London's advice: Be clear on costs

2016 BID | U.K.'s Olympic bill: $18.5 bil. But officials here play it close to their vests for now

Battling backlash from a skyrocketing Olympic bill back home, a top figure with London's 2012 Games advised Chicago bid officials Thursday to be "transparent and explicit as possible" in revealing costs.

Chicago officials acknowledged the advice, promised to be forthcoming, but held fast in their refusal to reveal an estimated price tag for staging a Chicago 2016 Games.

Officials say releasing a detailed tally before submitting their bid plan in February 2009 for the Games would put it at a competitive disadvantage with other cities also vying. Chicago officials said they would make the bid book public only after it is submitted to the International Olympic Committee.

British Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell, speaking at a downtown business luncheon, put the London Games price tag at about $18.5 billion -- a figure that is almost three times the cost estimate submitted in 2004.

However, British officials say "legacy" projects, such as redeveloping London's poverty-ridden East End, have helped drive up the bill. Such legacy costs need to be clearly revealed to the public and sold as improvements that benefit a community for years after the Olympic games are over, Jowell advised Chicago officials.

Overall, "I think you have to be as transparent and explicit as possible,'' she said.

The media tends to focus on budget matters and, she said, "there is also only one story the media recognize: The budget is running out of control."

Such bad publicity is more than annoying: it can erode public support for a Games -- a support essential to staging an Olympics, she said.

Yet, Jowell also advised Chicago to "fix the price for all the contractors" -- a remark that prompted some at the Metropolitan Planning Council luncheon to chuckle. Local construction project history is riddled with cost overruns, including the recent $975 million Dan Ryan Expy. redo, almost double the original estimate.

Doug Arnott, Chicago 2016 operations director, said Chicago's bid book will contain price tags adjusted for projected inflation, which could head off jaw-dropping sticker shocks later. Unofficial estimates reportedly put a Chicago Games at $5 billion.

While praising the Olympics, Jowell said Chicago, if it wins the bid, should be ready to "hold onto your seats [because] it's a white knuckle ride."

"You never know what's around the corner,'' she said, citing controversies involving relocation of feral cats and newts from London's Olympic Park.