Olympic Games

The federal government provides significant funding and support for the Olympic Games when they are held in the United States. Twenty-four federal agencies provided nearly $2 billion--in 1999 dollars--for the 1984 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games and the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. However, no governmentwide law or policy exists that defines the federal government's overall role in funding and supporting the Olympic Games that are hosted in the United States. Nor is there a single federal agency that oversees and monitors the federal funding and support provided for the Olympic Games. Federal agencies have helped support the Olympic Games in response to requests for federal assistance from state and local governments and Olympic organizing committees. Federal assistance is provided because these entities have not had enough resources to provide for the infrastructure improvements necessary to prepare the host city or to plan and stage all aspects of the Olympic Games when hosted in the United States.

GAO noted that: (1) the federal government provides significant funding and support for the Olympic Games when they are held in the United States; (2) at least 24 federal agencies reported providing or planning to provide a combined total of almost $2 billion, in 1999 dollars, for Olympic-related projects and activities for the 1984 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games and the 2002 Winter Olympic Games; (3) of the almost $2 billion of funding and support from the federal government, about $513 million was provided or planned to be provided for projects or activities related to planning and staging the Olympic Games; (4) the remaining $1.4 billion has been provided or planned to be provided for infrastructure projects, such as highway, transit, and capital improvements, that are related to preparing the cities of Atlanta and Salt Lake City to host the Olympic Games; (5) these projects will also benefit the host city and state after the Games are held; (6) according to federal officials, most of these funds would have been awarded to these cities or states even if they had not hosted the Olympic Games, although the funds could have been provided later if the Games were not held; (7) however, no governmentwide law or policy exists that defines the federal government's overall role in funding and supporting the Olympic Games when hosted in the United States, nor is there a single federal agency that has the responsibility to oversee and monitor the federal funding and support provided for the Olympic Games; (8) federal agencies have helped and continue to help fund and support various aspects of the Olympic Games, in response to requests for federal assistance from state and local governments and Olympic organizing committees; (9) Olympic-related expenditures by federal agencies were made using Congressionally designated funds or by using the agencies' normal funding procedures; (10) in some cases it was difficult to determine the amount of federal funding and support because federal agencies generally did not track or report their funding and support for the Olympic Games, except when they were specifically requested to do so by the Office of Management and Budget; and (11) federal funding and support were used in accordance with statutory authority and applicable requirements for three of the five 1996 Summer Olympic Games projects that GAO reviewed.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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