The organisers behind London's bid to stage the 2012 Olympic Games were at pains this morning, as they publicly launched their plans, to emphasise the feelgood factor of the gold medal performances of Matthew Pinsent, Kelly Holmes and Ben Ainslie, the multi-cultural nature of the city, and the lasting sporting legacy which the Olympics might leave.

What they might have emphasised far more stridently is that the Games would be good for business, potentially to the tune of around $10 billion for London, the South East, and the rest of the UK.

Don't just take our word for it. "A London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 would be an unmatchable prize with enormous opportunities for businesses," says Digby Jones, the director general of the CBI and an "ambassador" for the London bid.

If British business needs any convincing that hosting an Olympic Games will have widespread benefits, it ought to consider a few simple details. London's plans are aimed at re-generating a large portion of east London, that much is obvious. This approach is not always successful: Sydney's Homebush facilities were always too far from the centre of the city to have much of impact on daily life, and we should draw a veil over the tacky Atlanta experience of 1996.

But Barcelona's 1992 Games catapulted that revitalised city into the world's major league, and Athens has had its biggest makeover in about 3,000 years, thanks to around $5 billion of investment in roads, rail and other infrastructure, of which half has been paid for by the European Union.

It is the Athens model of regeneration that London would seek to recreate in Stratford should the International Olympic Committee's 116 members vote in its favour next July. The Olympic Games are now far more than simply the "Greatest Show on Earth", they are also the most obvious demonstration that sport in big business - global players such as Coca-Cola, Nokia, Xerox and Nike all battle to be part of the Olympic experience.

Given another eight years, and there is no reason to be surprised that the Games will double what was spent in delivering this summer's Athens Olympics. Much of the cost of actually staging the events will be met from television revenues and sponsorships, Lord Coe announced this morning. The infrastructure bills would tend to come from the public purse, as Mayor Ken Livingstone has already indicated.

The bid's budget projects a £100 million profit for the Games, but this (as well as being notoriously unreliable on the side of optimism) is also a relatively minor consideration.

For the cost of staging the Games is likely to be more than offset by the extra business generated for the economy in the next decade.

Craig Reedie, the chairman of the British Olympic Association, knows that the build-up to a Games sees teams from around the world developing training bases in the vicinity of the Olympic city for up to three years before the Games, and then often returning there in following years.

"There's business to be done," the Glasgow pensions adviser told Times Online. Mr Reedie sees the investment being spread far and wide around the UK, including Scotland, Wales and northern England. Reedie's argument is that if the Games come to London, they come to Britain.

"Before the Sydney Games, we at the BOA spent around £1 million on preparation camps in Australia that saw new facilities built in Queensland which are still there today, being used by the local people. And we weren't the only ones - the Americans and Japanese have a similar policy now."

Staging the modern Games is not just about building new stadiums and swimming pools. It can be about new hotels, leisure facilities being developed and utilised, boosted spends on advertising (as WPP has shown) and other service industries, and the improved roads, railways and telecommunications that could have an impact on the economy for decades after the Olympic flame is extinguished.

There is a degree of business savvy about the bid already, with John Jarvis, the hotelier, and sports promoter Alan Pascoe both recruited to its cause by their colleague Lord Coe (whose own track record off the track, as it were, is not necessarily a golden success). But other senior business figures associated with the bid, such as Keith Mills and Charles Allen, understand the true value of the Games.

If they can manage to deliver the Olympics to London, there will be business to be done.