I'm not saying it's cost effective per se. I'm saying they had to crowd control and provide services for 1.5 million or so people, AND 41-45 million was paid for by private donors. It's not like they were offering door prizes and trying to get people to show up: They had a potential crowd problem and needed to deal with it.

I would have preferred something cheaper as well, but that million people would have shown up anyways.