Quote:
Originally Posted by
peter mcneil
Where else did you see it? There was absolutely no advertising at the venues or patches/advertising allowed on athletes clothes and gear. I don't think Greece is blaming the olympics ALONE for their financial problems and I don't think anyone in this thread is saying that but people are saying it seems to be a widely accepted fact that they did horribly on the games.
Calgary (I live here) lost money in the 1988 olympic games and nobody here disputes that. The city did try to cover up the loss and not include the infrastructure and venue construction costs on the balance sheets. If I remember correctly that amount was around 500 million and the city claimed a profit of about 150 million so it was a substantial failure financially. Since that time city officials have admitted it was a financial failure but considered a success in every other way for the city. Calgary also is not like Greece, this city is very wealthy and there were no other financial issues they tried to cover up with olympic losses, they just lied about the olympic financials period. Despite the finanacial loss which the city quite easily rebounded from everyone here was happy with the benefits from the games. The sporting infrastructure was great for the community, the Calgary Olympic Development Committee was founded and continues to be funded today. Many athletes (especially youth) have benefitted from this over the past 25 years including myself when I was a teenager.
Where did I see it? EVERYWHERE! I'm not just talking about the games themselves. During competition. For the last 3 months I haven't been able to read a newspaper, magazine, go to a grocery store, fast food restaurant, webpage without being bombarded with ads from national/international conglomerates "celebrating" the Olympics. I didn't watch one commercial, but I can tell you that Coke, Acer, GE, McDonalds, Omega, Visa, and Samsung are all Olympic sponsors. They MADE SURE I knew. There are many more that I can't remember off the top of my head, but I'm sure a quick google search will have the whole list. Thank God they are over so I don't have to see their constant bullshit.