Invictus: Where Is All the Money Going?

So, Bill Simmons of Spotify once called Harry and Meghan a pair of grifters. And, um, in totally unrelated news, the Vancouver games last year for Invictus cost $63 million. And I'm trying to figure out where the money went. And you are coming with me.

So, hi, my name is Rachel. I'm an airline pilot by day, but when I'm on the ground, I love to study business as well as run my cheeky little satirical shop called Monteceto Minimalist. Today we are looking down and we are breaking down, um, Prince Harry's Invictus Games, and it's going to be a series because there's a lot to unpack. There's like, there's, it's just, I've been reading, I, there's so many numbers in my head. Everything's garbled. Um, but today we're going to be unpacking, um, just Vancouver. We're going to unpack two numbers together, two budget numbers together.

And, um, before we begin, I do want to say that this is not a criticism or critique at all on the veterans that competed in the Invictus Games, um, or the volunteers of the Invictus Games. I do believe that it's, it's a very noble effort, and I respect veterans. And the reason why I'm doing this, um, is because, well, I'll just start. My, the reason why I'm alive is because of a veteran. So, my uncle, uh, came from Guatemala and served in the army, and then after the first 10 years of his service, he brought my mother over, and then my aunt, uh, and then my other uncle. But, um, my mother would still be in Guatemala if it was not for my uncle and his service. And so, I, I hold veterans to a really high esteem. And I am also aware that there are organizations that will use veterans as a shield of some sort. I'm not saying this is what Invictus is doing, but I think the least I could do, having been in finance in my former life, is take a look at the big picture and make sure that the money is getting to the people that it says it's serving, in this case, the veterans.

Um, so that's all I'm doing. I'm just, and I'm literally, again, this is not a gossip channel. I've said that before. This is, this is just a fact-based channel. Um, you know, I'm, none of this will be conjecture. I am literally reading off what Invictus themselves have posted, and I am trying to work out the numbers in such a way. So, again, I love veterans. I think if the games helped you with your mental health, I think that's beautiful. It's wonderful. Um, and I am, again, not critiquing. I am not speaking ill. Um, again, I owe my existence because of a service member.

So, anyway, without further ado, uh, we'll get, we'll get into this. Um, here it is. BBC, we've got Prince Harry's Invictus Games Open. The games opened back, back in 2014. Now, for those of you who don't know, the Invictus Games is the UK version of the Wounded Warrior, uh, games. Uh, so, or the Warrior Games, I should say. And Prince Harry apparently saw this in 2013 and thought it was a great idea, and so he opened his own version of the Warrior Games. So, kind of think the Olympics, but for veterans. Okay. Um, beautiful ceremony. Michelle Obama spoke at it. You know, you've got, uh, now King Charles was there. You know, they had this beautiful flyover. It was this really, like, beautiful ceremony. And the opening, the first games cost, um, just about a million dollars.

Now, I am still looking into other games, and I have sent out Freedom of Information requests as well, um, for finances. So, we'll see if they get back to me and if I actually get anything of note, and I will come back and I will report on that. Um, but, yeah, so that's, that's the Invictus Games, uh, in a nutshell. And actually, if you see the initial filing paperwork, Harry isn't on there. So, I think this was more of like, this was maybe done by the palace and like, by, you know, the people sort of behind the scenes. Um, because Harry's never been listed as a trustee or a board member. He's a patron. And that'll be, that'll come up, uh, a little bit later, why that, uh, wording is important, particularly.

Okay. So, first things first, um, so I was looking at the Invictus Games and I was like, and I kept, you know, I looked and I saw Dusseldorf was $40 million. I saw last year in Vancouver that was $63 million. And I thought, oh gosh, you know, that's, that's a hefty amount of change. And I thought, why did it jump up $20 million, you know? Um, and so I, and I've been looking at government deals and, and or government reportings, and I just, you know, but I kept coming back to this budget here, this Invictus Games 2025 expense budget. Something kept, you know, I would go and I would like get lost in another like the Sydney games, and I'd go, "No, but I got to look at this pie chart."

