The difference being Sue, UK already has many World class Stadia for football & we hosted the European Cup in 1996, extra tax payers money wasn't invested into a grand arena & "Football Village" to accommodate the teams unlike the Olympics.
Several places benefited by the football played at their grounds (Liverpool, Nottingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, London) & the locations where teams stayed usually accompanied by their supporters also received an important financial boost to their economies.
The cost to the Public purse is around 11 Billion, according to the attached report. I can't quite grasp such figures, but I'm pretty sure the return will most definitely not come close. So for me, despite all the trumpeting & drum banging the "Games" are in my view a wasteful squandering of a finite resource that could be better used.
As to the Legacy of the games that is also debatable, what isn't debatable is the huge bill which the tax payer will be picking up & paying for for a long time to come.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/co...ympics-report/