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On a flight to Dubai Expo I watched a surprisingly moving documentary about how America fell out of love with World's Fairs not long after the iconic ones in New York and Seattle. https://www.faceofanationmovie.com/

I still can sing the jingle for the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville. "You've got to be there!"

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My sister lived in the Knoxville area and my whole family went to that Fair, the only World's Fair I've attended. We had a good time, but for Knoxville, it was a financial boondoggle. I've still never been up in the Sun Sphere, which has struggled over the years. And yes, I remember the jingle as well!

The "city" (government) often loses money on these events, but it is typically a huge influx of capital for businesses in the area. I found the numbers for Expo '86 for example...

Revenues: $491m

Expenditures : $802m

Deficit : $311m

Economic contribution :$3,700m

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_86#Facts_and_figures

Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.

Seems like a good thing they fell out of fashion in the US.

I wonder what the numbers look like for the Olympics.

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