tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post5374141516589787845..comments2024-03-18T15:42:43.140+13:00Comments on Offsetting Behaviour: More Sport and EconomicsEric Cramptonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831696523324469713noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-79017491203463522432010-04-09T12:12:16.409+12:002010-04-09T12:12:16.409+12:00Personally, I couldn't care less if we never h...Personally, I couldn't care less if we never hosted another Commonwealth games. I find myself agreeing once again with many of Eric's points (we must stop this!) although living out in the wops as I do I don't think I'd be prepared to shell out $100 to prevent it from happening, the relative inconvenience is just that much less for me. I would, however, encourage hosting of a cricket world cup at some stage, it is about the only sport I am a bit nuts about :)<br />Unfortunately any major international event these days is likely to result in the host nation/region becoming a mini police state. Perhaps it wouldn't be too inaccurate to suggest that the "terrorists" have already won...Latsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-62504071645919951582010-04-09T10:14:12.945+12:002010-04-09T10:14:12.945+12:00I'd be willing to pay $100 for the Commonwealt...I'd be willing to pay $100 for the Commonwealth Games not to be in Christchurch, plus whatever the taxes would be. So if hosting the games cost me as taxpayer $200, I'd pay $300 to keep them elsewhere. They're a public bad. The roads get congested, I lose the option value of using the pool, other facilities are crowded, and the bloody lunchroom turns from talk of economics to sports.<br /><br />If it were the Olympics, I'd up my bid a fair bit. Did you see what they did to Vancouver? Mini police state while the games were on.Eric Cramptonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15831696523324469713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2830084253401570472.post-37721268543509731792010-04-09T08:55:03.560+12:002010-04-09T08:55:03.560+12:00According to the CHCH Press in an article on 31 Ju...According to the CHCH Press in an article on 31 July 2007 (when the CHCH City Council were thinking of bidding for the games) Commonwealth games costs were:<br />1974 Christchurch $ 8.5m<br />1990 Auckland $100m<br />2002 Manchester $830m<br />2006 Melbourne $2.3bn<br />So the average annual percentage increase in costs looks like<br />1974-1990 67%<br />1990-2002 61%<br />2002-2006 44%<br />However, these are of course nominal values and removing the effect of inflation changes the annual average cost increases to<br />1974-1990 5%<br />1990-2002 46%<br />2002-2006 37%<br />So up until 1990 (at least) Commonwealth games were probably quite cheap. <br />In fact, the cost of hosting as a percentage of NZ's GDP are<br />1974 Christchurch 0.09%<br />1990 Auckland 0.14%<br />2002 Manchester 0.66%<br />2006 Melbourne 1.44%<br />On this measure, Commonwealth Games are around 16 times more expensive now than when CHCH hosted in 1974.<br />What costs so much now? Security has to be one thing. I remember standing outside the games village in Ilam and getting autographs as athletes were dropped off at the gate! I'm picking more elaborate venues is another.Stephen Hicksonnoreply@blogger.com