Postponement costs for Tokyo Olympics, Paralympics to total $2.83B

TOKYO, Dec 4, 2020, Kyodo. The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics reached an agreement Friday with the Tokyo metropolitan and central governments on splitting an extra 294 billion yen ($2.83 billion) in costs arising from the one-year postponement of the games, along with countermeasures for the novel coronavirus, Kyodo News reported.

Tokyo Games organizing committee President Yoshiro Mori, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, and Olympic minister Seiko Hashimoto attended the three-party talks.

The additional cost for postponing the games by a year is estimated at 198 billion yen, while the virus countermeasures will cost an extra 96 billion yen.

The metropolitan government will cover the largest slice at 120 billion yen. The Tokyo Games organizers will shoulder 103 billion yen and the central government 71 billion yen.

Prior to the postponement, the Tokyo Games were projected to cost around 1.35 trillion yen, with the organizing committee planning to cover 603 billion yen, the Tokyo metropolitan government 597 billion yen and the central government the remaining 150 billion yen.

Additional operating costs of 198 billion yen caused by the postponement are expected to include expenses related to securing games venues, equipment rental and storage fees, and labor.

Of this amount, the Tokyo Games organizers will shell out 103 billion yen, the metropolitan government 80 billion yen and the central government 15 billion yen.

The games organizers’ liabilities will be partly covered by 27 billion yen already included in their original 603 billion yen outlay as contingency funds.

The 96 billion yen for virus countermeasures, meanwhile, will include setting up health care infrastructure, including a testing system, and procuring equipment for infection control.

These costs will be covered by the central government, which will contribute 56 billion yen, and the Tokyo metropolitan government to cover 40 billion yen, while the Tokyo Games organizing committee will not bear any costs.

The organizing committee is expected to secure fresh funding by collecting further contributions from sponsors and insurance damages claims.

The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics were originally scheduled to start in summer 2020 before they were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Olympics are now set to be held from July 23 to Aug. 8, followed by the Paralympics from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.