The Olympics: A Broken Economic Model

[@naj114]

Take the average revenue of the past 3 Olympics which is $6bn. It is estimated 10,000 athletes compete at the games. You could pay the 10,000 athletes $10k each for appearance fee and it would cost $100m total, a mere 1.7% of the total revenue. But the people who control sport are greedy and that would never happen.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Crazy when you put it like that

[@limbeboy7]

10k for 2 weeks is nothing compared to what professional athletes make in 1 week

[@Astro2024]

You could pay each athlete 70k as a base and it'll still come down to about $700 million

[@katiespencer534]

@@limbeboy7in the UK, if you win a gold medal you get a salary of £28k per year - that’s really not the case for majority of athletes

[@elonmusksellssnakeoil1744]

The Olympics are too needlessly extravagant these days. It's a gigantic waste of money, and the more money is put into the games, the more the hosts need to make to recoup their investment, and that becomes more and more impossible when the cost is where it is today. It's the tendency for the rate of profit to fall in action. It is mathematically unsustainable.

[@echarts3710]

I remember Olympic bid process being very competitive; like London, Paris and New York fighting for 2012, or Tokyo and Istanbul for 2020. So when they announced Brisbane hosting 2032 in a random time during delayed 2020 Olympics, it felt a bit surprise but also showed how cities are getting less and less interested. There are some bids for 2036, but let's see will we see a competition for that.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Dude I remember the London bid, it went on for months and the celebrations when we landed it were massive. The IOC will be fine, they make too much money for them to be in any serious trouble, it's just fascinating to me how little interest there seems to be in staging atm

[@wydadiyoun]

I never understood why would only one city host most of the events. venues should be spread across the country just like football, surf or sailing

[@DisAstra-qx9gq]

I'm only speculating but imo, it's because all people from said nation stay together. If we look at the Munich incident as an example, the whole Israeli Olympic team were sleeping on the same wing n sharing rooms.

[@59DGO59]

It is actually spread across the country this year. Surf is in Tahiti in the pacific ocean, football is across the country, etc.

[@wydadiyoun]

@@59DGO59 that's what I said, just like football surf or sailing. They barely play basketball in Lille. Too much closed venues in a small area!

[@wydadiyoun]

@@59DGO59 for football it has always been across the country and surf also was outside tokyo

[@solb101]

Filming and travel and facilities etc. That would prove difficult.

[@kannanayagam6915]

When I was young , going to Olympic was my bucketlist , now I don't even notice Olympic events anymore

[@TCt83067695]

As an athlete?

[@Herz.Seele.Verstand]

I am with you except the sentence "none of these feel like olympic cities to me"! For me all you mentioned it can be a good olympic city, why not? What does it make to an olympic city? The idea of ​​the Olympic Games is based on promoting peace, friendship and international understanding through sporting competitions. So why not in these cities?

[@Abuqital2000]

Because they're not traditionally western 😂.

[@javasscript4561]

I wish cairo dakar and cape town can one year host

[@ngweso]

Olympic city = European city

[@CordeliaWagner1999]

Olympic Games are about Money and political Agendas.

[@gb2983]

Beijing?

[@messifcb101]

I agree with all the points apart from…” cities not feeling like Olympic cities” … in theory, every City brings its cultural history, which expands and enriches the nature of the Olympic community due to its unique contrast from previous ones …… so I really don’t know what he meant by that 😂

[@saramshagorkhali101]

yeah it's a pretty narrow minded thing to say.

[@theanniebannie]

I thought he meant they did not seem wealthy enough to hold the olympics

[@messifcb101]

@@theanniebannie regardless, that is still a wild statement because every country has a relative budget for this event….which is in billions lool

[@CykoruKun]

Yeah, that was so stupid of an argument that really it brought down the entire video for me. Istanbul would one of the biggest cities to ever host summer games. Santiago is almost as big as London. This is just some nothern hemisphere bias.

[@cynsledder]

Yeah that comment through me off as well. I can’t speak for the other two 2036 bids but Santiago hosted the Pan Am Games last year to what sounded like a resounding success. I genuinely believe that is a good precursor to hosting the Olympic Games.

[@brianwaldo2642]

I live in Canada and remember the 1976 Olympics hosted by Montreal. It ran way over budget and strapped that city with a debt that took 30 years to pay off. That’s just ludicrous. I think the 1984 Olympics in LA was the only city in recent memory to actually realize a profit. So, why on earth would any city want to risk financial ruin by hosting a product that is becoming more expensive and unpopular as time goes on?

