The Olympic Games take place every 4 years, with the Winter and Summer Games alternating on a 2-year cycle. The Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act (Amateur Sports Act), 36 U.S.C.§ 220501 et seq., which was originally enacted in 1978 as the Amateur Sports Act, gives the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) exclusive jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to the participation of the United States in the Olympic Games, including the representation of the United States in such Games and the organization of the Games when held in the United States. The Amateur Sports Act was amended in 1998 to incorporate the Paralympic Games under the umbrella of USOC. Although organized separately, the 1996 Summer Olympic Games marked the first time the Paralympic Games were held in conjunction with the Olympic Games in the United States. On May 27, 1997, SLOC was awarded the rights to host the 2002 Winter Paralympic Games. Lake Placid, NY, a small village with a population of 3,500 at the time, served as the host city for the Winter Olympic Games in 1980. According to information compiled by a USOC official, 1,072 athletes from 37 countries participated in 38 skiing, skating, and sledding events at 6 venue locations for an audience of 517,000 people. At that time, the Paralympic Games were not held in conjunction with the Olympic Games. According to a Department of Commerce report following the Games, and as shown in figure 1, about $363 million was spent on planning and staging these Games. The Lake Placid Organizing Committee (LPOC) funded about $121 million (33 percent) of the total cost. The State of New York provided about $63 million (17 percent) for building and constructing venues, such as the alpine, cross-country, and biathlon skiing facilities in the Lake Placid area. In addition, the federal government provided about $179 million (50 percent) in funding and support. According to the Department of Commerce report, of the $179 million in federal funding and support, Congress specifically designated about $96 million for Olympic-related projects, and the remaining approximately $83 million was approved and provided through the normal funding procedures of the departments of Defense, Transportation, Commerce, Energy, the Interior, and Justice. Collectively, the departments of Commerce and the Interior provided about $102 million (57 percent) of the total federal expenditures. As shown in figure 2, federal funding and support for the Games, or about $127 million (71 percent of the federal share), was used for venue construction (37 percent) and housing for the athletes (34 percent). Specifically, the federal government helped finance the ski jumps, speed skating oval, skating arena, winter sports arena, luge run, parking facilities, dressing rooms, and storage facilities. The federal government also provided housing and infrastructure support projects for the athletes, trainers, and coaches, such as the temporary and permanent buildings erected on a 55-acre site near Lake Placid used to house the athletes participating in the Games. These facilities were also used for security operations. The remaining direct federal funding and support were used for safety- and security–related activities, which accounted for about $23 million (13 percent); transportation projects, such as highway, airport, and railway improvements, which accounted for about $16 million (9 percent); and staging-and-operations activities during the Olympic events, which accounted for about $13 million (7 percent). Appendix II lists the specific federally sponsored Olympic-related projects and activities and the amounts of federal funding and support for each. In February 2002, according to SLOC officials, Salt Lake City will become the largest city to host the Winter Olympic Games and will also become the host of the largest Winter Olympic Games held to date. SLOC officials expect that this city, with a population of approximately 1.5 million people, will host 3,500 Olympic athletes participating in 70 sporting events at 10 venues. Additionally, SLOC officials expect 1,100 Paralympic athletes to participate in 34 sporting events at 10 venues. As of July 31, 2001, the total direct cost for projects and activities related to planning and staging the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City is estimated at $1.9 billion. As shown in figure 3, SLOC plans to fund about $1.3 billion (70 percent). Additionally, Utah state officials working with SLOC report that Utah state agencies and institutions are planning to provide about $150 million (8 percent) and the Salt Lake City local government is planning to provide about $75 million (4 percent) for such projects as roads and bus systems directly related to supporting the Games. Finally, of the $1.9 billion, it is estimated that the federal government will provide approximately $342 million (18 percent) of the total direct cost for planning and staging the Games. Specifically, 18 federal agencies reported that they have provided or plan to provide an estimated $342 million in funding and support for projects and activities directly related to the planned 2002 Games. Of the $342 million in federal funding and support provided or planned for the 2002 Games, Congress had specifically designated about $208 million (61 percent) for specific Olympic-related projects and activities. About $134 million (39 percent) was approved by the agencies and provided through their normal funding procedures. As shown in figure 4, the federal government’s involvement includes safety- and security-related activities, transportation, housing and infrastructure support, venue building and construction, and staging operations during the Games. In total, not including additional security costs that may be incurred as a result of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the federal government plans to spend about $185 million on safety- and security-related activities. Such activities range from venue perimeter security projects and activities during the Games themselves to heightened security-related activities of individual agencies necessitated by the Games. For example, the General Services Administration (GSA) plans to spend about $1.6 million to protect its facilities during the Games. These are funds that GSA would not have had to spend were it not for the Olympic Games. The next largest amount of federal funding and support is about $106 million for transportation projects. The Department of Transportation plans to spend this amount in part to provide a temporary spectator transportation system. This system will consist of Salt Lake City transit buses and drivers and borrowed transit buses and drivers from other cities across the United States, bus maintenance, construction and operation of park-and-ride lots, and loading and unloading facilities. In addition, the Department of Transportation is planning to provide an additional $25 million, of the total $27 million allocated for venue construction, to support the building and construction of access roads to certain venues for the Games. An estimated $19 million in federal funds is also being provided to support staging-and-operations activities during the Games. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is providing an estimated $4 million for Salt Lake City redevelopment projects and temporary housing for the athletes participating in the Games. Appendix III lists the specific federally sponsored Olympic-related projects and activities and the amounts of federal funding and support for each. Los Angeles, then a metropolis of more than 11 million people, hosted the 1984 Olympic Games. According to information compiled by a USOC official, about 7,078 athletes from 140 nations participated in 221 sporting events at 27 venues for an audience of an estimated 8 million visitors to the Olympic Games. At that time, the Paralympic Games were not held along with the Olympic Games. As shown in figure 5, the reported total direct cost to plan and stage the 1984 Games was approximately $707 million. Of this amount, LAOOC reported providing about $629 million (89 percent) of the total direct cost for the Games. The remaining approximately $78 million of the total direct cost for planning and staging the Games, as we reported in September 2000, was provided by the federal government through the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Justice, State, Transportation, Health and Human Services, the Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Federal Communications Commission and the U.S. Information Agency. Although data on California and Los Angeles government funding and support for the 1984 Games were not available, according to the former LAOOC Vice-President for Government Relations for the 1984 Games, state and local funding was minimal. According to this official, Los Angeles voters passed a charter amendment in November 1978 prohibiting any capital expenditure by the city on the Olympic Games that would not, by binding commitment, be reimbursed. As noted in our September 2000 report, Los Angeles city officials believed that the host cities for Olympic Games held before 1984 often overextended themselves by trying to complete state-of-the-art Olympic venues and related capital improvement projects. Such actions, in their view, pushed those host cities into debt that remained long after the Games. As a result, city officials decided that they (1) would not undertake any new construction or capital improvements specifically for the Olympic Games and (2) would encourage spectators to use the transit or bus systems in place at the time or simply to drive their cars to the events. Figure 5 also shows that the approximately $78 million in federal funding and support represented about 11 percent of the total cost for projects and activities related to the Games. As shown in figure 6, about $74 million of the federal expenditures was used to support safety- and security-related activities for the Games. The remaining $4 million was used for staging- and-operations activities during the events. Of the $78 million total, Congress specifically designated about $76 million for mostly security- related projects and activities, and $2 million (3 percent) was approved by the federal agencies and provided through their normal funding procedures. Appendix IV lists the specific federally sponsored Olympic- related projects and activities and the amounts of federal funding and support for each.