Enjoy our full album of photos from the event.
By Andy Tillman
With the 2016 Rio Olympics just around the corner, UCLA Anderson’s Dean Judy Olian moderated a panel titled Hosting, Operating and Managing the Biggest Sporting Event on the Planet. The event, sponsored by Anderson’s Center for Global Management, initiated a conversation about the challenges organizers face when hosting an enormous event like the Olympic Games.
Participating on the panel were Peter Ueberroth, president of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games Organizing Committee, and Leonardo Gryner, deputy CEO of the Rio 2016 Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. In addition to CGM, sponsors for the panel included the UCLA Latin American Institute, Anderson’s Sports Business Association, the Center for Management of Enterprise in Media, Entertainment & Sports and Brazil Business Link.
Among the topics discussed were how the Games have changed between 1984 and now, the biggest challenges organizers experience, and the skills and leadership qualities required to pull off such a large undertaking.
Ueberroth expressed confidence in Rio’s ability to make its hosting of the Olympics go smoothly, saying that he was in Rio for the World Cup and thought it was done perfectly. Gryner later said that Brazil hosted the Pan Am Games as part of its preparation to bid for the 2016 Olympics. “We chose not to bid for the 2008 Olympics; instead, we hosted the Pan Am Games to learn to do it properly. Once we saw that we knew what we were doing, we started putting a team together for the 2016 Olympic bid,” said Gryner.
When asked to compare and contrast the financial aspects of the Olympics, then and now, Ueberroth said that in the past, there was no taxpayer involvement, the Olympics were paid for solely by donations, creating a huge problem because charitable giving in the host city would shift from other needs to the Olympics. “This was devastating for Montreal when they hosted,” said Ueberroth.
Ueberroth also pointed out how things have improved with sponsorships, saying that in the past, the International Olympic Committee would take money from any sponsor, with each sponsor giving “a little bit.” Now sponsorships are sold as exclusive global rights, resulting in a much smaller number (five) of major sponsors paying much more and accounting for fully 50 percent of the sponsorship revenue. When combined with revenues from 30 secondary sponsors, sponsorship is the number one source of revenue, with ticket sales coming in second and licensing third.
As for security, Ueberroth said, “We had to negotiate with 29 different cities, it was a fistfight for every single dollar. Two weeks before the Games, cities would threaten to pull out if they didn’t get more money, and we would say, ‘Okay, we’ll find another city.’ A city would call and say they needed a new helicopter. I’d ask, ‘What is the life span of a helicopter?’ and they said, ‘Thirty years.’ I said, ‘Okay, we’ll pay for two weeks of that,’ and suddenly they didn’t need a new helicopter.”
Gryner said the total cost of security for the Olympics is $1 billion, which is paid for wholly by the government. “Things are much different now,” said Ueberroth.
When Dean Olian asked how the Brazilian people felt about hosting the Olympics, Gryner explained that he felt there were two types of Olympics: “those that take advantage of the city and those where the city takes advantage of the Olympics.” Brazil put $6 billion of its budget into long lasting renovations intended to benefit the people of Rio and the surrounding areas long after the Olympics are over. This includes moving people out of the favelas to new homes and transportation expansion.
According to Gryner, “Thirteen percent of the public uses public transportation; after the Olympics that number will increase to 65 percent. We put effort and focus into the areas where the effect would be felt for the next 100 years.”
The panel closed with Gryner being asked about the likelihood of Los Angeles winning the bid for the 2024 Olympics. He said, “To win the Olympics you have to have the city behind you. Another thing is you have to have a vision for how to market it. I think Los Angeles has that.”
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