The extravagant opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics – a spectacle on the River Seine – came with a price tag of around €100 million, a government report has revealed. The cost has drawn criticism, with some estimates suggesting the total could exceed €120 million when security expenses are factored in.
Details of the spending were made public in an annex to France’s 2025 finance bill, which tracks public funding for sports. By contrast, the London 2012 opening ceremony cost just 30 million euros, raising questions about Paris’s big-budget approach.
The ceremony formed part of a broader Games budget that grew substantially during the event's preparation and delivery. Total public spending on the event ballooned to at least 2.8 billion euros, French daily Le Monde reported after analysing the finance bill.
Initial forecasts put the public spending for the Paris Games at 1.47 billion euros. That figure was later bumped to 2.4 billion. However costs continued to climb, driven by infrastructure, security and extra add-ons.
The organising committee received 204 million euros in public funding, including a late addition of 33 million euros "to preserve the ambition of the Paralympic Games", the report said.
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The total budget for the Paris Olympics, including private funding from sources such as the International Olympic Committee, ticket sales and corporate partners, exceeded 4.4 billion euros.
The spending breakdown included 1.68 billion euros for Olympic infrastructure through Solideo, the public body responsible for delivering venues, and 579 million euros in additional investments.
These figures did not include various other expenses such as medal winner bonuses and free ticket distributions, according to the report.
While public contributions may seem small in comparison, critics say the costs add pressure to the state's already strained finances.
The ceremony marked the first time in Olympic history that the opening event was held outside a stadium, with boats carrying athletes along a six-kilometre route through the heart of Paris.
