00:00To discuss this further, we can bring in James Reed, head of the Department of Economics
00:05at the University of Reading. James, welcome to the program today.
00:10Good afternoon.
00:12Now, we still have a few big events to get through before this evening's closing ceremony,
00:18one of which is the men's hockey final between the U.S. and Canada. That's sort of the match
00:24everyone's been hoping to see. U.S. men last won gold, 1980 Lake Placid. The American women,
00:31they won their match today, beating their arch-rival Canada. So do you think there might be
00:35some score settling on the part of the Canadians?
00:39I would very much expect so. Married to a Canadian, I know what hockey means to the Canadians.
00:46And so, yeah, I suspect there'll be some fierce competition there and lots and lots of passions,
00:52the kinds of things we look to see in any kind of sporting contest.
00:57And we've also seen in this edition of the Olympics that the Norwegian Olympian, Johan Hausflat,
01:05he's just set a record for the most golds by one athlete in a single Winter Olympics.
01:10So that's obviously quite an achievement. What other moments stand out for you over the past two weeks?
01:17Well, you see, we have quite a different perspective on the Winter Olympics here in the U.K.
01:22because we don't really have the same kind of winter sports infrastructure that you have.
01:27But obviously in recent years, curling has become something that we actually do talk about here now.
01:33And again, that shows you the power of sport for driving conversations in different ways.
01:39Curling seems like a really fascinating sport.
01:42And that, I suppose for us here in the U.K., has been something of a highlight.
01:47But it's always wonderful to watch the sports taking place in the wonderful settings that the Winter Olympics take place
01:54in each year.
01:55You could say it's a wonderful advert for the sport, for sporting ideals,
01:59but also for the wonderful parts of the world that these kinds of contests go to each time.
02:06And while we take a look at what's been happening, just got a report that the ticket sales were quite
02:12good, 85% in the stadium.
02:16So it seems Italy's doing something right here.
02:20The IOC is happy after a possibly rocky start.
02:23Do you agree with that assessment?
02:26I think so.
02:27I mean, I think, you know, when you get to the end of these kinds of games, you know, the
02:32mood always improves.
02:35Before the games, the mood's always apprehensive.
02:38You know, how's it going to go?
02:39All these overspends, etc.
02:41And then when the event takes place, there's the positive, there's the feel good, and everyone begins to feel better.
02:47And Italy, you know, these games will be no different from any previous Olympic Games, winter or summer.
02:54It's a wonderful thing to behold the sporting ideals that it embodies.
03:00But, of course, it does still raise important questions of infrastructure, development in countries where these kinds of games are
03:07being hosted.
03:08Decisions being made to prioritize those infrastructures over different questions and questions of the tourism impact, for example.
03:17Lots of people visiting the region.
03:20And this can also be seen as an economic boom as well.
03:24I want to follow up on that, the idea of an economic boom.
03:28Because the last time that Italy hosted the Winter Olympics was 2006.
03:32It was in Turin.
03:34And while those games were credited for transforming the city and turning it into a tourist destination,
03:41they also left a legacy of debt and abandoned sports venues.
03:46So, now, this time, Italy spent around €6 billion to host this.
03:51They've said they're going to try to mitigate the environmental impacts.
03:54What do you think the legacy of this edition of the games will be?
04:00Well, I mean, obviously, Italy has a relatively recent case from which to learn from, you know, about all these
04:07kinds of things that you don't necessarily think about until much later on.
04:11You know, the use into the future of highly specialized infrastructure developments.
04:16There's no doubt that, you know, the Olympic Games are a great advert for a country for that short time
04:22that the games take place.
04:23But as you mentioned, €6 billion is a huge, huge amount of money.
04:27And it's hard to ever really fully evaluate the cost.
04:31Lots of economists tend to be a little bit negative about it.
04:35But that's in some part because we find it very hard to measure things like that feel-good factor that
04:40takes place,
04:41that sense of pride in place that's generated by these kinds of big events taking place in our own country.
04:48I think, obviously, you know, abandoned and, you know, kind of no longer being used sporting facilities is a really
04:57important thing and a really important part of any legacy that you'd like to see,
05:02because you'd like to see them being used.
05:04You'd like to see them being used by the local population, by, you know, homegrown stars of the future.
05:09So it's kind of a tragedy when you see these stories of past games, summer and winter, where the venues
05:16have gone into disuse because there was so much potential there,
05:19so much that could have been different.
05:22And we know that France is going to be hosting the 2030 Games.
05:26They're calling it the French Alps.
05:29And this is the fourth time that France will host the Winter Games.
05:32And they're also following Italy's model this year to embrace a multi-venue, countrywide structure.
05:39So do you think this is a better model for the Games than in the past, where the events were
05:43more centrally located?
05:46It's a very interesting question.
05:48Obviously, it reflects, you know, patterns in other big events as well, with, you know, soccer's World Cup taking place
05:55over multiple countries now,
05:56and the European Championship over multiple countries as well.
05:59It obviously spreads the risk a little bit, I guess, in terms of, you know, if one place can't contribute,
06:06you know,
06:07for the UK, for the European Championships, you know, if the Northern Irish Stadium isn't able to be there,
06:15there's still other fallback options.
06:17I think, you know, there's obviously, you know, spreading the risk.
06:20But of course, equally, there is the cost of getting around.
06:22And if we're thinking about sustainability, you know, you can look back on previous Winter Olympics,
06:29Summer Olympic World Cups as well, where there's been lots of travel that has to take place.
06:32And if there's then more travel within the country, that's potentially adding costs.
06:38On the other hand, France does have a very good public transport system, fast railway links.
06:43And so maybe it's possible that, you know, more sustainable transport connections can be thought about and planned ahead of
06:502030,
06:51which then, again, can benefit the nation moving forward.
06:55Yes. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us today.
06:59That's James Reed, head of the Department of Economics at the University of Reading.
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