As the Sochi Winter Olympics begins, people are making comparisons between the Russian venue and the host cities that have come before it.
This year's games in Sochi disprove any notion that the Winter Olympics lacks the pomp of the Summer Olympics. Medal counts aside, each successive host city works to make its games bigger, its torch relays longer and its total cost greater than the games before. Well, maybe not the latter so much, but Sochi's estimated $51 billion price tag sure makes it seem that way.
See also: 12 Sochi Photos That Russia Probably Doesn't Want You to See
When compared, the facts and figures of the Winter Olympics certainly show signs of trending more and larger. Back in 1998, 72 events comprised the Nagano Games. That number has increased to 98 in just 16 years. Another drastic increase is in the hours of coverage. CBS covered 123.8 hours of the Nagano Games, while NBC plans to cover 539 hours of Sochi competition. When the additional 1,000+ planned hours of online streaming content is added to that total, the 2014 numbers dwarf 1998.
Below, we've created a few visualizations to give you a better idea of how the games of past and present stack up next to one another.

Total Cost of Winter Olympics | Create Infographics
Much of this data was compiled using an inflation calculator. The exact price of the Nagano Olympics is unknown, as a Japanese official ordered the documents burned. The Turin figure was calculated based on a statement by former mayor Valentino Castellani, along with a Euro inflation calculator.

Host City Size and Population | Create Infographics

The Torch Relays | Create Infographics
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