So, here we have this is the original budget. It's $60 million, okay? First and foremost, and I want you to pay attention to two numbers: accommodation and catering at 18%, and workforce at 18%. Now, if we are, we're using the $60 million, right? So, 1% of $60 million is $600,000. So, if you look at, like, ceremonies and villages, you're going, "Okay, well, that's $6 million, right? $600,000 times 10. Okay, that's $6 million." Technology and broadcast. Okay, that's like a little bit over, you know, 6, 6 * 12 is what? $7.2 million. Okay. Same thing with marketing and partnerships. All right. Uh, operations and sport. That kind of makes sense, right? Because you're like, "All right, well, that's, that's a lot to, they don't, I don't, I didn't see that they paid insurance." There was one story that I picked up on that someone got injured, but, um, I don't think they insure, but still, operations in sport, you're thinking, you're renting out the venues, you know, you're getting all the sporting equipment, right? Okay. 22%. All right. Accommodation and catering and workforce.

Now, if we go, we scroll up and we look at the expense highlights. Pay attention to the last two numbers there. $11,168,869 for workforce, including staffing, with a workforce compromise of 90% of volunteers giving their time and passion to play their part in the games' success. 90%? $11 million. So, and then we have $10.7 million for accommodations and catering. Okay. All right. Now, the Invictus Games have always had about 500 players. It's not like they started with a hundred and now they have a thousand, right? And it's like, well, yeah, of course it went up tenfold, right? It was, it's always been around 500. So, Dusseldorf was 40. Invictus Vancouver was 63 million. Okay.

Now, for the, uh, workforce, which is 90% volunteers, we can scroll all the way down. Same page. Same page. All of these links are going to be below, by the way, so you guys can go and look at it yourself. The games' workforce includes 90 full-time staff and 1,900 volunteers. Okay. 90 staff for $11 million. I think that was an error. And I found it in a Canadian, uh, a state document, uh, that was by the Canadian, um, government. Anyway, but I, we'll return to that later. Let's go over accommodation and catering, because that's sort of, that was the first one.

All right. So, accommodation and catering. So, I went, I went on the hunt to figure out where they were staying, and I found in this document, in the Friends, Family, and Friends Information Guide, I found out where they were staying. So, and this, this document will also be down below. And there was something that I found interesting. There was the friends and family program that was related to the Invictus Games, where they would pay for the accommodation of two friends and family. So, one room, uh, per competitor. Very noble. Love it. And it all, it sounds like the, the airfare may have also been included. I think it was. And I did add a line for that. Um, now, I could not find any kind of an entry fee for the athletes, but I also didn't find that all veterans were allowed into the Invictus Games. So, I don't know if you had to go through, like, a sponsorship model to get in. I don't know what the cost was. I can't find anything. If you guys want to be able to, if you help a girl out here. Okay. Um, so I don't know if there was an entrance fee.

What I will say, though, that is interesting, is that it does mention buy-in packages for our friends and family. And here, in this, in this PDF here, we have a little slideshow. They have the buy-in package. A limited number of in-room buy-in packages could be available for purchase. These would usually be for minor children sharing a room with a parent and siblings who are sponsored by the friends and family. This buy-in package can include meals at Nation's Home, transportation to game venues, access to sporting events and ceremonies, access to select tourist attractions. Sounds good. Okay. Transportation to the games and Invictus Games branded merch not included. All right. So, I, I'm assuming that means transport, like airfare, is what I'm thinking, right? Obviously not the game venues, because it says that it has, um, and you don't get any merch now. And then, of course, it goes on and it says, "Hey, we can't guarantee that there's going to be two beds, right?" Expect buy-in packages to range from $3,000 to $5,000 per person, plus the cost of airfare. Because you wanted to take your two kids instead of your one kid, you have to pay an extra three grand. That's kind of what that's saying. It's saying here, it says minor children sharing a room with a parent, $3,000 to $5,000. Interesting.

Now, according to that other document, they were, uh, the athletes were staying at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, and the, uh, friends and family were staying at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. Okay. So, I'm going to go down here, and I have, I got, I got my math for you. I'm going to put the screenshot up here. So, Invictus had 534 competitors. All right, that's 1,068 guests, because remember, everyone can bring two. So, that's 1,600, uh, 1,600 people. I just did, I said everyone brought friends and family. So, I did 1,068 rooms, right, for the 534 at the Sheraton and the 534 at the at the Fairmont. I don't know if they, they all brought them, but I'm just using that because, remember, we're trying to find the money.

