OThe organizers of the Tokyo Olympics, whose COVID was delayed last year, expect the final cost of the Games to be 1.42 trillion yen, which is about twice the forecast given by the IOC in 2013.
The number of Tokyo Olympic officials who met before the body disbanded at the end of yesterday was to detail the final number, which was increased by the pandemic but was in record range long before that. ..
Due to recent fluctuations in the exchange rates between the dollar and the Japanese yen, it is difficult to calculate the cost. When the Olympics were held a year ago, I bought 110 yen for $ 1. On Monday, one dollar bought 135 yen. This is the highest level of the dollar against the yen in about 25 years.
The depreciation of the yen means that the estimated cost of the Olympic Games in dollars is now about $ 10.5 billion. A year ago the price was about $ 13 billion.
Victor Mathison, a sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross, who writes extensively about the Olympics, said in an email to AP, “Most of the costs and profits are yen, so even if you change the amount of dollars, the exchange rate will be. It will not affect you. ” How does the event feel to the organizers? “
Organizers often used 107 exchange rates for the Tokyo Olympics. At that rate, the equivalent of 1.42 trillion yen will be the final price tag of $ 13.33 billion.
Mathieson and fellow American Robert Byrd investigated the costs and benefits of the Olympics in a study called “Going for Gold: The Economics of the Olympics.”
They write: “The overwhelming conclusion is that, in most cases, the Olympics are a proposal to lose money for the host city. They bring positive net profits only under very special and unusual circumstances.”
Accurately tracking the cost of the Olympics (who pays, who benefits, and what is the cost of the game) is a moving maze.
The Olympic organizers estimate the official cost of the Olympics to end a year ago at $ 15.4 billion.
Four months later, the organizers said the cost had dropped to $ 13.6 billion. Since fans were not allowed to participate, security costs and venue maintenance were reduced, resulting in significant savings.
However, the organizers lost at least $ 800 million in revenue due to the lack of ticket sales, which was paid to Tokyo.
According to a 2020 Oxford University survey, Tokyo was the most expensive Olympic Games on record.
There is one fact that cannot be denied. That is, more than half of the cost was paid by public funds. The Tokyo government, the national government, and other government agencies.
In the years prior to the Olympics, government audits found that public costs could have been twice as high as stated, and that the public part of the bill could be well over half.
The International Olympic Committee said in its annual report that it had donated about $ 1.9 billion to cover the costs of Tokyo.
It is impossible to assess the long-term impact of the Tokyo Olympics, especially in vast cities such as the ever-changing capital of Japan. The pandemic has wiped out the short-term tourism bounce. According to local reports, local sponsors who paid more than $ 3 billion to relate to the Olympics did not seem to be very happy.
Dentsu Inc., a major Japanese advertising and public relations company, may have benefited. It is linked to the IOC’s voting purchase scandal, which led the marketing of Tokyo 2020, received commissions to align sponsors, and led to Tokyo winning the Games.
This scandal forced Tsunekazu Takeda to resign in 2019. Tsunekazu Takeda is an IOC member who is also the chairman of the Japanese Olympic Committee.
The Games were hit by other scandals, including the resignation of Chairman Yoshiro Mori of the Organizing Committee, who made sexist statements about women. The former Japanese Prime Minister resigned five months before the tournament began.
Tokyo called itself a “safe hand” to win the tournament.
Tokyo is also remembered as the first game to be postponed for a year and then held in the so-called bubble with few fans. STEPHEN WADE, Tokyo, MDT / AP
