After 20 years the World Student Games not yet ½ paid off.

[rossyrooney 12]

Brilliant post. Within our business we often have to book hotels for guests, and quite often they are booked full due to the various games going on in the City. Its a big plus people dont shout about enough.

 

Much was made of the vast benefits to the hotel and leisure industry the Lib Dem conference was going to make.

 

I find it strange that no mention of the same benefits are made when it comes to the games venues.

[Fareast 10]

Forgive me if I 'm wrong about this-----but apart from all the things that went wrong with the Student Games, I seem to recall that Sheffield ended up as the ONLY contender willing to host the event !

Surely at that point, when Sheffield seemed to ' hold all the cards ' so to speak, we could have saved some money or demanded a better contract ........or a better SOMETHING ! Again, as far as I remember, we just agreed to everything that was asked of us without a whimper !

[alchresearch 215]

I accept your apology.

 

The only apology I'll make to you is that I'm sorry I've made you look a fool!

[crookesey 636]

Well anyone in sound mind surely has to vote No, however continual moaning about it won't reverse what happened. Handling money always caused Labour a problem, whether in local or national politics. Had our venerable city fathers not wasted this money on the World Student Games, rest assured they would have found an alternative.

 

IMHO local referendums on this sort of spending should be a legal requirement.

[buddysbuddy 12]

Labour expected a large wedge from the T.V. companies. The companies made it clear from the start that they weren't interested. The government said they will contribute a set amount of money (can't remember exactly how much).

Betts, Blunket and the rest of the Labour loonies, with their usual breathtaking arrogance ignored this and expected the government to cough up more. They didn't and we are left to pick up the bill.

 

by the way , what happened to the monkeys? [i dont mean betts and blunkett] I mean the souveniers that were supposed to be sold to pay for this mess. If I remember correctly they arrived after the games were over. super planning!!

[MeMyself&I 10]

And how many years will it take for the whole country to pay for the LONDON Olympics? I bet it won't be left to the London LAs to pay for that

[alchresearch 215]

And how many years will it take for the whole country to pay for the LONDON Olympics? I bet it won't be left to the London LAs to pay for that

 

Whole country? Its been paid for by London tax payers, the National Lottery and investment from sponsorship.

[ceeferman 10]

Let's be fair to The Star. Tonight 23/3/11 they have printed two letters criticising their own report and reiterating my earlier point. The £11,000,000 for the games was paid straight away and the ongoing debts including remortgages are for the facilities which started our regeneration and which we have been enjoying ever since. Can you remember what a dump attercliffe was before all this happened?

[daveyk811 10]

article written by taxpayers alliance

' Sheffield city council has a debt problem that costs the taxpayers £30 million a year. It is estimated this debt will not be paid off until 2024...'

 

http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/grassroots/2011/03/sheffield-counting-costs-20-years.html

[mossdog 10]

It can be very difficult to prove wholesale corruption exists in mass sporting events at all levels when counting the cost!................and we are all left the worse for it.

[ormester101 10]

the world student games was under labour so blame them oh sorry most of you want them back in

[andyofborg 11]

and your point is?

 

there is a debt, but the city has also been left with some excellent facilities which are used for many things, most of which do bring money into the city.

 

in particular, those facilities will be very attractive to the countries attending the 2012 olympics as a base for their athletes to prepare for the games.

 

we also need to be consider that the taxpayers alliance are generally more right wing then even the most rabid tory and would quite happily pay to watch a poor person die of starvation while stuffing their faces with a meal cooked by a michelin starred chef