Now, the athlete rooms were about $350, and I figured, ah, with Friday, Saturday nights, let's just bump it up to $400 bucks. Let's just say it's $400. Now, I used to work in the leisure sales department, uh, for a pretty big hotel, and I did a lot of, like, the group stuff, and so if you had, if it was a wedding, you're getting like 15% off, right? You're like, "All right, well, here's our block of rooms. If you want to stay here for the wedding, here's 15% off, right?" Something like that. Um, if it was, if there was like a convention in town, you would, there would be like, kind of like a bigger discount because we want the rooms, right? If the convention was happening in the hotel, we would do a pretty big discount, okay? Because they're renting all of the expo center. I'll give you an example. Tony Robbins came to our hotel, and I think it was like, I think we ended up giving like 35% off the rooms or something like that. So that to give you an idea of kind of how that works. So I was thinking with this being a charity, there's probably a pretty good chance that these hotel rooms went for less, um, and then they use that off as a write-off, you know, a charitable expense, right? So, but I just did a flat 25%. Okay. 15. Well, I'll say 15 to 25, but 25% I just said, "Hey, let's make the rooms $400 bucks a night. Let's give them a 25% discount." Because right now they're listed at $350. Okay? So, I just said, "Let's just do $300 a night. 534 rooms times $300 is $160,200 per night for the rooms." Now, I'm thinking money is going to add up pretty fast here. Okay. Now, we do $160,200. Remember that's for all the rooms for one night. And we're going to times that by nine nights. Okay. And I should have prefaced this, but Invictus happened, um, over the course of February 8th through the 16th. Okay. So, I did my, my nine nights there. That comes out to $1.4 million. $1,441,800. Okay. Supporter rooms. I did the same thing. 25% discount. Just to figure $200 average. Just make it that. And then we'll do a 25% discount. $150 bucks a night. 534 rooms. $150 bucks a night. $80,000. $80,100 for the, for all the rooms per night. $80,100 times nine is $720,000. $720,900, excuse me. So, the room total for the athletes and for the friends and family is going to be $2.1 million.

Now, if you go and you look at the, the Invictus, like the final numbers, it says here, 286 rooms used by Invictus Games staff, foundation, and contractors. Okay, let's add that in there, right? And let's put them up at the nice hotel. So, I'm going to do 286 rooms times $300 bucks a night. Okay, that comes out to $85,800. So, we're going to times that by the nine nights, and that comes out to $772,200. So, the room total, we're going to add the $772 from the contractors. We're going to add the $2.1 from the athletes and their friends and family. That comes out to just under $3 million. $2,934,900. Cool, right? That makes sense. Catering.

Now, I should say, and there was the paperwork was, the volunteers were not housed. So, because people are going to go, "What about the volunteers?" They were not given a room. So, that was not included in the budget. I also didn't find that they were fed, but I did find a little note in, like, the final paperwork that they provided 9,900 crew meals. So, I'm just gonna do this. Catering, 1,500 people, and I'm going to do $15 a meal, right? Because that's the 500 competitors, and that's their two, that's their two family members, right? So, 1,500 people at $15 bucks a meal comes out to $22,500 per meal, right? Because we, that's because we're doing three square meals a day, right? So, we have to multiply that by three. So, daily meals, $67,500 for daily meals. Okay. And if we're going to times that by nine, that comes out to $67,000 for catering. And I'm doing $15 a meal because it was a buffet. So, I, you know, and I didn't see anything about, you're going to have steak and lobster, we're doing the, you know, Hollandaise. It was kind of like, it was just sort of like it was, it seemed a little more casual, which is totally fine. So, I figure $15 bucks per per person. That's kind of a bit of, it's sort of what the hotels charge. Uh, especially for, like, continental breakfast and stuff. Maybe it's $10 bucks ahead for breakfast, and it was $20, you know, but I'm just using that, like, as an average, right? Um, now, it says on, on the, on the paperwork as well, it said, uh, 9,900 crew meals served for volunteers and workforce. So, I did 9,900. That's $148,500. So, I'm going to tag that on top because I don't know if that was included, but remember, we're trying to get to the money. So, that comes out to the $67,000 for the friends and family, the three square meals a day for friends and family and athletes, plus the $9,900 meals. This comes out to $756,000 for your catering total. This kind of cross-checks a little bit with, if you, if you look on the final numbers here, it says 72,600 meals were provided. And if we do that at about $15, that comes out to about a, a million, a million bucks. Okay. So, the numbers kind of cross-check there. But let's keep going, right? Because this is for accommodation, and what I'm, I'm going to read it right off the page here. Accommodation and catering. Okay. So, with the $2.9 million in rooms and the $756,000 for meals, that comes out to $3.69, $69 million. The budget's 10.8.