[@ProsperNyawuza]

There's so much value crammed into one video. This channel is criminally under subscribed! Subbed!!!

[@scuuzuscheist]

Man these videos are too fkin good 😂 top top quality stuff, can’t wait for this ti get the recognition it deserves

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Supporter from the beginning. Thank you brother 🙏🏾

[@chrisgatehouse6842]

1. What does the IOC spend the money they generate on? 2. Do they disclose this information like companies on an annual basis with a breakdown on Committee Members salaries, expenses etc? 3. Why do we need High Profile Sports like Golf, Tennis, Basketball in the Olympics, they have their own prestigious tournaments? 4. The IOC should fund medallists a flat rate and not the individual bodies - let the individual bodies pay for things like coaches. training, development etc 5. Do the IOC fund developing nations if not why not? These are simply questions I thought of watching your video (great btw) it prompted me to ask questions as I have no idea (clearly) of how the IOC functions. Does anyone know? Keep up the good work Jordan.

[@giteausuperstar]

I am too lazy to do it myself but if you take the US team medal payout as an example and multiply it by the medals they won on the medal table from Tokyo you’ll have their total athlete winnings payout. Without crunching the numbers I can tell it’s a very small total figure, relatively speaking. We just had Wimbledon where the winner of then men’s and women’s both get £2.7m but the winner of the 100m at the Olympics is getting around £30-40k. That is shocking. There are far more people watching the 100m final at the Olympics than watching the final of Wimbledon.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Completely correct

[@Archway_Archie]

I always thought that the point of the games was competing just for the sake of it and national pride. My favourite sport, athletics, used to be completely amateur not so long ago. Tennis players don’t compete at the olympics for the money. Nor do the mega rich basketball players.

[@FisherAthleticFan]

@@Archway_ArchieThink that changed when the olympics basically became like the World Cup. Rare to find an amateur in the Olympics these days

[@Archway_Archie]

@@FisherAthleticFan Not true. Remember: sports like archery and synchronised swimming are amateur, as are many other Olympic sports. I get the argument that Olympic track and field stars should get paid because, let’s be honest, that’s the biggest sport at the games and it attracts the largest audiences. But don’t forget: the Diamond League pays the T&F stars well. All this money talk is a shame: the Olympics used to be about glory.

[@FisherAthleticFan]

@@Archway_Archie Archey is pro. The swimming one people make money as performances. The reason why it’s about money is because it’s not cheap to travel, train and pay coaches. GB had this issue where many stars funding got cut and had to pick up extra jobs to pay for stuff therefore the pay off has to be some financial reward

[@DavidLee-cw6ci]

I will say the UK did really well with their facilities. They're world class and open to the public. For about a tenner you can be using the OLYMPIC POOL. Cross the park and you can use the velodrome. That's pretty incredible.

[@gockelxxxxxl9584]

As you speak about Olympic athletes who don’t earn much, a former German Olympic runner work at a sports store in my city. He gave me very good advice which I’m still thankful about

[@DavidLee-cw6ci]

"Play football instead"

[@craigrothwell6144]

Get a proper job?

[@fault.]

Another brilliant video Hope this channel blows up, we appreciate your dedication and attention to detail brother. Much love

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Man, I hope so too! Thank you so much for checking me out.

[@CordeliaWagner1999]

Who is "we"?

[@dreammaker9642]

Look what they doing in Tahiti at Teahupoo. Tiny village where locals depend on the lagoon for fishing farming and everything not to mention the cultural and religious value the reef holds. The surfing is going to happen there and they refused to use the existing judge tower because apparently it doesn’t hold their safety standards even thought the pro tour uses it every year with no issue. Sioux now they want to destroy the reef to build their new tower. This can possibly ruin the wave, it’s expected to cost millions in lost revenue cause the work will drive fish away and severely damage the lagoon. All this for 4 days of competition keeping in mind the whole thing is covered by multiple camera angles and drones so the judges could easily stay on land or be on a boat in the channel if they don’t want to use the existing tower. The locals severely protest the construction and are ignored. These people live 2hrs away from the nearest city and they live on fishing and farming all of which will severely be impacted. The Olympic are willing to cause thousands of locals to struggle to eat and sustain themselves so they can have a brand new tower for 4 days of comp and then just leave it there abandoned like they did in Rio. I’m never watching the olympics ever again, the locals have nothing to gain and see their lovely hood ruined because some people want to make some quick cash. Fck the olympics

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I didnt know any of this, its absolutely fascinating stuff and an extension of how the IOC can think to do better

[@mala5782]

Great breakdown mate. Criminally underrated YT channel. I've reshared a bunch of your videos to my WA group 🤝

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I love that. Thank you for spreading the word. More coming very soon.

