IOC to bear added cost due to the postponement of the Tokyo Games

The International Olympic Committee IOC  will bear the added cost of several hundred million dollars due to the postponement of the Tokyo Games amid Coronavirus situation.

Thomas Bach, President of International Olympic Committee said  “impossible to say for now” the extent of the added costs for the IOC caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

“We agreed with prime minister that Japan will continue to cover the costs it would have done under the terms of the existing agreement for 2020, and the IOC will continue to be responsible for its share of the costs,” Bach said.

“For us, the IOC, it is already clear that we shall be faced with several hundred million dollars of additional costs.”

Estimates in Japan put the overall cost of the postponement at $2 billion-$6 billion.

Except for the IOC portion, all added costs will be borne by the Japanese side according to an agreement signed in 2013 when Tokyo was awarded the Olympics.

Before the postponement, Japanese organizers put the official cost of the Games at $12.6 billion.

Tokyo said the 2020 Games would cost about $7.3 billion when it won the bid seven years ago.

CEO of the Tokyo organizing committee said the pandemic left some doubts about the Games going ahead next year.

“I don’t think anyone would be able to say if it is going to be possible to get it under control by next July or not,” Toshiro Muto said,

“We certainly not in a position to give you a clear answer.”

Bach asked about the possibility of another postponement.

He did not answer directly, but said later that Japanese organizers and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe “made it very clear to me that Japan could not manage a postponement beyond next summer at the latest.”