Here's how much money the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics have made We're talking about half a billion, but it's not enough

Just days before the start of the most intense week for Italian pop culture, caught between Milan Fashion Week and the Sanremo Music Festival, on Sunday, February 22, the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics officially came to an end. A historic edition in more than one sense: the first ever to be “spread out”, with competitions and venues distributed across Milan, Cortina, and several mountain locations in Lombardy and Veneto, and also one of the most complex from both an organizational and economic standpoint.

The twenty days of competition, which become many more when factoring in side events, brand activations, and hospitality, now make it possible to draw a first balance sheet of the Games’ direct revenues. According to estimates reported by ItaliaOggi, the total would amount to around €550 million, a significant figure largely driven by the contribution of the 56 official sponsors, but still below the initial expectations outlined in the preliminary bid documents.

Where do Milano-Cortina 2026’s revenues come from?

One of the pillars of the economic model of Fondazione Milano Cortina, the body responsible for the operational organization of the Games, was ticketing. And it is precisely here that some of the clearest figures emerge. Around 1.3 million tickets were sold, generating total revenues of close to €200 million. As a result, the average ticket price settled at around €154. A high figure, which in fact made the box office largely inaccessible until the final days of competition, when discounts and last-minute sales were introduced to fill particularly large venues, especially in urban locations.

Still partially opaque, however, is the revenue stream linked to merchandising, hospitality, and on-site PR activities, elements that have taken on increasing weight in recent major international sporting events. According to ItaliaOggi, these figures have not yet been made public in a structured way, making it difficult to assess how much they actually contributed to the overall financial balance. It is also worth noting that official merchandise is still available for the Paralympic Games, which will kick off on March 6, accompanied by pop-up stores across the city.

The third major pillar of the budget comes from the International Olympic Committee, which allocates host countries a share derived from the sale of broadcasting rights and agreements with the IOC’s global sponsors. For Milano-Cortina 2026, this contribution has been estimated at around €570 million, linked to the IOC’s 11 worldwide premium partners, including Airbnb, Alibaba, Allianz, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, Omega, P&G, Samsung, and Visa.

The Olympics helped Milan’s GDP

The picture does not end there. As highlighted in a 2025 report by Il Sole 24 Ore, the real test will be the assessment of the indirect effects on the territory. Early estimates point to a total economic impact of around €5.3 billion, driven by increased tourism, higher consumer spending, and job creation. Of this, €2.5 billion would concern Milan alone, with an estimated city GDP growth of +1.7%. Significant figures, but ones that must be read alongside another key data point: the overall costs of the Games, which have risen compared to initial forecasts, exceed €6 billion when factoring in infrastructure, security, promotion, and logistics. As a result, based on these first estimates, the Milano-Cortina balance sheets appear decisively in the red.