Not all records are welcome. The new cost of the Tokyo Games in 2021 was unveiled on Tuesday, December 22 by the organizing committee. It turns out to be historic. But the Japanese would have gladly saved themselves the privilege of marking the history of the Olympic movement with an event whose bill will exceed $ 15 billion.
Expected without real impatience, the new version of the budget for the Tokyo Games, the fifth of the name, was presented by the Japanese organizers. She is the first in the world after. The first since the start of the health crisis.
Without the slightest surprise, good or bad, the numbers have climbed further. Version 4 of the Tokyo Games budget, revealed in December 2019, already showed a result that gave Thomas Bach and the entire IOC nightmares: $ 12.6 billion. The new version does even better, or rather worse: $ 15.4 billion, an increase of 22% in just 12 months.
The Tokyo Games were already, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, at the forefront of the most expensive summer Olympic and Paralympic events in history. With their budget inflated with helium, they are always taking more distance from their followers. As a reminder, London 2012 has long been at the head of the most expensive Summer Games in history with a final budget of $ 12.2 billion.
The increase in costs recorded since last year at this time will not surprise anyone. Its reasons are known: the postponement of one year and the health measures imposed by the pandemic. These precautions against the spread of the virus alone will cost organizers $ 900 million.
In detail, the budget of the organizing committee (OCOG) now stands at 6.7 billion dollars. The other expenses, devoted mainly to the construction and / or the renovation of the competition venues, exceed 8.6 billion dollars. The total displayed ($ 15.4 billion) now represents more than double the budget presented to the IOC by the Japanese in the bidding phase (around 7.5 billion).
With such an addition, still likely to increase further in the coming months, the direct contribution of the IOC (800 million dollars), and that paid by the partners of the TOP global marketing program (500 million), seem almost derisory . Domestic marketing revenues ($ 3.3 billion) also seem to have little to do with spending. They are however historic.
With private funding to the tune of 6.7 billion dollars, the Japanese organizers have accomplished a real feat. However, the Tokyo Games will cost more than 8 billion dollars to public authorities (metropolitan and Japanese governments), and therefore to taxpayers.
According to the economic daily Nikkei, the renegotiation of sponsorship contracts, made necessary by the postponement of one year of the event, would inflate marketing revenues by around $ 150 million. About fifteen national partners have agreed to extend their contribution.
In these times of crisis, such a performance is more than respectable. But it is not even certain that the sums obtained are sufficient to offset the losses in ticketing revenue caused by the one-year postponement and social distancing measures.
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