Success Quote by Peter Ueberroth

“The international game” is a tell: Ueberroth frames Olympic-style hosting bids not as civic aspiration but as geopolitical poker, a contest where cities are players and the prize is prestige with a side of leverage. Coming from a businessman who ran the famously profitable 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the line carries boardroom DNA. It’s not lamentation; it’s market intelligence delivered in diplomatic language.

The intent is cautionary and recalibrating. If you’re a mayor, committee member, or corporate backer, he’s signaling that the old playbook - splashy promises, boosterish projections, the faith that hosting equals automatic uplift - no longer closes the deal. The subtext is that the balance of power has shifted. Bidding cities used to chase the event; now the event chases legitimacy in an era of voter pushback, cost overruns, security fears, and post-games “white elephant” stadiums. Citizens have become a veto point, and that changes negotiation dynamics more than any IOC rule tweak.

“Changed” also hints at a harder truth: the reputational ROI has become volatile. Hosting can brand a city as global and competent, or as naive and captured by elites. Ueberroth’s phrasing is intentionally bloodless - “game,” not “burden” - because it flatters decision-makers into thinking they’re strategists, not spenders. It’s a subtle invitation to treat mega-events like any other high-risk deal: demand better terms, share risk, and remember that the audience isn’t just the world’s TV viewers. It’s your own taxpayers watching the scoreboard.