[@robcarter55]

I just watched a video made by a Zimbabwean woman . Apparently Zimbabwe only sent 7 athletes to the Olympics but 67 officials. According to her report they cut the number of athletes so more ministers could go for free and even more when their wives and girlfriends wanted to go too. 7 athletes and 67 officials !!! No wonder the Zimbabwe team is pissed. Don't expect that will make mainstream media though eh !

[@kentfrederick8929]

Here is one change created by the Olympics. The airport in Atlanta has been the world's busiest for over 20 years, taking the title from Chicago-O'Hare, which had the title going back to the early 1960s. The Atanta meteo area is about half the population of the Chicago metro area, and Atlanta has only one airline hub, Delta, while O'Hare has two, American and United. Atlanta built Concourse E for the Olympics, because it needed a much, much larger international facility. But, as an international hub, it outgrew E and needed a second facility, Concourse F.

[@59DGO59]

Interesting

[@kentfrederick8929]

What's irritating is that Chicago had a lot of infrastructure ready for its 2016 bid, and the track stadium was going to be temporary. A number of events that need a pitch the size of a soccer pitch were going to be held at small colleges in the suburbs. And, as a financial hub and popular convention city, Chicago had enough hotel rooms. Just in the downtown business areas, there are 45,000 rooms. So what happened? Chicago was lost at playing international politics. This was surprising, for a city that has mastered U.S. machine politics for over a century.

[@reubenarthur96]

High quality content - always happy to see more people shedding light behind amateur sports. All that glitters isn’t gold.

[@rolirolster]

The Enhanced games is probably the worst idea I've ever heard. But of course, other people won't realise until all of those athletes start dying in their 40s.

[@MsRQD]

It's never going to happen anyways.

[@thefunkuchen3705]

I think it is crazy how expensive the Olympics are. The special Olympics in Berlin 2023 had a cost of just 100 million. The World games in Birmingham 2022 had a budget of 75 million. The commonwealth games in 2022 had a budget of 700 million. They have almost the same amount of athletes as the Olympics. Why is the Olympics so much more expensive?

[@KitagumaIgen]

The C-word! IOC might no longer be as bad as FIFA, but they play on the same field. Lots and lots of brown envelopes and kick-backs all around.

[@Bot-ov2hs]

i think a problem is that cities become way to generous when the plan for the olympics. They want to build a new stadium, new subway, etc. instead of using the existing infrastructure

[@22448824]

KZbin recommended your channel after I watched a short on "The dirtiest race in history ". I would like to congratulate you on a fantastic channel. Clear, concise and to the point. Other than that, I remember when the talk was of cutting back the Olympics in the 70's. Instead the opposite has happened because the IOC wanted to expand their business model. But as we all know, minority sports have become even more minority relative to football. And football doesn't need a corny overblown Opening Ceremony at the World Cup. Enhanced Games-great idea and I look forward to it. One bonus is that the BBC wont be covering it. Keep up the great work.

[@kittoybig]

The Olympics used to be such an excitement for me and others. I glued to the TV on every event. Of late, the games have lost its glamour with the highly politicing and introduction of new games like rock climbing, golf, skateboarding, etc.

[@FashionRoadman]

Love your content on IG so I came to check out the full stuff on KZbin. Keep going, your videos are amazing. 🌟

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I love the shortform stuff but the longform is where I can really get into the detail. Glad you enjoyed 🙏🏾

[@RobD86]

I live in Stratford and luckily one of the apartments used during the Olympics - let’s say it’s cheap build has lead to cladding removal of new due to the Grenfell disgrace. Get Living London with their huge rental costs, companies that are apart of the “legacy” have fucked it, removal of a local police station as GLL refused to pay for one, crime rate has increased, charging over the top costs for businesses to have spaces, the continuous need to build “affordable” apartments, charging leaseholders a PARK TAX if you live on a specific road, no community centre. As nice as it is to have an Olympic “park” to walk around it’s not all rosey, you know they are building apartments within a section of that park as apparently it was apart of the “legacy”. Don’t get me wrong it has some benefits but the under belly isn’t pretty. Also great channel, keep these videos coming!

