Watchdog group warns Olympics could cost $2,000 per household

Even without any cost overruns, hosting the 2026 Winter Games could cost every Calgarian household at least $2,000, says a taxpayer watchdog group.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says they made the calculation by dividing an estimated $1-billion tax bill if the city hosts the Games by 513,878 households.

What they found was every household in Calgary would be paying back at least $2,057 in taxes if a successful bid goes through.

“That $2,000 and change, that’s absolutely best-case scenario,” said the federation’s Alberta director, Franco Terrazzano, adding “those costs are going to climb significantly ” if the Games see any

cost overruns.

A study from Oxford University looked at the cost overruns from every Olympics held between 1960 and 2016, showing the Calgary 1988 Games ran 65 per cent over budget.

If the same were true of a potential Calgary 2026 Olympics, the federation said the per household cost would be $5,810.

And the federation says the Olympic tax bill would take an even larger jump to $10,967 per household if overruns reached the average for a winter Olympiad at 145 per cent, or $3.1 billion.

The federation’s $2,057 calculation assumes Ottawa ponies up 50 per cent of the public funding or $1.5 billion to host the Games, which is the maximum the federal government could pitch in based on its policy for hosting international sporting events.

The Calgary 2026 bid committee has said the total cost for hosting the Games would be $5.23 billion, with the total public investment coming in at $3 billion.

Mary Moran, CEO of Calgary 2026, said last week the estimated Olympic cost to every Calgary household would be “$1,600 to $1,800”, paid back over eight years.

On Thursday, Moran said the estimated $1,600-$1,800 figure isn’t firm, adding she made the comment in “an attempt to make it digestible for the average citizen.”

She called the number “finger math,” based on dividing the $3 billion in public funding from each order of government by the respective number of households in Calgary, Alberta and Canada.

Moran said the cost to Calgarians won’t be known until a costsharing agreement is reached with Ottawa.

“We can’t confirm (the per household cost) until the deal is done,” she said.

Scott Hutcheson, board chair for Calgary 2026, said he expects the province to announce its Olympic contribution next week.

The NDP’s funding announcement last week fell short of the $1 billion widely expected from the province.