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Delaying Olympics will involve ‘massive’ costs, organisers say
TOKYO, March 26, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Rescheduling the Tokyo 2020 Olympics will
involve “massive” additional costs, organisers of the Games conceded Thursday
as they convened a taskforce to begin working on the “unprecedented” and
complex task.
The historic decision to postpone the Games over the new coronavirus
outbreak leaves organisers with a logistical headache as they work to shift
the enormous event to an as-yet-undecided date next year.
“One by one, we need to ensure the problems we face can be solved,” Tokyo
2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said in opening remarks at the first meeting of the
taskforce.
“Additional expenses are going to be quite massive we assume. With regards
to our revenues, we need to make a lot of effort there,” he added.
Muto gave no estimates for how much the process of postponing the Olympic
and Paralympic Games could cost.
But according to the Nikkei daily, organisers estimate it will cost an
extra $2.7 billion, including for venue rentals, rebooking hotels and
additional payments for staff and security guards, among others.
Those costs could still come down depending on the outcome of negotiations,
the business daily reported.
Muto said organisers would not rip up their existing plans, but added: “I
guess we need to step back a bit.”
“Sometimes you need to go back to the drawing board,” he said.
The Olympics have never faced this much disruption in peacetime, and the
decision to delay the event has created unprecedented challenges, Tokyo 2020
president Yoshiro Mori said.
Tokyo 2020 staff “will experience difficulties they have never experienced
before. I am sure they will rise to the occasion. This is going to be a very
difficult task that we are facing,” he said.
No deadlines have yet been set for the rescheduling of the Games, which are
now due to take place by summer 2021, but Mori said he would ensure “all the
decisions are made as quickly as possible”.
Muto underscored the scale of the task ahead, saying even he “didn’t
imagine at all we would be tested to this degree”.
“We want to make sure we go beyond this test and that next year in Tokyo,
the torch is lit for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. We believe this is the
mission we face.”
BSS/AFP/GMR/1245 hrs