Thank God

The Herald reports:

The Government will not be supporting a bid to host the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, Prime Minister John Key said today.

Mr Key said the 2018 games would come with a price tag of nearly $600 million.

The Government share of that was to have been half. …

And Stuff:

“The Government had considered the value from tourism spin-offs and a rise in the country’s profile but decided the losses outweighed the gains.

“The economic loss was so great that we just couldn’t justify it.”

Key said the Government’s support of the Rugby World Cup was different. “The Rugby World Cup has a big cost in terms of investing in stadiums but not in terms of the actual running of the event. The Commonwealth Games it was largely an operating loss for running the event.”

It would be easier to just burn half a billion dollars of bank notes than host the Games.