雖然國際奧委會一直著力鼓吹奧運會主辦城市的經(jīng)濟遺產(chǎn)，然而舉辦一項重大活動所面臨的巨大的運營挑戰(zhàn)會引起巨大的后勤、安全和經(jīng)濟壓力。為了尋找改善未來奧運會的想法，我采訪了克里斯·鄧普西（Chris Dempsey）。他是拒絕波士頓舉辦2024年夏季運動會的創(chuàng)始成員之一。這位前貝恩公司顧問認為經(jīng)常性的費用超支和場地封存強調(diào)了改變奧運會商業(yè)模式的需要。

While the International Olympic Committee touts host cities’?economic legacy, the immense?operational challenge of running a mega event?creates?intense logistical, security, and financial pressures. For ideas on how to improve future Olympics,?I?spoke with Chris Dempsey, a founding member of the group that?defeated Boston’s bid for the 2024 Summer Games. The former Bain & Company consultant argues that recurring cost overruns and mothballed?venues?highlight the need for the Olympics to change its business model.

HBR：19世紀末，法國人皮埃爾·德·顧拜旦被希臘考古出來的古跡迷住，有了喚醒古代奧林匹亞比賽精神并把它帶入現(xiàn)代的想法。因此，第一屆奧運會1896年在希臘舉行。當時顧拜旦的商業(yè)模式是什么？

HBR: In the late 1800s the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin was enthralled by the archaeological excavations at Olympia in Greece. He gets the idea to revive the spirit of those ancient competitions and bring them to the modern age. The first modern Olympics takes place in Greece in 1896. What was Coubertin’s business model?

鄧普西：它的商業(yè)模式是實際上是建立在19世紀的另一項發(fā)明——世博會的基礎上的。這個想法是如果想讓一大批量的人都能夠參與這些活動，確實需要將他們從不同城市和大陸聚集起來。如果在同一地點，那么絕大多數(shù)人可能需要花費許多星期乘船到達。所以皮埃爾.德.顧拜旦認為奧運會應該像世博會一樣來回更換場地。

Dempsey: His business model was really based on that of the World’s Fair, another 19th-century invention. The idea was, for a wide range of people to experience these events, you really did have to move them around different cities and different continents. If you have them in one place year after year, that requires potentially many weeks of travel by boat for most people. So Pierre de Coubertin said the Olympics should move around, just like the World’s Fair.

他開創(chuàng)了一項運動并且?guī)椭鷦?chuàng)建了如今價值數(shù)十億美元的重大活動和一個難以置信的國際品牌。商業(yè)模式在這樣的成功中扮演了什么角色？

He?started a movement and helped create what’s now a multibillion-dollar mega event and an incredible international brand. How responsible was the business model for that success?

?

我們的確應該贊揚顧拜旦的遠見卓識和成就。但即使是在第一屆奧運會中你就能看到和今天一樣費用超支和建造過多的問題。希臘國王要求顧拜旦在雅典每4年舉辦一次奧運會，他們已經(jīng)建設了基礎設施。但是顧拜旦致力循環(huán)模式。最終這項運動成為各個城市開始爭奪的目標，他們都迫切地想借此機會向其他國家展示和炫耀自己可以舉行如此大規(guī)模的國際賽事。

You have to give Pierre de Coubertin credit for the boldness of his vision and for what he was able to achieve. But even in?the very first Olympics you saw the same sorts of cost overruns and overbuilding that you see today.The king of Greece asked Pierre de Coubertin to hold them in Athens every four years. They’d already built the infrastructure. But Coubertin was committed to the rotation model. Eventually the Games became something that cities started to compete for. They really wanted the opportunity to show off to the rest of the world and demonstrate that they, too, could host such a large-scale international event.

從許多方面來看這都是一種授權(quán)商業(yè)模式。國際奧委會是一個相對而言小的組織，實際上它所做的就是把權(quán)利出售給不同的組織，包括舉辦權(quán)、轉(zhuǎn)播權(quán)和贊助權(quán)。這個模式要想成功，上述每一個領域都要有需求。贊助和轉(zhuǎn)播方面的需求一直強勁，但主辦城市卻對是否值得舉辦一屆奧運會有許多問題。

The business model is, in many ways, a franchise model. The International Olympic Committee is a relatively small organization. What it does, effectively, is sell the rights to various parties: the rights to host, to broadcast, and to sponsor the Games. For that model to be successful, it needs to have demand in each of those areas. There’s continued strong demand on the sponsorship side and on the television side. You’re seeing questions from the host city side about whether it’s really worth it.

