The contest to host the 2012 Olympic games has entered its final stages. One by one the candidate cities - London, New York, Paris, Madrid and Moscow - are rolling out the red carpet for delegates from the International Olympic Committee who will assess their bids ahead of the final vote in July. Paris remains favourite to win, but it is a tight contest. Whichever city comes out on top, the big winner is the IOC itself. To have five of the world's greatest cities straining every muscle to win the games is a great boost for the Olympic brand.

This is a far cry from 20 years ago when the IOC was hamstrung by cold war boycotts and desperate to find cities willing to take on the cost of hosting the games. Since then most Olympics have been successful. Better management helped, but the fundamental change was the explosive growth in the value of sports television rights and global advertising, which put the Olympics on a sound economic footing. More recently, the IOC found new resolve to combat corruption and drugs - two potentially fatal (and enduring) threats to its franchise. It is now reaping the reward: at least four, arguably five, attractive options to choose from.