London’s Olympic 2012 Scramble

British Olympic legend Sebastian Coe didn’t face any hurdles when he was winning gold in 1980 and 1984. He was a distance runner. But as chairman of London 2012, he faces a big one: The economy.

Steering the city’s summer games got a lot more daunting in the midst of a global financial crisis. Coe’s organization has so far sold 500 million pounds in corporate sponsorships en route to a goal of 700 million pounds (just over $1 billion U.S.). The games will cost an estimated 2 billion pounds ($2.8 billion) overall.

That means putting less effort into selling and more into bartering–the Olympic business lingo is “value in kind”–in trying to trim the cash requirements for the event.

London Olympic Bidders Have Response for Recession

Cities from around the world have descended on Colorado to bid on being the next host of the Olympic Games, but the bid comes with new challenges.

In 2004, Olympic organizers for London were thrilled to learn the city would host the 2012 Summer Games. But they couldn’t predict that five years later, the cost of the games would triple.

Not long after Beijing hosted the world for two weeks in August, the cost of future Olympic games skyrocketed while the global economy tumbled.

A good part of private funding for London’s Olympic Games has vanished during the credit squeeze. One of the major corporate sponsors for the London games has also declared bankruptcy.