Features

Tokyo 2020 costs set to total $10.46bn

The Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games has today (Tuesday) announced that the cost of hosting the events is set to total JPY 1.423.8tn (£8.52bn/€9.9bn/$10.46bn) – almost double what organisers had originally planned on spending.

Tokyo hosted the Olympic and Paralympic Games last summer, with the events having been postponed by 12 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Organisers said today that a total of JPY 864.9bn was spent on venue-related expenditures such as permanent venues, temporary infrastructure and technology.

The organising committee said the total expenditure figure has been reduced by JPY 220.2bn from the version five budget announced in December 2020 and JPY29.2bn from the estimated Games budget announced in December 2021.

As well as the JPY 864.9bn spent on venue expenses, JPY 523.6bn was spent on service expenditures such as competition and venue operations, transportation and security; and JPY 35.3bn was spent on COVID-19 countermeasures. The total expenses specifically related to the Paralympic Games are JPY 151.4bn.

The primary sources of revenues were an International Olympic Committee contribution of JPY 86.8bn, TOP sponsorship of JPY 56.9bn, local sponsorship of JPY 376.1bn, and an insurance payout of JPY 50bn for the postponement of the Games.

The organising committee will cover JPY 640bn of the total, with the metropolitan government paying JPY 597bn and the central government agreeing to cover JPY 187bn. The organising committee achieved a balanced budget of JPY 640.4bn.

COVID-19 restrictions meant that the Olympics and Paralympics went ahead without any spectators, which significantly impacted revenue generated by the events. Despite the challenges, organisers noted that the Games were delivered with final expenditures that were JPY 76.2bn less than the version one budget announced in December 2016.

Image: Shinnosuke Ando on Unsplash