Deal Or No Deal? What America Spends To Win Olympic Gold
By Jason Notte (InvestingAnswers)
Team USA will pay a hefty price for its share of the gold, silver and bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but even the medals table has a bargain bin.
The U.S. Olympic Committee shelled out more than $232 million in 2008 to help American athletes win 110 medals in Beijing -- the site of the previous Summer Olympic Games. That's $2.1 million per medal, but doesn't include the cash kicked in by each sport's governing body from sponsors, donors and special events. For example, USA Basketball took a little less than $1 million from the USOC to send the men's and women's teams to China four years ago, but spent $5.8 million overall on gold-medal efforts from LeBron James, Diana Taurasi and company.
That's a lofty $2.9 million per medal, which is nearly five times what the U.S. modern pentathlon and badminton programs spent on their Olympic programs combined in 2008. The birdie smashers and five-sporters left empty handed, but any medal those programs took home would have been the steal of the games.
But the real question remains: How much can be spent on a single medal? The answer: Almost the sky's the limit, it seems. We're talking about many millions per medal.
To give Team USA fans some idea of which Olympic sports get the most -- and least -- medal for their money, we went over the financial statements and tax information of each Summer Olympic sport's governing body to see how much they spent during the 2008 games. We divided that amount by the number of medals earned and came up with America's five most resourceful Summer Olympics squads and its five biggest spenders. Here's a hint: LeBron doesn't appear in either list.
Most Resourceful:
No. 4 - Fencing
2008 spending, based on audit: $5 million
Spending per medal: $833,333
The U.S. fencers spent less than half as much per medal as the U.S. gymnastic team ($1.94 million) and they wield swords. How isn't this sport more popular?
Most Resourceful:
No. 3 – Swimming
2008 Olympic medal tally: 12 gold, 9 silver, 10 bronze
2008 spending, based on audit: $21.4 million
Spending per medal: $690,322.58
It helps to have a mer-man like Michael Phelps win eight gold medals, but the U.S. team is stacked with talent to make even that high buy-in price seem like a bargain.
2008
Olympic medal tally: 2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze
2008 spending, based on audit: $4.13 million
Spending per medal: $688,333
Not only did those medals come relatively cheap, but the two gold medals were won by guys shooting skeet and trap. Consider all those childhood hours playing Nintendo's Duck Hunt as early Olympic training.
There are a lot more events, participants and chances to medal than in most other sports, but USA Track and Field spending was still efficient by U.S. standards. By comparison, there are only two U.S. Olympic sports that spent less in 2008 than the $651,250 the track and field team spent per medal: modern pentathlon ($305,816) and badminton ($301,280).
Team USA will pay a hefty price for its share of the gold, silver and bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but even the medals table has a bargain bin.
The U.S. Olympic Committee shelled out more than $232 million in 2008 to help American athletes win 110 medals in Beijing -- the site of the previous Summer Olympic Games. That's $2.1 million per medal, but doesn't include the cash kicked in by each sport's governing body from sponsors, donors and special events. For example, USA Basketball took a little less than $1 million from the USOC to send the men's and women's teams to China four years ago, but spent $5.8 million overall on gold-medal efforts from LeBron James, Diana Taurasi and company.
That's a lofty $2.9 million per medal, which is nearly five times what the U.S. modern pentathlon and badminton programs spent on their Olympic programs combined in 2008. The birdie smashers and five-sporters left empty handed, but any medal those programs took home would have been the steal of the games.
But the real question remains: How much can be spent on a single medal? The answer: Almost the sky's the limit, it seems. We're talking about many millions per medal.
To give Team USA fans some idea of which Olympic sports get the most -- and least -- medal for their money, we went over the financial statements and tax information of each Summer Olympic sport's governing body to see how much they spent during the 2008 games. We divided that amount by the number of medals earned and came up with America's five most resourceful Summer Olympics squads and its five biggest spenders. Here's a hint: LeBron doesn't appear in either list.
2008 spending, based on audit: $5 million
Spending per medal: $833,333
The U.S. fencers spent less than half as much per medal as the U.S. gymnastic team ($1.94 million) and they wield swords. How isn't this sport more popular?
2008 Olympic medal tally: 12 gold, 9 silver, 10 bronze
2008 spending, based on audit: $21.4 million
Spending per medal: $690,322.58
It helps to have a mer-man like Michael Phelps win eight gold medals, but the U.S. team is stacked with talent to make even that high buy-in price seem like a bargain.
Most Resourceful:
No. 2 – Shooting
2008 spending, based on audit: $4.13 million
Spending per medal: $688,333
Not only did those medals come relatively cheap, but the two gold medals were won by guys shooting skeet and trap. Consider all those childhood hours playing Nintendo's Duck Hunt as early Olympic training.
Most Resourceful:
No. 1 - Track And Field
2008 Olympic medal tally: 8 gold, 9 silver, 7 bronze
2008 spending, based on organization's financial statement: $15.63 million
Spending per medal: $651,250
2008 Olympic medal tally: 8 gold, 9 silver, 7 bronze
2008 spending, based on organization's financial statement: $15.63 million
Spending per medal: $651,250
There are a lot more events, participants and chances to medal than in most other sports, but USA Track and Field spending was still efficient by U.S. standards. By comparison, there are only two U.S. Olympic sports that spent less in 2008 than the $651,250 the track and field team spent per medal: modern pentathlon ($305,816) and badminton ($301,280).
Comments
Post a Comment