Organising committee of Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games has revised the budget for the Games, keeping in mind the inflation and some tweaking in the Games infrastructure and operational costs.

With under 20 months to go before the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games begin in Paris, the Board of Directors of the Organising Committee of the Paris 2024 Games, that met today at the Organising Committee’s headquarters in northern suburb of Paris, has adopted the Organising Committee’s multi-year budget following the third budgetary review.

According to a press statement, this budgetary review, which is traditionally the most important stage in the forecasting of income and expenditure linked to delivery of the event was carried out, within the context of high inflation.

After a collective effort lasting several months, led in close collaboration with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its stakeholders, the Paris 2024 Board of Directors, guided by recommendations of its Audit Committee, adopted a revised multi-year budget of Eur 4.38 billion, which reflects an approximate growth of 10 pc or 5 pc, excluding the current inflation rate.

The statement adds that the adoption of this budget, which takes into account all identified changes in the cost of delivering the Games, reinforces the project’s ambition and preserves the means to cover risks, with a contingency reserve maintained at a protective level of Eur 200 million. This budget enables Paris 2024 to move calmly into the operational delivery phase of the event.

As part of its domestic partnership programme, Paris 2024 has already reached its target of securing 80 pc of revenues by the end of 2022. In view of the advanced state of discussions with a number of companies, Paris 2024 has increased its projected income from domestic partnerships.

Estimated ticketing income is also higher than before as a result of the combined effect of the competition schedule and venues being confirmed, as well as the work to optimise venue capacities carried out in close cooperation with the IOC.

 

Paris 2024 has also followed its Audit Committee’s recommendation to generate more income from the most popular sessions without abandoning its accessibility policy, that has made Eur 24 tickets available in all sports and almost half of tickets costing around Eur 50 or less.

Following the announcement of more high-profile events linked to the Paralympic Games, notably the Opening Ceremony in the Place de la Concorde, at the joint initiative of Paris 2024 and all its stakeholders, public funding of the Paralympic Games has been increased by Eur 71 million to a total of Eur 171 million.

The French State, with Eur 44.5 million, the Métropole du Grand Paris with Eur 15 million, the City of Paris with Eur 5.6 million and the Ile-de-France Region with Eur 5.6 million have stepped up their support for this project to give it unprecedented visibility and ensure it changes French people’s attitudes towards disability forever. In total, public authorities will contribute 4 pc to the financing of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with the balance 96 pc coming from private funding.

With the support of the IOC in particular, Paris 2024 has reduced its projected expenditure by identifying numerous ways of cutting costs across all budget lines. This has been achieved firstly by streamlining the specifications of the Games and secondly by taking a series of measures relating to the competition and non-competition venues, temporary infrastructure and the scale of the ceremonies, says the statement. Examples include reducing the number of days on which the Athletes’ Village, training venues and competition venues will be operational, and cutting unnecessary energy use at the competition venues.

Finally, the French State with Eur 25 million and the Métropole du Grand Paris with Eur 15 million will provide financial support for certain investments in the French public interest that will contribute directly to the legacy of the Paris 2024 Games. These include the purchase of sports equipment, financing of anti-doping equipment at the Université Paris-Saclay laboratory and various development projects that will have post-Games benefits.

The revised Paris 2024 multi-annual budget takes into account all the key issues and risks identified by the Organising Committee as the operational phase of Games delivery draws near. For example, the security budget, which had already been increased by 50 pc in the previous budgetary review, has been allocated an additional Eur 25 million, while the cybersecurity budget has also seen a Eur 10 million increase to take into account the relevant risks.

Finally, in order to address operational risks during the final 18 months of delivery, Paris 2024 has decided to maintain its contingency provision of Eur 200 million.

The Board of Directors also approved a proposal to locate the Main Press Centre for the Paralympic Games in the Olympic Aquatics Centre (OAC) in Saint-Denis. This decision is subject to ratification by the governing bodies of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in January. The Main Press Centre for the Olympic Games will be located at the Palais des Congrès at Porte Maillot, says the statement.