Quote Originally Posted by Anal_Hershiser View Post
Quote Originally Posted by JUSTIFIEDhomicide View Post
I didn't even know Olympic bids existed. I thought they just randomly picked them out of a hat, or had a committee that decided on where they would be played. My disclaimer from the start is that I have no clue about all of this, and it's genuine curiosity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bids_for_Olympic_Games

"National Olympic Committees select from within their national territory cities to put forward bids to host an Olympic Games. The staging of the Paralympic Games is automatically included in the bid.[1] Since the creation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894, which successfully appropriated the name of the Ancient Greek Olympics to create a modern sporting event, interested cities have rivalled for selection as host of the Summer or Winter Olympic Games.

Currently 43 cities (including repeats) have already successfully hosted, or will host, official Summer or Winter Olympics - this is since its resurrection in 1896: one in Central America, one in South America, two have been hosted in Australia, six in East Asia, ten in North America and the rest in Europe. Currently, no Continental African, Central Asian, Middle Eastern/Western Asian, Caribbean, South East Asian, Pacific Island or South Asian city has ever been chosen to host an Olympics. Furthermore, the Winter Olympics have never been hosted south of the Equator.

Typically, the decision is made at an IOC Session approximately seven years prior to the games; for example the 2012 Summer Olympics were awarded to London on 6 July 2005, the 2014 Winter Olympics were awarded to Sochi on 4 July 2007, the 2016 Summer Olympics were awarded to Rio de Janeiro on 2 October 2009, and the 2018 Winter Olympics were awarded to Pyeongchang on 6 July 2011."

Notice how often they use the word "awarded"? It's a huge deal with tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars at stake.

Has anyone here been to the Olympics before? Do they have Olympic hosted concession stands like you would at a ball game, or is everything done independently?

I understand how big of an economy boost it would be to have the Olympics in your city. I guess my question is: Do the Olympics make money? If so, who are "The Olympics"? Is it an actual business?