So, when I looked at the transportation tab on this final little page here, it says 54 buses running daily. Okay. 54 buses. I don't know what kind of buses they're using. Um, I don't know if there's a definition of, like, a bus. I don't know if it's like, "Oh, well, it's over eight seats, so it's tech." I don't, I don't know. So, what I did was, I just did the luxury coach. That's all I did. I figured that's 50 people. That's luxury coaches. That's to the other village, you know, which I think was like two hours away or something. So, I did transportation at 54 buses a day. I, I tagged on another million dollars for transportation because that comes out to $2,000 per day per bus times 54, right? Because it's 54 buses. Um, and anyway, so that comes out to about a million bucks. So, a million dollar divided by 54 buses comes out to about $18,000 per bus, which breaks down to about $2,000 per day. Does that make sense? Million, you know, million dollars. Kind of worked backwards. So, now we're at $4.6 million. Again, budget 10.8. And I'm being generous. I'm not trying to be stingy here. Um, you know, even with the catering, if we add that extra $300,000, we're only at $4.7 million.

Airfare. Because I saw that friends and family thing, and I thought, airfare. Now, airfare, I work for an airline. I, I know that there are discounted, uh, rates that some, you know, especially with charitable, charitable endeavors, you know, they will do, they will give, uh, lower rates. But I also know that, you know, this is not, we are not flying out of Atlanta to go to Paris in the middle of the summer, okay? So, these aren't going to be very expensive tickets. But I thought, let me just include airfare. Let me just do a $400 budget round trip. And what I took that number was 2,315 people stayed in hotels: competitors, families, nations, staff, and carers. Okay. So, what I did was, I multiplied that by 400 because I thought, all right, yeah, 200 and 200, you know, especially if they're in Canada and they're going to come out and volunteer, that kind of, kind of works, works out to about $400 bucks, um, for 2,315 tickets of $400 bucks for the round trip. That comes out to $926,000. Now, it was not confirmed. I, I could kind of see it in the friends and family. It looked like the airfare was confirmed. I don't know about the athlete. I don't know if they had to pay any kind of an entrance fee. I don't, I, I really have, I have no idea. Um, if you guys could find that, someone's got a way back machine, you know, let me know. But even if we doubled that, let's say we doubled that, we did $800 round trip per person for the 2,315 people, that would be just under $2 million at $1.8 million. So, we're going to add the $4.6 million that we got from everything leading up to it. Remember, this is catering. This is rooms for everyone. This is rooms for staff. Okay. This is transportation, right? If we add everything and we do the $800 airfare, the total cost is $6,452,000. And remember how I said, "Oh, I'm going to, you know, I'm short that $300,000 because of all the sort of that extra meals." Okay, let's add the $300,000. $6.452 turns into $6.7. Let's say $6.8. Let's round up. $6.8 million on a $10 million budget. I am, I am using Invictus's own paperwork. I am not, I am not going outside of Invictus's own paperwork or any kind of government documentation. Okay. Um, let me know what I am missing because I am missing $4 million, and I can't think of anything else that I can accommodate under the transportation section for the athletes, the friends and family, or the staff. I did airfare, I did the buses, I did rooms, I did catering. I'm short $4 million. So, please, please let me know what I'm missing.

