The true cost of the London Olympic games £14bn

In December the head of the National Audit Office warned of the risk of the government exceeding its Olympics budget of £9.3billion; but warnings seem to have been ignored as costs could be as high as £14bn.


Revenue for London 2012 Olympics only expected to be £10 billion but spending exceeds this by over £4 billion

But what is even more worrying is that the estimated figure of £14 billion is accurate of spending already committed, most experts expect spending to exceed the £20 billion mark and reach a total of almost £24 billion. Not a particularly cheap 2 week holiday …

London 2012 Current Running Costs

Cost in Millions
 £       6,500.00 Upgrading Transport Links
 £       4,400.00 Security & Intelligence
 £       1,131.00 Counter Terrorism Policing
 £           826.00 Legacy programmes
 £           766.00 Venue and land cost
 £           300.00 Olympic Park Legacy Company
 £             29.00 UK Sport
 £             22.00 Sport England Legacy Work
 £             12.00 Torch Relay Events
 £               7.00 London Tube Employees Bonus
 £               4.00 London Ambassadors
 £               3.00 TfL Staff Overtime
 £               0.50 Local Council Ticket costs
 £               0.50 Logo
 £               0.40 Stone Monument

Related facts

-The Los Angeles 1984 Games were the first to turn a profit ($225 million) in 1932. The cost to stage the Olympics was about $1.500bn.

-TV rights were sold for the first time in Tokyo 1964 at $1m. By Athens 2004, the cost was £1.400bn.

-The cost of the 1896 Games was about $448,000. (The Guinness Book of Olympic Facts and Feats, 1996)

Sydney’s 110,000-seat stadium cost $402m to build and Beijing’s 91,000-seat stadium will cost approximately $423m.

-The final cost of the 2004 Athens Olympics was £8.0bn, much more than the original previsions. About £700m covered security which was double the budget of the Sydney Games in 2000.

-The Barcelona Games in 1992 cost £8.1bn. About 53% of that money came from public funds. The Atlanta Games in 1984 cost £1.5bn, and Sydney 2000 about £2.5bn. (UK Parliamentary Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport)

Sources

http://www.londonoutloud.co.uk/london2012fact.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2092558/London-2012-Olympics–335k-taxpayers-money-spent-toadstools-sculpture-Dorset.html
London 2012 Final Costs official PDF document

Official London 2012 Merchandise working conditions

Golden Bear, which is based in Telford, is the manufacture of products based on the Wenlock Olympics and Mandeville – the official mascots of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

But an investigation was launched into allegations that workers at the Chinese factory that makes toys for the Golden Bear has violated workers’ rights. ”

Both the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the Golden Bear is investigating allegations that workers are working for a maximum of 11.5 hours per day for as little as 26p an hour.
A spokesman for London 2012 said it placed great emphasis on “environmental, social and ethical” when securing goods and services and took the allegations “extremely seriously”.

He said: “We have asked our independent monitor to conduct a thorough investigation and review of the allegations.

“The results of this study will be published when it is made.
“We have contacted all our licensees to renew their emphasis we place on sustainable procurement code, they each signed.”

Golden Bear said it was also conducting an immediate investigation, but confirmed that the plant had passed inspections by the International Council of Toy Industries (ICTI).

The statement of the company said: “Golden Bear is very concerned about recent reports that a plant involved in a small volume of production of the Olympic enterprise may be in violation of labor rights.

“We are a family business that takes these issues very seriously and have created the certificates of conformity for all plants used to manufacture our products.

“We are currently conducting a prompt investigation and will be able to discuss these results as they are known.

“We can confirm however that the installation has passed inspection ICTI care process and we will work with bThA (British Toy and Hobby Association), ICTI CARE and other agencies to resolve any situation that may have been violated.”

From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/9032608/London-2012-Olympics-investigation-under-way-into-conditions-at-Wenlock-and-Mandeville-factory.html

Megaupload bail denied

The founders of Megaupload.com, the file sharing website shut down last week in one of the largest criminal copyright cases brought by U.S. authorities, will remain in custody until later this week a court in New Zealand has decided.

Judge David McNaughton said he decide on Wednesday whether to grant bail Dotcom Kim, convicted computer hacker accused of internet piracy and money laundering by the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Given the breadth of issues covered in the bail application and the seriousness of the issues, I’m going to reserve my decision,” Mr. McNaughton said.

Lawyer acting for Mr. Dotcom told a district court in Auckland that he was innocent of charges of internet piracy and money laundering.

“Mr. Dotcom emphatically denies any misconduct or criminal offenses, and denies the existence of a Mega conspiracy,” his lawyer Paul Davison told the court.

The New Zealand government, which works with U.S. authorities on an application of extradition, argued that Mr. Dotcom is an extreme risk of flight.
Mr. Dotcom and three other people were arrested by police in Auckland on Friday after they were charged by DOJ for alleged pedaling copyrighted material.

Appellate Megaupload and some sister site made over $ 175m in illegal profits from their extensive network of file sharing sites and cause $ 500m damage to copyright holders.
The U.S. is seeking extradition of Mr. Dotcom, a German citizen resident in Hong Kong and New Zealand, and his alleged co-conspirators Batato Finn, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk.

Three other people, who are not living in New Zealand, have also charged by the U.S. but they remain at large.
The closing Megaupload drew a furious response from Anonymous, hacktivist amorphous aggregation, which took down several websites including one belonging to the New Zealand police.

The attacks helped escape to work with proposed legislation to combat online piracy a week ago looked tied to the approval of the U.S. Congress.

According to the DOJ complaint Megaupload is more than 150m registered users, 50m long daily visitors and accounts for four percent of total traffic in the world wide web.

Mr. Dotcom was hiding in a safe room of his $ 24m mansion rented with a loaded gun when police arrived in the country property in two helicopters on Friday, New Zealand police said in a statement.

He refused to leave the room and are cut by police officers, who seized 18 luxury cars, including a Roll-Royce Phantom and 1959 pink Cadillac in the raid.
The millionaire computer hacker, formerly known as Kim Schmitz, settled in New Zealand in 2010 after investing NZ $ 10m (U.S. $ 8m) in Government Bonds.

Opposition MPs in New Zealand have called for an investigation into how Mr. Dotcom is allowed to live in Auckland, according to local media.

Official LDN Games 2012 Bags and Accessories information

As well as our great LDN Games 2012 T-Shirts, we’ll also have a big selection of bags and accessories.

Our official LDN 2012 bags and accessories product range will be featured shortly when our on-line shop launches. When you’ll be able to buy cheap 2012 bags and accessories as featured in some of Oly’s Pics.

Come back soon to see our great range of bags and accessories, available to buy cheap on-line!