[@TCt83067695]

Random cause I'm new to this channel but what a lovely presentation. No unnecessary music. Just straight to the point. Also the accent is not bad 👍🏾

[@doraemon402]

When I was a child, the Olympics felt like this huge thing happening every 4 years. Nowadays, I feel it's just sad, with athletes competing not for prize money but potential sponsorships.

[@kwesianihodu7559]

Really good piece of journalism!…..Eye opener

[@cristianorodrigues6831]

I’m Brazilian and in our situation was massive corruption that cause that problem in the stadiums

[@davidborrelli3914]

I don't think the Olympics will ever be in major trouble because they could always loop established venues. You could have 4 rotating countries for summer and winter, and that would also cut into the tremendous cost of building up Olympic caliber venues. The bids being down to 1 is astonishing, though.

[@eggchipsnbeans]

I wanted to add that the long term impact of the London Olympics is very positive, especially when you know what the area around Stratford used to be like. The view north from the station platforms was of dereliction as far as the eye could see. I remember being a bit grumpy about it at the time; Greenwich Park was taken over and access to locals reduced. However, fair play, they did return the park to its earlier condition quickly after the Games

[@TheLongPlayUK]

London have used the Olympics fairly well, I think I noted this in the video itself. There is a big group of people who previously lived in Stratford not too happy about how they've been "pushed out" of the area. But the net gain for the city is rather high. I dont think many other recent cities who have staged the Games can say the same

[@eggchipsnbeans]

@@TheLongPlayUK I'm sure many people's lives were disrupted but area where most of the development was derelict or a scrap yard. I should add I thought your video very interesting and wanted to wish you well with your channel

[@RusselKing-qw5pu]

Excellent, well researched content. Well done Bro 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@seamusweber8298]

1976 Olympics was held in Montreal. The debt for staging those games was only finally repaid in early 2000s : 30 years after the games finished. I was recently in Barcelona and walked around montjuich where 1992 Olympics were held. The facilities there have fallen into neglect. One more point. Track and field used to be amateur. No money could be earned by athletes

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Sad to see the state of the facilities. It really is. Track and Field used to be amateur, do you think that should hold true today?

[@seamusweber8298]

@TheLongPlayUK : I think the time and effort required to reach the very top of any athletics discipline means that it is impossible for those trying to achieve that to be amateur (ie. Unpaid). I'm old, I remember the time when athletics- track and field - was amateur. Many international athletes held down jobs as well as sports careers back then. But even then there were rumours of appearance fees being paid to top athletes.

[@MD-722]

@@seamusweber8298 Athletes at the elite level who represent their countries should absolutely be paid; especially at the Olympics. But to put this into perspective, back in the 1990 at the start of the peak of supermodel era, top supermodel Linda Evangelista infamously stated that they [supermodels] _"don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day."_ Sounds ridiculous, and even is, but here's the thing--one supermodel alone's name, image and likeness could generate a single brand *billionS* (emphasis on the plural) a year. $10,000 is 0.001% of just 1billion. So if the roughly 10,000 athletes who appear at each Games were paid $50,000 that would still only be 0.5% of just a single billion in revenue meaning there's easily enough to award up to $100-150,000 for each gold medal and no less than $50,000 for each bronze. Because if all 1,044 medals awarded at the 2024 Games were gold, at $150K/per medal that would come to $156.6 million which is about 15.6% of 1billion but 0.0783% of 2billion (and with that being said only 329 golds were awarded--team medals included). So in other words, there is MORE than enough to pay athletes fairly but if funds are going to be as blatantly misappropriated as they are, then I personally think the Olympics has reached its expiration date.

[@WandiNkabs]

Good Video, however what do you mean a city doesn't feel like an Olympics City?

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I can’t really explain this in any other way but most Olympic cities have a certain lustre to their name. Sydney, Athens, Beijing, London, Rio, Tokyo. Nusantara doesn’t feel the same

[@warmike]

​​@@TheLongPlayUKwhy not Budapest and Istanbul though?

[@supablitz]

@@TheLongPlayUKwhy not Santiago?!! 😂😂 I think all the cities mentioned for 2036 are interesting places to have these events. If you said the cities were too small and can’t accommodate the Olympics like for example if Kingston launched a bid, I would be with you…but this I don’t understand

[@wydadiyoun]

@@TheLongPlayUK Rio hahahaha I guess after hosting they will feel like olympic cities don't worry

[@ngweso]

@@TheLongPlayUK the reason why you can’t describe it is because it’s rooted in Eurocentrism

[@AdamJansen786]

Love to see a video about UK athletics here. Great video!

