Over the past fifty years, international sports events such as the Olympic Games and world cup competitions have played an increasingly important role in our society. However, many people think such events are an enormous waste of money, time and effort. Do you agree? v.3

International sports events like the Olympics have become very famous in previous decades. Some people are of the opinion that events like of this scale are a huge waste of resources and amount. I tend to agree with this viewpoint completely. Firstly, the Olympic Games required huge spending on Infrastructure sector. It requires the construction of multiple high standard sports arenas, sport complex and hotel projects. These five start buildings later turned out to be vacant and open for vandalism once the event is completed. The recent example was seen after the Beijing 2008 Olympics, where all these sport facilities were turned as “Ghost Towns”. Moreover, such events cause extra financial burden on the city residents. They are forced to pay extra taxes to cater cost of such events. Recently, the City of Calgary residents turned down the Provincial government proposal to host the 2026 Olympic games due to such fears. On the other hand, one group of people say that such large-scale events are beneficial for promoting the tourism industry. People from all over the world travel to the host country to watch the games and thus it gives a boost to the country’s economic position and increase the revenue. For instance, Calgary has seen a huge influx of tourists every year since the last Olympic event organized in 1980’s. To conclude, the Olympic games can benefit the country’s tourism industry, but the cost to organize such events marginally outweigh the short-term benefits. Therefore, I agree with the statement that it is indeed huge waste of any country’s spending.