Business and Economics of the Olympics Can Ireland Benefit from the London 2012 Olympics - Essay Example

Research has shown that those bidding countries that do extensive pre-planning, including those that secure financial backing from private enterprise and corporate businesses so as to not directly enter into agreements to obtain funding from city coffers, have successful Games as there is no direct involvement of the public's money. By also utilizing many of the buildings, like in the Calgary Winter Olympics, for training centers to accommodate future Olympic athletes and open them up for public use, these facilities will also continually fund their operation.

As in the example of the Olympic arena in Montreal, the facility became a constant maintenance problem due to an extremely leaky roof and thus has rendered it unusable. The scope of this paper is to not only examine those Olympic Games that have proven to be a financial opportunity for those businesses pre and post game hosting, but, also how the next Olympic Games to be held in 2012 in London can transfer that knowledge to a potential host, Ireland. Evidence will be shown via tables as to the financial benefit to businesses that have occurred through two successful Olympic Games, Los Angeles and Sydney, and provide documentation as to the full involvement the governments of both countries had in encouraging business financing in order to fulfil the greater use of facilities once the Games have moved on to the next host country.

IntroductionBusiness enterprise has always had a vested interest and need by many athletes in pursuing their dreams of Olympic greatness. The governments of host cities and host countries have a further vested interest in ensuring the Olympics make it to their city of choice. By having the government work in cooperation with businesses, the ability to fund the Games proves to be an extremely involved and long process that can either make the Games a success or a failure.There are many key economic issues that are associated "with the holding of Olympic Games and the factors that are important in ensuring the potential benefits are realized, are those associated with the macro-economic environment" (Treasury Department, NSW 1997).

These such issues that will be