  Given that Olympic Games held over the past decade each have cost USD 8.9
billion on average, the size and financial risks of the Games warrant study.
The objectives of the Oxford Olympics study are to (1) establish the actual
outturn costs of previous Olympic Games in a manner where cost can consistently
be compared across Games; (2) establish cost overruns for previous Games, i.e.,
the degree to which final outturn costs reflect projected budgets at the bid
stage, again in a way that allows comparison across Games; (3) test whether the
Olympic Games Knowledge Management Program has reduced cost risk for the Games,
and, finally, (4) benchmark cost and cost overrun for the Rio 2016 Olympics
against previous Games. The main contribution of the Oxford study is to
establish a phenomenology of cost and cost overrun at the Olympics, which
allows consistent and systematic comparison across Games. This has not been
done before. The study concludes that for a city and nation to decide to stage
the Olympic Games is to decide to take on one of the most costly and
financially most risky type of megaproject that exists, something that many
cities and nations have learned to their peril.
