(Bloomberg) -- Tokyo 2020 is keeping its name but the Summer Olympics and Paralympics have been pushed back by a year. As the deadly coronavirus spreads globally, organizers bowed to the demands of athletes, sports federations and politicians around the world by delaying an event that was due to start July 24. It’s the first time an Olympics has been postponed since the modern games began in the 19th century.
1. So when will the games take place?
July 23, 2021 to Aug. 8, 2021. That would be the first staging of a modern Olympics in an odd-numbered year. The Paralympics would begin Aug. 24, 2021.
2. Is it a straightforward switch?
Hardly. It raises numerous logistical headaches, from how to treat athletes who already qualified for the world’s biggest multisports event to the status of tickets and sponsorships and even the availability of venues. Then there are clashes with other sporting events, including those involving the games’ two big draws: track and field and swimming. Both disciplines are due to hold world championships that would overlap the rescheduled Olympics -- track and field in Eugene, Oregon and aquatics in Fukuoka, Japan.
3. Might the Olympics be canceled?
Not according to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. While postponement is painful, it’s far preferable to cancellation for organizers, sponsors, broadcasters and others that have invested billions of dollars. Calling the games off could knock about 1.4% from Japan’s gross domestic product, Nikko Securities Inc. Chief Economist Junichi Makino wrote in a recent research note. The big unknown is the course of the virus: If training, traveling and big public gatherings remain a serious health risk for an extended period of time, the 2020 games may not happen in 2021 either.
4. What will postponement cost?
Estimates start at 300 billion yen ($2.7 billion) and counting. The biggest extras come from keeping staffers on the payroll and maintaining empty venues. If sponsors don’t pony up, the municipal government and the International Olympic Committee -- along with any potential insurers -- will likely argue over who’s responsible for the shortfall. The host city contract between Tokyo and the IOC doesn’t address postponement; any disputes between the two parties can be referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland. It’s also possible that the national government could provide some relief.
5. Where does this leave sponsors?
Having to recalibrate their marketing plans. All sponsors retain their rights despite the postponement, including those with agreements expiring in 2020. The IOC’s top-tier global sponsors -- an exclusive list of 14 companies including Coca-Cola Co. and Visa Inc. -- pay well over $1 billion every four years to be associated with the games. Those agreements tend to span multiple Olympics, whereas local sponsors are in it just for this event. Tokyo organizers leaned on national pride to score an unprecedented level of support from 66 domestic brands such as Asahi beer and Asics sneakers -- raising more than $3.3 billion, triple the previous record for an Olympics.
6. Where are the games going to be?
While the Olympic Stadium designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma will undoubtedly be available, several venues are already booked for at least parts of 2021. Tokyo International Forum, which was to host weightlifting, starts taking reservations two years in advance and has events booked through that time period, for example. If venues aren’t available, organizers will have to find new ones, perhaps outside Tokyo or even overseas. Sailing events are often held outside of land-locked host cities, and equestrian competitions were held in Stockholm in 1956 and Hong Kong in 2008 to avoid quarantine and other equine travel issues.
7. Who gets to go?
With two-thirds of the 7.8 million available tickets sold or distributed already, holders have yet to learn whether their tickets will be honored for rescheduled events or whether the committee will offer refunds. According to the official terms and conditions, they don’t have to. The stars of the games -- the athletes -- were the loudest chorus calling for postponement, even at the expense of their own opportunity. Global sports federations and national teams will have to decide what to do with the athletes who’ve already qualified, how to select the remainder, and how to remake their own sports calendars.
8. Has an Olympics ever been called off?
Five Olympic Games were scrapped, all because of world wars: The summer games were canceled in 1916, 1940 and 1944 as were the winter games in 1940 and 1944. The 1940 games were initially postponed, but then canceled.
9. Why not call it Tokyo 2021?
Organizers said they want the games to stand as a beacon of hope and the Olympic flame to become the ”light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.” Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan and the event will keep the name Tokyo 2020, according to a March 24 statement announcing the postponement. By keeping the name, the IOC also insures that logos, packaging, t-shirts, merchandise and broadcast chyrons remain the same -- a big cost-saving move for sponsors and partners.
10. Were there any other options?
The World Health Organization and sports federations discussed the possibility of staging the event without spectators, the New York Times reported. Keeping fans out in this way has never happened at an Olympics, but multiple major sporting events including Japanese sumo wrestling have in recent weeks gone ahead “behind closed doors.” Given the global spread of the coronavirus, there were no realistic alternative venues. The only time an Olympics got switched was when the 1976 winter games were moved to Innsbruck, Austria, from Denver after locals protested spiraling costs.
The Reference Shelf
- Why did the Olympics take longer to respond than other major sports?
- The games are off, for now, organizers say.
- The five biggest challenges for Tokyo 2020.
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