here in Boston, the “Boston 2014” Olympic Committee is making a desperate, last push to get Boston as the 2014 host city. One of the claims made by the group, is that “no taxpayer” money will be used to stage the games-they claim that the sale of tickets, TV rights, etc., will pay for the whole thing-and even generate a $210 million “surplus”. they have also trotted out charts showing that they can purchase over 120 insurance policies, which will insure against construction cost overruns (chuckle).
My question is: are these really "insurance’, or a just another addition to a bonding agreement. A general contractor is hired to build a stadium-knowing bid practices, he bids 30% under the real cost-then wins the contract. When construction is about 50% complete, he then informs the Olympic organization that he needs 30% more money to complete it-who would sell such a policy under such conditions?
To me, the Olympics have evolved into a vast money grubbing exercise-the host cities pay of a fortune (for venues unlikely to ever be used again-Google Athens 2012), and never ecover what they spend. this means that taxpayers pay the bill-and being bonded debt-they pay for the next 30-50 years.
Given the shady policies surrounding the Olympics, do legitimate insurance companies ell such insurance?
I suspect it is actually something in the fine print of the construction contracts, and not real insurance at all.
Good luck with that. This is 2015. 
Oops…i meant “Boston 2024”:smack:
Yes, insurance companies do sell completion bonds for construction projects. As part of that deal their people need to be involved in the bid process, to ensure that the bids reflect reality to a reasonable degree.
Thanks…given the track record of such projects in MA, the premiums must be enormous. Of course, getting a payout might also be hard.