[@TheLongPlayUK]

So I'm clear are you saying there shouldn't be any international sport at all?

[@AdamJansen786]

@@TheLongPlayUK no no just when you said "I could do a whole piece about UK Athletics" and their business model at 7:30 - I would love to see a video for that.

[@willzulu8844]

Great video man, I’ll watch your other vids after this, here’s hoping the algorithm treats you right!

[@poglewood1691]

Very well researched and brilliantly presented. Really impressive.

[@gabbykhaled]

I have been WAITING for content like this on the Olympics. I am so glad you popped up on my feed. As much as I love the Olympics and what it can do for a host city, the model is broken as much as. I worked at London 2012 straight out of Uni and then had the chance to do it again in the lead-up to Paris 2024 this year, and honestly, A LOT needs re-visiting. The magic of what the athletes do to train and be there must be worthwhile for their time and not all just direct funding to the IOC.

[@jontyeverton2639]

Hey Jordan .. Please make more of these videos and also maybe a deeper dive please .. Awesome video

[@TheLongPlayUK]

So much more coming Jonty. Thank you for checking me out

[@liability69]

Superb quality of presentation, highly informative. Thank you!

[@Jay_Blvck]

This is fantastic mate 🔥🔥🔥, happy to see more of your content

[@theMilenkovic]

Just found this channel. Amazing work man. Greetings from Belgrade!

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Amazing. We got folks over in Serbia! Thank you for watching 🙏🏾

[@GoodGuyChucky-666]

I'm from Glasgow and after the success Glasgow had hosting the commonwealth games in 2014, I have been saying to people that Glasgow should bid for the Olympics, as the states of Victoria in Australia & Alberta in Canada were meant to be the next hosts of the commonwealth games but withdrew due to escalating costs and became unviable, which could put the future of the commonwealth games in doubt, after watching this video, I don't want my city to host the Olympics, yeah it might bring in a brief economic boost like hotels and other businesses benefiting , money is going in places, but once the games are over, those who came for the games go back home and for the locals back to normality, business as usual, it's sad that Athens where the games originated seeing the facilities for the 2004 games become derelict

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Global community. Thank you Edwin

[@XanderLeamon]

Quick correction Josh Kerr will be competing in the 1500m not 3000m at the Olympics. He did break the 3000m WR tho however it’s not an olimpic event Great video tho 👍

[@mrmanq9517]

Well broken down man....sweet and simple 🙌 Finally see why Africa isnt ready to host such an event

[@edwinachayo3256]

Brief and yet I feel like I went through the library. 😅. Love it. Very informative. I am subscribed. New fan from Kenya.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Global family thank you for tuning in 🙏🏾

[@dav6131]

Really informative video. Well put across. Cheers. Have subscribed.

[@javasscript4561]

Every city feels like an olympic city after it hosts the Olympics

[@MHH76]

Thank you for digging into this and informing the public. I had no idea the athletes got paid so little compared to what the IOC make. I’m all for an alternative. Can I imagine the IOC wanting to make things fair? No. Time for change. Bring it forth. The olympics are indeed great. But you’re spot on I believe with the state of affairs.

[@UpperEchelon91]

I love videos like this. Amazing. You just got a new subscriber!

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Appreciate it, thank you!

[@k.anomah]

Istanbul is more likely to happen. One Istanbul is a well known city in Europe and is often mistaken as the capital city, which is not. Secondly and more importantly it would be the first European city where the nation is mostly Islamic. The only other nations sporting wise that could compete with that is Qatar (held the World cup and the World athletics championship) or Saudi Arabia (which could hold the world cup after the US/Mexico/Canada)

[@grahamstrouse1165]

Turkey’s a financial basket-case right now. Hosting would be a terrible idea.

[@galleon8129]

Excellent analysis, well done 👍🏼 🎉

[@madtimesmedia8609]

Great video. Fantastic insight and summary of the broken model. This translates really well into real world terms, in the sense that I'm a parent to a 14 year old sprinter who is already sub 11 seconds at the 100m.... However, he has no interest in pursuing a career in Athletics when he can easily earn more playing football than a world class Olympian. It's such a shame that a pinnacle sporting event has such little return financially in comparison to the feats achieved. Again brilliant video, subscribed

[@JamaicanMeCrazy]

I hate that it's a winner takes all sport literally

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Congratulations to your child, not many make it to Sub 11:00. I'm intrigued to know, if your child showed even more signs of being a truly elite sprinter (say sub 10.50s at age14) would you have still chosen football?

