Olympic price tag ends up at $925 million
The cost to host the world in British Columbia for the 2010 Winter Olympics was $925 million. The costs, which were spread out over seven years, include updates to infrastructure, which should last B.C. residents for many years.
The B.C. Department of Finance released the report that detailed the $765 million to staging the Games and an additional $160 million for activities designed to maximize the benefits of being the Host Province for the Games, but left out municipal spending, or British Columbians’ share of federal spending.
The report also expands on the sponsorship by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC): The majority of ICBC’s sponsorship came from sales of the 2010 Games commemorative license plates – about 180,000 plates were sold. After covering its costs, ICBC provided $10.1 million of the proceeds to VANOC. ICBC also provided motor vehicle insurance coverage for VANOC’s fleet of approximately 4,700 vehicles, worth about $6.2 million in premiums. While the sponsorship covered the cost of insurance, it did not include the cost of infraction tickets which are the responsibility of the drivers of VANOC fleet vehicles. Of the total VANOC policy coverage of $6.2 million, ICBC paid out about $2.8 million in claims costs for the VANOC vehicle fleet.
ICBC also invested approximately $6.1 million in programs that included corporate hosting, stakeholder relations, home-stay, and advertising and employee engagement, as a way to maximize 2010 Games sponsorship benefits for the corporation. The insurance sponsorship and other corporate programs – which included the purchase of 2010 Games tickets – were funded entirely from the optional side of ICBC’s business, where ICBC operates in a competitive marketplace. There were no additional costs to taxpayers.
To see the full report of ICBC’s sponsorship, see this PDF. The full government report, British Columbia’s Investments in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and Related Activities, can be found here. (PDF)
