They did it. Against all odds, the organizers of the Paris 2024 Games have achieved something that the Olympic movement had come to believe was impossible. They have pulled off a feat that the IOC had only imagined in its wildest dreams (it surely has some). They have produced a copy in which the final accounting result is preceded by a plus.
Tony Estanguet, the president of the OCOG, will present the financial results of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to the Paris 12 board of directors this Thursday, December 2024, at the end of the afternoon. He will do so with a smile. Despite all the warning signs, lit like lanterns for several years on the road to the OCOG, the event is not ending in the red. An unprecedented result in the recent history of the Summer Games: it is in surplus.
The figure remains modest. At the last count, the budget surplus amounts to 26,8 million. On the scale of a budget close to 4,5 billion euros, it could even seem anecdotal. Less than 1%. But the most recent examples (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020) demonstrate it without it being necessary to take out the slide rule: having organized the Games with a result placed on the right side of the scale would almost defy the laws of reason.
Tony Estanguet summed it up in front of the media, a few days before the board of directors meeting: " Finishing the adventure with a positive result is a great source of pride for the whole team. It is the result of great seriousness and rigor from the very beginning"
More down to earth, Fabrice Lacroix, the COJO's financial director, deciphered the miracle in the manner of an accountant. Expenditures on one side, revenues on the other. The balance sheet in the middle.
In the revenue column, the COJO collected a total of 4,480 billion euros. The big figures had been known for a long time: IOC contribution, partnership and ticketing. The real figures were less so.
With 12,1 million tickets sold, a new world record, ticket revenues have broken through the roof, reaching the sum of 1,489 billion euros, including hospitality. A result up 348 million euros compared to the bid budget. Very strong.
The national marketing program was equally successful. It started off smoothly, even in slow motion, and ended with a bang. The result: 1,238 billion euros, up 150 million compared to the forecasts announced during the application phase. The highest score in history for the organization of an event in France, all sectors of activity combined.
Public subsidies, for their part, amounted to 204,1 million euros, or less than 5% of the COJO budget. They were allocated in their entirety to financing the Paralympic Games, whose economic model remains less solid than that of the Olympic event.
So much for the revenue. Now the expenses. Anything but a scoop: they have gone up. Anything less would have cast serious doubt on the honesty of the accounts. In the end, the COJO spent 4,453 billion euros. Not bad, really.
But Fabrice Lacroix has reread all his copies: the final result shows an increase in expenditure of 17% compared to the initial budget, presented during the candidacy phase. Only 17%. The lowest increase in the history of the Olympic Games.
The COJO attributes this to two factors. The first concerns it directly: a " evolution of the project scope », according to the rather enigmatic expression of the financial director. Understand, the opening ceremonies in the city, the additional sports, the commitment of the territories… The second? Inflation. "From 2023, the shock was enormous, recalls Fabrice Lacroix. Between 300 and 400 million euros."
Question: Who will benefit from the bonus? The answer was already provided for in the Paris 2024 statutes, drafted under the supervision of the IOC. It will not change.
A fifth of the budget surplus, or just over 5 million euros, is supposed to go back to Lausanne. The transfer will swell the IOC's coffers, provided that the Olympic body accepts it.
An equal share of 20% must go directly to the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF). It must finance actions strictly limited to the field of promotion and development of sport in France. Clarification: the COJO had already approved, even before the announcement of its accounting result, a payment of 9 million euros to the CNOSF and one million to its Paralympic counterpart, the CPSF.
Finally, the most generous share of the pie – 60%, or 16,08 million euros – must be used to finance actions and programs for the development of sport in France, at various levels of practice. It is up to the sports movement and public stakeholders, including the State, to agree on the sharing of the jackpot. Not a foregone conclusion.
