The Olympic Cash Machine

Two Professors from Tanaka Business School, Imperial College London contributed to a forensic examination of who stands to be the real winners and losers in the race to the London Olympics

Two of Tanaka Business School’s experts appeared on the Channel 4's Dispatches on Monday 10 September.  Professor Stefan Szymanski, and Adjunct Professor PY Gerbeau worked with producers to provide expert advice on the business of sport for the programme.
The programme, called The Olympic Cash Machine, investigated claims that individuals stand to personally gain financially from the organisation's complex funding arrangements.
Their commentary, on the cost and implications of UK Government’s own project estimations for the London Games, provided a clearer story for viewers.  Both the experts were approached by Channel 4 when the programme's commissioners' decided to investigate the complex and sizable funding that supports the Olympics. 
Stefan was asked to review and analyse research and previously unreleased material passed to Channel 4 as part of its investigation into the Olympics.  PY Gerbeau was interviewed on his own earlier warnings to policy makers that the estimates for the games were too conservative.
Professor Szymanski, said:
"The programme, promises to feature key interviews and previously unseen documents that reveal, the explosive facts about the Olympics the Government never wanted parliament or the public to know."
PY Gerbeau has an established track record in large scale projects.  As well as being an Adjunct Professor at the Tanaka Business School, he is also the chief executive of X-Leisure, the UK’s fastest growing leisure company. 
Professor Szymanski has long been recognised as a leading expert in the economics of sport as a business.  An impressive record of publication in economic related journals and, also of note, the author of a book published in 2005 called National Pastime: How Americans play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer.
For more information and to watch the documentary go to:  http://www.channel4.com/news/dispatches/