[@madtimesmedia8609]

@@TheLongPlayUK Thanks, I appreciate the acknowledgement. To answer your question, the journey is still ongoing and as a parent I'm just here to guide/support. The ball is in his court

[@ephsee8669]

Vid don’t even have 3k views😭😭. Keep up the work bro, your time will come, soon we’ll see 300k views, and then 3Mil

[@ephsee8669]

Earned my follow

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I'd enjoy that alot. Thank you for following and stay tuned for more. Next few videos are great too!

[@seebaastian]

have you been in Santiago? I hope you could go there To see what a nice city it is.

[@Nicksonian]

Athens, Greece should be the PERMANENT host of the summer Olympics. The IOC, with all their money, would be responsible for creating and maintaining Olympic facilities in Athens. These facilities could be used for other international competitions. This would give Greece a needed boost to their economy and create permanent jobs surrounding the games. The same should be done for the winter games, although choosing where is more problematic. Preferably somewhere that has reliable snowfall. The Enhanced Olympics sounds like a ridiculous idea and would be shrouded with illegitimacy in the minds of many fans.

[@jayr6839]

The saddest part of it all is All Olympic Athletes aren’t allowed to post commercial content during the olympics. Nor can sponsors post athletes while they are competing at the Olympics or mention the fact that their athlete is an Olympian. If a company wants to sponsor or do an endorsement deal with the athletes, the athletes can’t post it on their social. Nor can the athlete endorse any products for financial gain even if the athlete owns their own business.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

This was very old-fashioned thinking which once plagued Formula 1 in the Bernie Ecclestone era. Look what's happened since Liberty Media took over!

[@jayr6839]

@@TheLongPlayUK You’re absolutely right. And most olympians aren’t even being paid to begin with. Why try to further stifle any economic opportunity for the athletes? The IOC is just greedy. They want all the money for themselves.

[@godwindracing6056]

@@TheLongPlayUKlet’s face it, F1 has been s*** since 1 May 1994

[@faisalleeds]

Wow didn't know this! It is criminal how poorly paid athletics and other Olympic sports are. So much sponsorship and self funding is required to make it to the Olympics, then if you do manage to achieve the dream and win a medal you don't get anything from the IOC or your country directly!!

[@Architypesworldwide]

Great video man. Would love to know your thoughts on why smaller cities applying to host the olympics is an issue. Qatar held the World Cup and it’s really put them on the map, do you think hosting the olympics could do something similar for countries like chile and Indonesia?

[@beechboi]

Usain Bolt was a cash cow for the Olympics

[@leandrowngo]

Yea the Enhanced Games is reality TV at best. Without neutrality and fairness as a selling point, it's basically selling the drama. It's going to go through the usual start with with a VC money-injection boosted start, and then die away when people get tired of the drama 3 to 4 seasons in. But yes the point still stands, the Olympics need to pay the athletes more. The IOC is making money out of the athletes. The least they can do is pay them appropriately.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Yeah the latter half of this is spot on. If the IOC do not begin to share more value with the value creators they will run into issues

[@Amphibiousmage]

This is fantastic Jordan. Love your work

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Really appreciate this, glad you enjoyed it

[@yeezymunee]

Just discovered your channel today! Great video Bro. New sub! 👍🏾

[@daccocreative]

Please do a whole piece about UK athletics 🙂🙏

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Man I really want to. Theyre really struggling financially. They had to frontload a long-term Nike deal to keep the books in the black. Alot going on there I may do a piece in a few months to highlight it

[@chrsmcfrln]

@@TheLongPlayUK ok, but is the culture to win still there in UK athletics? I can’t imagine the likes of Jo Pavey ran for money. She was just an indomitable competitor.

[@naj114]

Cut back on events like football, golf and tennis. If an olympic gold medal does not represent the pinnacle of a sport, then it does not belong there! Olympic gold medal is not more prestigious than football world cup, golf masters and tennis grand slams.

