The Rio 2016 Organizing Committee announced on Monday that it will reduce聽its budget for next year鈥檚 Olympics by as much as 30 percent, . The decision, which affects the games鈥櫬爄nfrastructure and volunteer numbers, in Brazil.
鈥淭he days of lavish spending are over,鈥澛爏aid Mario Andrada, director of communications for聽Rio 2016, according to the BBC. 鈥淲e need to be creative in the way we find these savings.鈥
While the games are privately聽funded, the BBC reports that聽any overages would be billed to the Brazilian government. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, initially budgeted at $12 billion, eventually cost host country Russia $51 billion, .
According to Andrada, the games themselves will not be affected鈥15,000 athletes are expected to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics combined鈥攂ut the opening ceremony will be scaled back, along with a halt to contract work for聽video production and an increased reliance on tents instead of permanent structures.聽The games鈥 volunteer program will also be scaled back聽from an initial 70,000 volunteers聽to 60,000.
The Rio Olympics begin on August 5.