Victor Matheson, a professor of economics, in a NY Times op-ed:

"Economists generally find that local organizers and sports boosters routinely exaggerate the benefits and underestimate the costs of hosting major events such as the Olympics. As a path to riches and long-term economic development, most Olympic hosts have been sorely disappointed. For example, while Salt Lake City’s hotels and restaurants were packed during the 2002 Winter Games, other businesses not directly related the event, like department stores, suffered significant losses in sales. Overall, economic activity the region actually fell during the Olympics."

Robert K. Barney, acting director of the International Center for Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario:

"Long-term benefits are another matter. Civic pride aroused from such an endeavor is fleeting and the monuments built for the spectacle in the form of stadiums and sporting venues shortly become little more than ghostly reminders of once glorious days. In point of fact, the historical record of long-term benefit from Olympic-related sports facilities is one indelibly burdened by maintenance and operation costs that rise well above user fee revenue."

Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College:

"The evidence from past Olympic Games *hardly* suggests that there’s a resounding economic gain from being the host city. Montreal’s 1976 Olympics left the city with $2.7 billion of debt that it finally paid off in 2005.

The Barcelona Organizing Committee in 1992 broke even, but the public debt incurred rose to $6.1 billion. Similarly, the Atlanta Organizing Committee in 1996 broke even, but the bottom line there is not encouraging. An econometric study using monthly data found that there was insignificant change in retail sales, hotel occupancy and airport traffic during the games. The only variable that increased was hotel rates — and most of this money went to headquarters of chain hotels located in other cities.

"The Sydney Organizing Committee in 2000 also reports breaking even, but the Australian state auditor estimated that the games true long-term cost was $2.2 billion. In part, this was because it is costing $30 million a year to operate the 90,000-seat Olympic Stadium.

"When Athens won the right to host the 2004 games in 1997, its budget was $1.6 billion. The final public cost is estimated to be around $16 billion — 10 times the original budget! Meanwhile, most of the Athens’ Olympics facilities are reportedly underutilized. Maintenance costs on the facilities in 2005 came in around $124 million and, reportedly, there is little use of the two Olympic soccer stadiums."