2014年你合作創(chuàng)立了“拒絕波士頓奧運”團體來阻止波士頓競標舉辦2024年夏季奧運會。一年內(nèi)，隨著公眾支持不斷削弱，支持者最終撤銷了他們的競標。美國奧委會選擇洛杉磯作為奧運會的競選城市。你在阻止波士頓競標時最有力的觀點是什么？

In 2014 you cofounded?No Boston Olympics?to fight Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Games. Within a year, as public support kept eroding, supporters withdrew their bid. The United States Olympic Committee made Los Angeles the country’s candidate host city instead. What was your strongest argument in defeating the Boston bid?

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我們最重要的觀點是圍繞國際奧委會對納稅人的擔保要求。國際奧委會要求和主辦城市以及納稅人簽一個合同以保證他們會對費用超支負責。當國際奧委會自己無法為奧運會買單時，設計這樣的激勵很難讓他們能夠選擇到一個從財政、環(huán)境以及社會責任方面都匹配的計劃。我認為波士頓人看到了，舉辦奧運會成本和風險遠超過它帶來的收益。

The most important argument on our side was around the IOC’s requirement of a taxpayer guarantee. The IOC requires a signed contract that makes the host city and its taxpayers responsible for cost overruns. The incentives just are not aligned for the IOC to choose a fiscally, environmentally, and socially responsible plan when it’s not picking up the tab. I think Bostonians saw that the costs and the risks far outweighed the benefits.

你認為奧運會的商業(yè)模式已經(jīng)過時了，為什么？

You believe that the Olympic business model is outdated. How so?

顧拜旦在第一次舉辦1896年奧運會時，他還看不到一個有電視、網(wǎng)絡、洲際航空旅行的世界。技術(shù)的便利縮小了世界，無論是親臨現(xiàn)場還是在自家客廳觀看奧運比賽都非常方便。今天，你絕對不會像顧拜旦在1896年那樣舉辦奧運會。但我們緊緊還抓著19世紀的模式，對世界的快速發(fā)展置之不理。

When Coubertin launched the Games in 1896, he could not have conceived of a world with television, the internet, and intercontinental air travel. All of these things have shrunk our world and made it so much easier to experience the Olympics, in person or in your living room. In today’s world you’d never start the Olympics the way?Coubertin did in 1896. We’ve clung to that 19th-century model while the world has passed it by.

令人遺憾的是，主辦城市的居民負擔了這些成本，而不是國際奧委會。這就是我們看到里約出現(xiàn)這么多問題的原因。那里的人知道這是把大量資源用在錯誤的地方上。

Sadly, the people who endure the costs of that decision aren’t the IOC —?they’re the residents of the host city. That’s the reason we’re seeing?so many issues with Rio. People there understand it’s an example of massive resources going to the wrong things.

你讀過哈佛商學院，還是貝恩咨詢公司的前顧問。如果國際奧委會雇你為奧運會想出一個新的商業(yè)模式，你會怎么做？

You went to Harvard Business School. You’re a former consultant at Bain & Company. Put on your consultant hat. If the International Olympic Committee hired you to come up with a new business model for the Olympics, what would you tell them?

國際奧委會應該找一個永久性的地點或者小數(shù)量的半永久性的地點來舉辦夏季和冬季奧運會。這樣做仍然能保證國際奧委會獲得和今天同樣多的收入，但是舉辦城市會以一個遠低于現(xiàn)在的成本來舉辦。事實上，這一改變還可以加強奧運會品牌，并且?guī)椭S多我們已經(jīng)聽到過的里約以及索契的負面消息。

The IOC should find a permanent location or maybe a small number of semipermanent locations to host the Summer and Winter Games. Doing so would still allow the IOC?to generate as much revenue as it?does today, and at a far lower cost to the hosts. In fact, this change?could strengthen the Olympic brand, and help forgo many of the negative stories we’ve heard in Rio and Sochi.

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國際奧委會應該將商業(yè)模式從授權(quán)轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)樽约航?jīng)營。這對國際奧委會來說可能是一個大膽的飛躍，但這最終會給國際奧委會和相關利益者帶來更多的收入。

The IOC would transform itself?from a franchising business, going into business itself?and taking responsibility for running the Games. This?would be a bold leap for the IOC, one that ultimately would lead to a much better outcome not just for the IOC but also for its stakeholders.

一個永久的舉辦地的確會給你一個和現(xiàn)在同等規(guī)模的景觀，所有的運動員在開幕式和閉幕式時都會聚集在同一個地方。但這會讓我們喪失每一次在世界上不同城市閃耀的機會。

A permanent location would still give you that same scale of the spectacle. All the athletes would be in one place for the opening and closing ceremonies. But we?would lose the ability to shine the limelight on a different world city each time.