All right. Number two, the other, the other 18% circle here. Okay. Workforce. This one's a little bit more, remember? So, if we go here, it says $11.168. So, $11,168,869 for workforce, including a staffing or including staffing with a workforce compromise of 90% of volunteers giving their time and passion to play the part of the Invictus Games success. And if we go all the way down here, it says the games' workforce includes 90 full-time staff and 1,900 volunteers. $11 million for 90 staff members. Now, if I go in for a week, if I go in, that's $123,000. Sign me up. Sign me up for that. Now, I think that this was done in, in error, because I went, you're going to love this. I went and I found the British Columbia Contribution Agreement, which includes a labor force and volunteers plan. So, here's the contribution agreement between His Majesty the King in right of the province of British Columbia and the Vancouver Whistler Games Corporation. So, I read through all of this, and I was reading, "Oh my god, it's redacted." "The recipient agrees that it will not apply the contribution towards any cost, expenses, fees, or payments." That's weird. A government document redacted. What? Anyway, so you keep going down, and then you see this, both operating costs and legacy projects, and redacted. It's nice. And then we keep going, and we keep going. And this is, this is my favorite page coming up here. All right. Budget. I got very excited when I saw this. Redacted. The whole page. The whole page. It's just redacted. Anyway, uh, so if you scroll all the way down here, I think there's, there is one more redacted budget and commercial. Okay. All right. Anyway, so you go down to page 22, all the way down here. Labor force and volunteers plan. This is, this is all I could find, really. Uh, plan for nine-member senior executive team supported by 28 mid-managers hired between 12 to 24 months before the games. An additional 140 staff will be hired six months out. And then 300 volunteers. But remember, we want the money. Right now, they're saying it's 90 staff for $11 million. I think it's a little bit more. And I'm going to break it down because, remember, I'm trying to, I'm, I'm giving, I'm just trying to get all the numbers here. Now, that is equal to 177 staff members. A little different than the 90, but not, not too far off, you know. Um, so, how much do these executives get paid? Well, I'm so glad you asked. If you look at, I found a job posting, and this is for the Head of Finance for the Invictus Games. Salary for this position is $130 to $150,000. Okay. Comprehensive benefits are also, uh, provided. Two-year contract. Cool. All right. We got that. So, I'm going to go back and do my little math here. So, nine executives, and I'm going to, I'm going to pay all of them $150,000, right? Nine executives on $150,000 is $1.3 million. We're going to multiply that by two. Okay? Because, remember, it's a two-year contract. So, that's $2.7 million total. Okay? Now, then they said they're also going to hire 28 managers. There's going to be 24 months, and there's going to be 12 months as well. And so, I'm going, "Okay." Um, the only answer that I could find for manager was someone asked this about a year out, because remember, the Invictus Games happened February of 2025. So, this is, uh, January of 2024. They are asking here, uh, you know, what is the manager, and it's listed as $50,000. Okay. So, they're not making a whole lot of money. So, if I go down here, I'm gonna do the managers. Now, remember, there's 28 of them. And there's going to be a group that's hired two years out, and there's going to be a group that's hired a year out. So, I'm going to do 14 hired for the two years out, and another 14 hired for the one year out. So, the two-year contract employees, we're going to have 14 managers at $50,000 a year is $700,000. But remember, that's a two-year contract. So, the number comes out to $1.4 million. Same thing. We're going to take the other, the second 14. Okay. And then they're going to have their one-year contract. So, that is 14 at $50,000 for one year. That comes out to $700 grand. Okay. So, the manager total that we have here is $2.1 million. Now, the additional staff, that's 140 staff hired three to six months out before the games. What I ended up doing, instead of like trying to stagger it all, I just said, "Let's do a 4.5 month average." Okay. So, this is 140 staff hired three to six months out, four and a half month average, because that'll, that'll account for people that were there for six months, and that'll account for people that were there for three months, right? We're, we're doing the, we're right in the middle. So, and I figure they're not getting manager pay, because manager pay looks like it's about $4,000 a month. So, I'm, I'm guessing $3,000 a month. Okay. So, 140 managers times the $3,000 a month for four and a half months comes out to just under $2 million. $1.89 million.

Now, total payroll, remember this is an $11.1 million budget. Total payroll for management, I'm sorry, executives, management, and additional staff. $2.7 million for the execs, $2.1 for the managers, $1.89 for the additional staff, which comes out to $6.69, $696, $6,690,000 on an $11.1 million budget. Now, I should note here, um, if you go under the Charity Commission's website, uh, they expressed, they say it's a, it is a gov.uk page. They specifically say the Invictus Games Foundation board or trustees were not compensated. I'm going to put that link down below, too, so you guys can see it. So, and you're going, "Well, I mean, it's, it's Harry's charity, right?" So, but hold on. If you go to the Invictus website and you go to the people behind the foundation, um, Harry is not under the executive team. If you click on Board of Trustees, Harry is not listed as a trustee or chairman. He is listed as a patron. Doesn't say anything about the patron not getting paid. That's all.