[@godwindracing6056]

I would throw out surfing too, this is this year’s Olympics has to resort to hosting it in some island too far out of Europe. What about cycling with their multi week Grand Tours, also basketball with the NBA finals, baseball with the World Series and ice hockey with the Stanley Cup. As for golf, do you mean ‘the majors’. The Masters is the first of that four I suggest that too on Reddit and got downvoted by the Olympic circlejerkers

[@naj114]

@godwindracing6056 football especially such a good example as if you restrict olympians to under 23, save for a few players, then you are preventing the best athletes in the world at that sport. With other sports like basketball and hockey, I'm a bit conflicted because on one hand NBA is so well established and you have billion dollar athletes, but there really isn't a truly global competitive championship so perhaps its OK. As for cycling, and I'm not biased just because I'm a fan but the cycling events like road, TT, MTB, velodrome, whilst they have respective world championships (as does athletics), arguably an olympic gold is more desired than a world title.

[@Kwazulujabul]

I agree

[@JeffShig]

love your stuff. I just subbed

[@TheLongPlayUK]

So much more coming, thank you for being a part of the community

[@leeweesquee]

I like this vid. Too many vids put fancy shmancy graphics, ai voice over. You are straight to the point 👉

[@TheLongPlayUK]

I like the word shmancy, thank you 😂

[@redman6790]

New subscriber. Kind of content I love & relish. The issues of white elephants, debt and how corporate-driven the Olympics is haa caused its decline, but that's not even touching the entertainment dip. Growing up Olympics was so much fun and excitement, today it is merely noticeable as it flies by. The societal issues plaguing Western cities such as gentrification, unaffordable inflated housing, corporate greed is exacerbated once an Olympics is held in that city, its a literal death wish. Look up Dave Zirin book on Brazil 2014 and how much of an impact it had. London 2012 another example, the damage it did to those living in East London area prior to 2012. Olympics is an event where other multi-nation corporations use their fangs to unleash all their greed without any fear of backlash because "its only a month-long event".

[@rahmadgerpol]

As Indonesian, I less enthusiast Nusantara's bid for 2036 Olympic. This is only Jokowi and his family ambition. Futhermore Jokowi now like a property broker than President. To sell land at Nusantara.

[@shanicestella2226]

Even i don't agree to that bidding And i feel its more useful that the funding are utilized for the building of more descent sporting training facility so the athletes can reaching more variation of sports discipline instead spending recklessly for ego fattening symbolic political project

[@Soccox]

Nice work, great research

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Thank you 🙏🏾

[@NooneStaar]

Kind of surprised by how low the prize money is. I'd thought 100k for gold, 50k for silver, 25k for bronze or something would be the standard.

[@NathanNimi]

Great work again 👌🏿 would love to see that video about the UK athletes. Last I remember hearing is that we don't actually award ANY prize money 🙃

[@NathanNimi]

Also, you should put the S in your link (as in, https), otherwise it won't open for some people. At least it didn’t when I tried on my phone anyway.

[@abdaf8706]

Great analysis, love it ❤

[@ostrakos4785]

As an overseas Chinese, I would say that the economic benefits of Beijing wasn't the main focus of 2008. Domestically it shifted less productive heavy industries away from Beijing into surrounding areas along other modernization efforts, but the intangible effects it had were even larger. I was 7 at the time and remembered it as the first time China really stood out on the world stage, and proved to the world that the Chinese race was not the sick man of Asia. It was also the year where Taiwan elected a president moderately pro unification and the olympics took place after a devasting earthquake in Southwest China with donations from all over the mainland, hongkong, macau and taiwan, and it truely seemed that unification is possible.

[@HeinzFugenstie]

What is the Chinese race?

[@ostrakos4785]

@@HeinzFugenstie same thing as the Chinese ethnicity

[@garthcox4307]

The olympics needs to be redesigned to be less wasteful, using existing facilities to a greater extent for a start, but I think it will survive in some form. However I think that the commonwealth games won't be so lucky. A good clear and balanced assessment as always.

[@davyengone]

really well put video mate

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed 🙏🏾

[@phredflypogger4425]

This all boils down to one simple fact, bureaucrats spend public funds far too frivolously. They need to be held accountable.

[@DRACOFURY]

Well Unfortunately 😕 I don't gotta worry about that no mo. *Tendon Rupture* 3 before trails. But why not have the Olympics in only 4 countries LA Tokyo,Paris and London (simultaneously) And for winter Vancouver,Nagano,Suchi and Salt lake City. All there facility are intact and ready to go. For Pan Ams Toronto and Brazil and Sydney for the Commonwealth games. Seems like a win win.

