The Olympic Games, current taking place in Tokyo has an official price tag of $15.4 billion – the most expensive ever. It is also the first with virtually no spectators, meaning almost no ticket revenue to offset the huge cost.
According to multiple government audits the real cost for the Tokyo Games could be much higher at up to double. Nearly $9 billion of the money to put on the Games has come from the taxpayer.
Olympic costs have been analysed in a study by the University of Oxford, which says every single Olympic Games in the past 60 years has overrun its original budget.