So, we have $6.69 for the budgets that I just gave you, plus $5.7 for all the catering and stuff. We'll round it up to six. Why not? Um, right. Because I said maybe I'm off by the $300,000. Let me just add one more zero there. $12.69 million total. Now, the budget, remember, was 10.8 for rooms, and then 11 for jobs. I have the exact number here. $21,929,743. Editing Rachel here. When I said I was going to round up to six, what I meant was that I was going to round up to $7 million. So, it's actually $13.69. $69 million, uh, out of the $21 million that I could track. Sorry about that. It's all I'm saying. I am reading it off this. I'm not speculating. I mean, I kind of am speculating, but I'm not, what I'm saying is, I'm not taking stuff off of other websites. I am looking directly at the Invictus numbers and what they have published. So, I must really suck at math. But please, honestly, please, if any of you are saying, "Rachel, it costs this much or it costs that much." I'm, because I am pulling up room rates. I am pulling up, you know, I'm doing airfare. I'm literally just, I mean, I used to be a bookkeeper. I was in finance before I went into aviation. So, I, I know what things cost. I know. And you know, even if you tag on taxes for that $12 million, right? We do, I don't know, 40% taxes, right? That comes out to $16 million, somewhere around there, out of 21. Like, you see what I mean? Like, it's still, I'm like, "What? Where is the?" That's all, that's all I'm saying.

There are a couple of other things that, you know, when you look at sort of, and I don't want to, because I feel like I probably lost a lot of you because it's a lot of numbers, I know, but, you know, if you look at, like, the revenue was $63.2 million, and the expenses were also exactly $63.2 million. Um, yeah, the visitor spending with the 5,000 out-of-town visitors, you're like, "Well, does that include the 1,900 volunteers and the 1,500 friends and family and the athletes and, you know, the wages and stuff?" I, I just look at some of the stuff and I'm like, I, I'm just breaking down these two numbers here because that's, that is, that's pretty much what I wanted to show you. I'm just going through everything, uh, one more time, just to make sure. $3.9 million, uh, in visiting with 5,000 out-of-towners, kind of works. It's like $700 per person. Um, you know, and then the other, the other side of it as well, is where did I put that? Um, the money that was made with, like, ticket sales and stuff. Tickets were pretty inexpensive. They were about $13, and, uh, it, it looks like there was, the financial statements say that there was $4.8 million made, uh, in other revenue, tickets, merchandise, etc.

There is a book that was written by Tom Bower recently. Now, he was, he was, he's a lawyer, so he's not going to publish stuff that's fake or anything, but he talks about how one of the events that he went to, there was only 43 ticket holders. And he also writes about Dominic Reed. Now, Dominic Reed was with Invictus from the very beginning. He resigned, uh, he resigned last year. I want to say the longtime head of the Invictus Games Foundation, past coverage admitted Reed had been disappointing. He acknowledged that the media totally ignored the competitive aspect of the event. Reed blamed the Invictus leaders for allowing the games to become the Harry and Meghan show. And yet, Nick Booth, with Harry's encouragement, did not seem concerned.

I'm just going to show you some pictures here of the event, um, because I, I think that that's, it's okay to do. Um, if you go and you look at the YouTube videos, a lot of it's very, like, tightly shot. It's very, like, kind of just, and I think it's because here are just glimpses that I could get of different shots. Um, I'm not going to say anything. You, you get, you will get to, you get to think what you want to think. I'm not going to try to influence what you think. Um, these are just screenshots from directly from their YouTube videos. Okay? This is not, I'm not taking Tom Bower's word for it. I am, I literally went and watched videos.

So, the other thing I will say, because I'm coming up on this, is so all of those pictures that I just showed you, those were all Vancouver, which was, which ended up being a $63 million production for 10 days. Mind you, if you look at Dusseldorf's games, they were $20 million cheaper. Look at this stage, by the way. Whoever did, like, this design, fabulous job, just gorgeous, beautiful lighting. Um, they live-streamed it, and, you know, it was seen by, I think, 17,000 people. Uh, you know, if you look at the stadium, it's, it's, this one's, you know, it's, it's a good, it's, it's pretty full, uh, in some of them. But, yeah, there's this great stage. They would walk out, they'd film them. It was very, like, professional sort of that, you know, what you'd see like on ESPN or something, right? Beautifully done. Um, and then, you know, you go and you look at the Invictus Games Foundation, okay, 8.9,000 subscribers, and then you look at sort of the views, you know, and you're going, "Okay," and even Prince Harry's message, uh, only had 3,000 views. I, I find it interesting. And, you know, cuz I'm just like, "What happened? Where Dusseldorf had such beautiful production value, and then you, you really didn't see that with Vancouver, even though it was $20 million more, um, for the production." So, that's, that's pretty much it. That's, that's what I wanted to show you. Sorry that was, that was a lot.

