Bournemouth University

School of Tourism

BU's Adam Blake discusses Olympics with the Voice Of America

Page published: 29 June 2012

Professor Adam Blake, Chair in Economics at BU, spoke to the Voice Of America as the ‘middle ground’ in the Olympics argument as to whether the UK will really profit from the gigantic sporting event to be held in London this summer.

Placed between an argument from former British Olympic gold medallist and member of the London organizing committee Jonathan Edwards saying people who worry about the cost of the Games are not thinking about the bigger picture, and leading anti-Olympics activist Julian Cheyne who had his apartment flattened by the Olympic developments.

Adam told VOA, “It looks like on balance that there’s a big benefit to hosting the Olympics. There are uncertainties, and there are things we don’t know about even now.”

Blake further stated “there are negatives, as part of it. But there’s a huge amount of money coming into the UK, and that really drives a huge amount of benefits.”

He also acknowledged that the biggest potential benefits lie in the future, and therefore carry the greatest uncertainty, adding “Will London be seen in 10 years time with a big Olympic halo effect? That’s really a potential really big number that outweighs everything that’s going to happen in two weeks in July and August.”

You can watch the report in full online.