Better Work At 0.1% Of The Price?

If you're following the Olympics logo controversy (e.g., , SitePoint is hosting a contest with an $800 prize for the best alternative Olympics logo.

$800,000.00 for an olympics logo? Whatever the buzz it creates, I think Seth Godin gets it right:

The art of picking a logo, even one for the Olympics, has almost nothing to do with taste or back story. A great logo doesn't mean anything until the brand makes it worth something.

That's why spending $800,000 for a logo is ridiculous. And it's why you can't (I don't think I'm going out on a limb here) draw the logo of any Olympic games since 1898. The Olympics have trouble creating new logos of value because each Olympics already has an image that sticks with people... and that's the image of the city where the games take place. Putting an abstract picture on top of something that already has a picture doesn't work.