[@EntertainmentFilms26]

It’s not just the IOC, everyone needs to be at a higher standard. The IOC gives 90% of its revenue to National Federations, National Olympic Committees, Organizing Committees, Olympic Third Parties, and every other stakeholder in the Olympic Movement. Also host cities are withdrawing their bids because they know full well their venues will be useless after the games. Paris, LA, & Brisbane don’t need to build new venues for a reason. They don’t want a repeat of Athens or Rio.

[@alexispaterson814]

It didn't help when IOC members wanted back handers and special treatment to get their votes. Also changing from amateur athletes to professionals was a bad idea.

[@geofflepper3207]

The low incomes of athletes in general is a problem. I remember reading a piece by a journalist who was somewhere in the Americas and said he overheard a sprinter who was one of the fastest men in the world on the phone talking long distance to someone associated with a European track meet and basically begging for at least his airfare to Europe to be covered by the track meet because otherwise he wouldn't make enough money to cover his travel expenses unless he finished highly in his event. I believe the journalist said that the athlete was ranked tenth in the world in the 100 metres at the time. Think how different things are for the world's tenth best basketball player or hockey player or soccer (football) player.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Yeah, it's crazy and rather sad. Video on a similar topic to this coming very soon. Stay tuned

[@1972dsrai]

Surely moving forwards it would make more sense to have it spread out across a country rather than one major city to spread both the costs as well as revenue just like they do with the world cup.

[@rabbitss11]

Given the limited coverage available to the BBC this year I'm not going to bother watching any future Olympics. Big business has inveigled its way into everything and invariably taints the whole enterprise. Yeah, I'm just a sour old person! Great podcast, though, really well presented if a bit depressing too. And are we even getting snobby about a host city 'feeling like an Olympic city' jeez.

[@sas_rl7032]

incredible job man ❤

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed 🙏🏾

[@ecoideazventures6417]

It is better to designate one host city for each continent and rotate the Olympics among them.

[@emekaume]

Wonderful research.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Glad you enjoyed thank you for watching

[@peterknight9873]

Like the points…. I also see that too many sports which also increases the costs… Eventually only a few countries and cities are able to host the Olympics…. The saying Ruined by own success comes to mind

[@alanle1471]

Los Angeles 1984 ran at a profit. It has all the facilities including hotel rooms.

[@feedthelion5104]

Would love to see a video about uk athletics, it’s been in decline for quite a while here

[@DisAstra-qx9gq]

When it comes to paying athletes, it boils down to tv coverage and merchandise. Football, nba, nfl, horse racing, mlb, nhl, golf, tennis and even cricket players all generate massive profit so alot of athletes from those sports get big salaries. Compare that to wnba, track n field, table tennis, polo and even rugby where the fan base is low, lacks tv coverage and cant even fill a stadium. Salaries are alot lower and you tend to find people compete for the love of the sport not the paycheck

[@kimscott8176]

Well done Sherlock!

[@johnedwards230]

You could end up in a situation where the games moves around 7 or 8 major cities in the world that already have most of the infrastructure ready to go. LA could host an Olympics next week!

[@maddoxzumthor1620]

Fantastic video

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Ty brother 🙏🏾

[@MatthewSprint]

Olympic Athletes don't really get payed Lol, most of them work regular part-time jobs whilst being world-class athletes, it's crazy how NFL, Football/Soccer, Rugby, etc.. All have insanely well-payed Athletes in comparison and yet they're team-sports compared to individual.

[@Averagebum21]

The Olympics is supposed to be an amateur meet.

[@TheLongPlayUK]

So would you keep the format as it is and not directly pay the athletes who participate?

[@MatthewSprint]

@@TheLongPlayUK I never said that. Of course they should be payed, especially the prize events.

[@RachelTheives]

Great video

[@Spiinellii]

lmao 76% overbudget i danced in the closing ceremony and still ain get paid😂!? also crazy how the western world seems to be falling apart i wonder when this bubble will pop

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Shoutout to you the opening and closing ceremonies were FIRE. Can you explain how you got there? Did you volunteer, were you approached? How did you make it there

[@TheMarcuslindberg]

Dumpster fire🔥 ?

[@miorboy4447]

What do you consider an olympic city? Istanbul sounds like a great host city. One of the most historic cities in the world spanning two continents.

[@dp8685]

Olympics has been diluted over the years. To many sports cost not worth it. Getting athletes there is easy as anyone would do it for free as it’s the event which is draw not money.

[@waterloowar]

The IOC should stop adding new sports and cut some of them too. downsize the OG

[@TheLongPlayUK]

Interesting take, which events would you chop? And why?