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.