國際奧委會做得最好的創(chuàng)造價值最多的，在于創(chuàng)造了全世界觀眾都樂意消費的真正引人注目的內(nèi)容。我想不出一個你為什么不能在一個永久場地舉辦奧運會的理由。你可以在定期重復大型活動的基礎上攀登經(jīng)驗曲線。這是現(xiàn)今奧林匹克模式的關鍵挑戰(zhàn)：你要求你一個城市舉辦世界上最大的、最奢侈的、最復雜的活動，卻只讓它舉辦一次。

What the IOC does best and where it creates the most value is in creating really compelling content that people around the world want to consume. And I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t be able to do that at a permanent location. You’d be able to climb the experience curve by repeating these activities on a regular basis. That’s one of the key challenges with the Olympic model today: You’re asking a city to host the world’s biggest, most extravagant, most complicated event, but to do it only once.

在地球另一邊不同時區(qū)的轉(zhuǎn)播利益相關者會怎么看？

What about those broadcast stakeholders in a time zone on the opposite side of the globe?

這可能是最棘手的問題。電視廣播公司都想要盡可能多的在黃金時段直播現(xiàn)場賽事。你可能會有贏家和輸家。但總體來說，轉(zhuǎn)播利益相關者的總體收入總價值不一定會下降。

That is probably the trickiest issue. Television broadcasters want as many live events to occur in their primetime hours as possible. You would have winners and losers. As a whole, I don’t necessarily see the overall value from the broadcasting stakeholders declining.

你提到的另外一個模式呢？小數(shù)量的分散地區(qū)可能顧全不同時區(qū)廣播媒體的利益。但是你會失去讓所有運動員都在同一個地方開閉幕式的壯觀景象。這還可能會分散運行和財務負擔，但也會到處擴散奧運會的規(guī)模。

What about your other alternative model? A small number of distributed locations would perhaps help with the broadcast media stakeholders. But you’d lose that spectacle of having all the athletes in the same place. It would distribute a lot of the operational and the financial burden, but it would also diffuse much of the scale.

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這一點其實在是否舉辦波士頓奧運會的時候討論過很多。的確，將所有運動員和觀眾聚集在一個5平方英里的地方有一定的魔力效果。但另一方面，99.9%接觸奧運會的人是在屏幕上看的，這些人分散在世界各地。不論這些運動員是否在同一個地方，他們都將會有相同的體驗。我想你可以找到一些辦法來維持這一魔力，同時不用花費把他們都聚集在一起的成本和缺點。

You heard a lot about that in the Olympic debate in Boston, that there’s a certain magic to bringing all those athletes and visitors together into a five square-mile area. On the other hand, 99.9% of people who engage with the Olympics do so on a screen and are distributed throughout the world. They’re going to have a similar experience, whether all those athletes are in one place or not. I think you can find ways to make it work and still retain that magic without all of the costs and drawbacks of having them all in one location.

2014年國際奧委會通過了一系列改革，被稱為“奧林匹克2020計劃”（Olympic Agenda 2020）。他們設置的目標是讓奧運會更實用并且舉辦城市負擔得起。在這一計劃下，國際奧委會將會支持使用臨時和現(xiàn)有場地，這樣將成本降低。調(diào)整過后的這一商業(yè)模式會有用嗎？

In 2014 the IOC passed a series of reforms called Olympic Agenda 2020. The stated goal is to make hosting the Olympics more practical and affordable for cities. Under this plan, the IOC would support the use of temporary and existing venues that would cost less. Can the existing business model work with some changes?

國際奧委會在這之前就宣稱他們了解這些問題并且準備改革，但實際上它并沒有表現(xiàn)出執(zhí)行這些承諾的意愿。我認為這一商業(yè)模式再向前發(fā)展，最有可能是國際奧委會將繼續(xù)做他們現(xiàn)在正在做的。它會繼續(xù)希望每幾年都會有一些城市為了在國際舞臺上閃閃發(fā)光的機會而承擔這個風險。事情會跌跌撞撞地向前發(fā)展，不幸的結(jié)果還是會由舉辦城市的居民和納稅者承擔。我想我看到了改變即將來臨，可是國際奧委會沒有做任何事情給我信心覺得他們會真正改革。

The IOC has made the claim before that it?understands the issue and that it’s?going to reform, but it?hasn’t actually demonstrated a willingness to stick to those promises. As I think about the business model going forward, the most likely outcome is that the IOC will continue to do what it’s doing. And it will continue to hope that some number of cities every few years will take that risk because of the glittery promise of being on the world stage. Things?will continue to chug along, with unfortunate outcomes for residents and taxpayers in those host cities. I would love to say that I see a change on the way, but there’s nothing that the IOC has done to date that gives me any confidence that it’s?truly reformed.

Curt Nickisch｜文Curt Nickisch是哈佛商業(yè)評論的高級編輯。譯言網(wǎng)網(wǎng)友 異數(shù)｜譯 ?齊菁｜編校