FX.co ★ Cost of the Olympic Games

The Summer Olympics in Rio will decrease the Brazilian budget by $12-14 billion. The hosting country paid $20 million for the opening ceremony which is a quite modest price compared to the previous Summer Olympics. Marco Balich, the producer of the opening ceremony in Rio, said that he couldn't put up exorbitant sums towards the show, as the country needs money for education and sanitation purposes.

While the most expensive ticket to the first day of the 2016 Olympics costs $1,600, price of tickets to the opening ceremony of the previous Olympics was up to $3,000.

Photo: the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics, August 5.

Photo: the world-famous Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen at the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics.

Let us remind that the 31st Summer Olympics is being held in Rio de Janeiro from 5 to 21 August.

Photo: the show on the opening day of the Rio Olympics.

The previous Summer Olympics were held in London in 2012. The UK spared no expenses in arranging the main sporting event – the opening ceremony cost $40 million. The top celebrities of the event, Paul McCartney and Arctic Monkeys, were paid a symbolic sum of just 1 pound.

A private show of the former Beatles star Paul McCartney costs 1 million of pounds, and the price for the Arctic Monkeys show is 115,000 pounds.

China paid the biggest sum - $100 million – for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics. Total cost of hosting the grand sporting event in Beijing amounted to $40 billion. The organizers of the event have reportedly lashed out $1.3 million on fireworks.

How much the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles cost is unknown. However, the test-pilot Bill Suttor is known to have been paid $1,000 for flying on a jetpack before a large audience.

How much the USSR spent on the opening ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics is also unknown. Nevertheless, Victor Chizhikov, the artist who created that very Olympic bear, managed to recall that he got 250 rubles ($391) for the sketch of the Olympic mascot.