Um, again, I, I have absolutely, I think if you, if you're a veteran and you competed in the games and it helped you out with your mental health, I, I think that's wonderful. I am not critiquing the veterans. I am not critiquing the volunteers. Those are noble efforts. I think that's, abs, wonderful. I think that's great. Um, I am just, I'm curious. I'm a, I'm a naturally very curious person, and when I was looking through the paperwork, that particular pie chart just kept staring at me, and I couldn't leave it alone. And so, when I went down a deep dive, that's what I found. Um, I don't know enough about sort of the other sections in that pie chart. So, I can't say whether the production costs are actually that much money or that little money, or if they went over, or where the extra $3 million came from. I'm gonna keep looking. Uh, usually with my videos, I tend to do, like, a really nice conclusion, but I'm not done here yet. And so, I'm just going to, I'm just going to keep kind of breaking down little bits and pieces because I am actually really curious how, uh, this particular charity runs, because it is, it is a unique formula, right? Because if you look at the charity commission's website, oh, that was the other thing I wanted to say. Um, I'm going to put this down at the bottom as well. If you want to go ahead and take a look at the charity commission, um, there was a lot of resignations over the past five years and new appointments. So, I will put that link down below as well. And, uh, you, you can do what you want with that. Anyway, um, but, yeah, I'm gonna keep, I'm going to keep looking. I think the thing that got me to sort of peak was, you know, and here's some screenshots. Every year that Invictus happens, there's always something about how much money she's wearing. For me, it pains me because veterans are severely underpaid. And if you don't believe me, go and look up what an enlisted soldier makes. Even an officer, I don't, I don't think officers make, I don't even think they crack six figures for the first five years. Um, and I know, you know, housing's paid for, uniform's paid for. Yeah, you know, I got that. But they're, they're still severely underpaid for what they're putting on the line. And so, when you see someone who wears a quarter of a million dollars of clothing, um, in front of people that have sacrificed so much and that have done real work, it, it stirs up something inside. And I just wanted to take a deeper look. And again, this is not a critique on veterans. It is not a critique on any of the volunteers. I think the games, you know, I think that if they, if it has helped you, I think that's wonderful. I think anything that helps the mental health of a veteran is a wonderful, wonderful thing. But I also want to make sure the money is getting to the people that actually need it. And that's all I'm doing here. I am not a forensic accountant. Um, you know, I don't claim to be one. I was a bookkeeper in my last life before aviation. All I'm doing is, I'm trying to track the money. That's it. That's all I'm doing.

And, you know, if this has inspired you, if maybe you are someone who knows someone who's in Birmingham and you want to write in, uh, you know, uh, if you want to do a Freedom of Information Act request, I've, I've done one already. You know, if you're in Canada, if you're in Australia, you want to do one for the Sydney Games, do it by all means. Um, you can contact me via my website. There's a little contact forum. Uh, here it is on desktop, and then here it is on mobile. That's how you contact me. Um, if you wanna, if you want to share the positives, I will gladly share the positives of Invictus. I, you know, if you're a veteran that competed and you want to tell me your story, I will 100% share it. Um, if you are maybe someone that worked at Invictus, if you want to just send me documents anonymously and just be like, "Please don't use my name." I, I will look at that, you know, whatever it is. I'm just super curious because, and, and I, and I, I will, I will be the first one to plead ignorance. I don't know. I'm, I am going by what has been published. That's all I'm doing.

So, anyway, so this is just one of of many, uh, videos that will be coming up. And not many, but one of some videos that are coming up that are that I'm just going to, I'm just going to start sort of just digging around. That's all I'm doing. Um, and, yeah, please let me know what, what am I missing under transportation? What am I missing under accommodations? What am I missing under the salaries? What do you think I missed? Um, I think I kind of covered everything, but again, let me know. You know, I was kind of treating this if this was my job and I had to go to someone and I had to, like, you know, present them, um, like a budget, like this is what I would do. Like, this is just, if I used to do this. I used to like go and find money. That was my job. Um, yeah, so let me know if I missed anything. If, if, yeah, that's it. That's pretty much all I have. So, thank you for joining me. This has been a very, very long video, so I'm very sorry about that. And, uh, yeah, and I, I'll see you in the next one. So, stay tuned and thank you very much for watching.