年，这座城市已经超过了马德里。类似的，在盐湖城冬季奥运会之后，犹他州也吸引了更多滑雪者到来。

? Third, and most importantly, launch a cut-price bid in the wake of a disastrous games.Los Angeles in 1984 achieved the near-impossible and turned a profit because, after the ruinously expensive Montreal event of 1976, LA was the sole bidder for the games.They were hosted in the Los Angeles Coliseum, an ageing stadium that had been second-hand even when it first hosted the Olympics in 1932.

第三点，也是最重要的一点，在一届灾难性奥运会后削价申办。1984年的洛杉矶奥运会完成了盈利这个近乎不可能的任务，就是因为在1976年蒙特利尔举办了一届成本高昂得可怕的奥运会后，洛杉矶是那一届奥运会唯一的申办城市。那届奥运会在洛杉矶纪念体育场中举办，那个年头久远的体育馆即使是在1932年首次承办奥运会的时候就已经不是崭新的了。

词汇总结

aggregate demand总需求量;累积总需求

First, make sure the games take place during a recession, so that the spending can boost aggregate demand.

首先，确保在经济衰退时期举办奥运会，这样举办奥运会的支出就能提振总需求。

all but几乎， 差不多;除了…之外（都）

Given likely costs of more than $10bn, an Olympic Games is all but guaranteed to lose money.

成本很可能超过100亿美元，举办奥运会几乎肯定是赔钱的。

hidden gem隐藏的宝石；沧海遗珠

Second, be a hidden gem, so the games serve to spotlight your qualities and boost tourism for many years afterwards.

其次，想要举办一届划算的奥运会，举办城市必须是鲜为人知的宝地，这样就能让全世界看到这个城市的种种美妙之处，并在举办之后的许多年里持续提振当地的旅游业。

outstrip[?a?t?str?p]

vt.超过，越过；优于，胜于；做得比…更好；跑过，逃脱

In 1990 the city was half as popular as Madrid with tourists but, by 2010, it had outstripped its rival.1990年巴塞罗那的旅游热门度只有马德里的一半，但到2010年，这座城市已经超过了马德里。