Olympic/Events/Scoring

Originally posted by Hector Hmm - any proof of that Bumble? I thought I'd heard (no proof I'm afraid) that Olympic Sailing actually cost the organisors money in the sense that the cost of constructing a new sailing centre/marina, accomodation blocks, security, supplying Lasers, Boards etc, etc costs more than the TV rights and sponsorship they are 'paid'. I certainly doubt that anyone is getting rich from having sailing in the Olympics.

It may cost the organisers money but when I talk of the money making machine, I am refering to a much broader technology than the IOC and the host nation for that particular year. Each one of those boats, boards is bought from a company, which profits. The accomodation is built by a builder, who makes money etc.... It  goes on and on. What are there, 12 classes? so at any one point there are 12 (?) professional sailors, paid well to sail, coached by money making coaches, in grant funded RIBS etc etc. The number of benifactors is almost too big to count, and the money involved in sailing alone is staggering.

The organisers may state (I don't know where you heard it) that sailing costs more to put on that it generates, but like many businesses, the diversity is an important part of the marketable product. Just like your local supermarket has products costing more in shelf space than they make in margin on sale, because it makes their range look more diverse and inevitably gives the impression that you can see everything imaginable there. I suspect the subtext to a statement like sailing costs more than it makes is to make us appreciate what we have and not ask for any more money, I don't know.

Like it has been said though, I don't know where all this is going, so Im going to ease off (no pun intended) the Olympic discussions for now.... happy argueing people.