Senior executives at three of Japan’s Olympic sponsors have said privately the Tokyo Games are likely to be postponed because of coronavirus, despite reassurances from the event’s organisers that plans have not changed.
Pessimism over the July 24 start date has deepened since the weekend, according to one executive, as the coronavirus outbreak has accelerated in Europe and the US. Japan has already closed schools, banned visitors from certain countries and mandated that some sports fixtures be contested in front of empty stands.
The three sponsors, whose executives spoke on condition of anonymity and include two of the 15 “gold” partners — the top-paying domestic sponsors — of the Games, have collectively spent more than $200m to support an event that has cost more than $12bn to prepare. The Games rank as the most sponsored event in sports history.
Fears of a postponement crystallised on Wednesday when Haruyuki Takahashi, a prominent figure on the Tokyo Organising Committee’s executive board, broke ranks with his colleagues. In a series of interviews with local and international media, he said he would propose postponing the event for one to two years in the wake of the disease’s global spread.
“Coronavirus is now a global issue. It can’t be held even if it is fine to do so in Japan,” Mr Takahashi told Asahi newspaper. “If a delay is to be considered, we will run out of time unless we start making preparations now.”
Some sports bodies have raised concerns about continuing with the current schedule, but the International Olympic Committee, the event’s organiser, insists the world’s biggest sporting event will continue as planned.
Toshiro Muto, chief executive of the Tokyo Organising Committee, said: “We are not commenting on any speculation quoting anonymous sources. Neither the IOC nor the organising committee are considering postponing the Olympic Games and we are proceeding with our preparations for a safe and secure Games opening on 24 July 2020 as planned.”
One senior Japanese executive at a gold-level sponsor described recent discussions with the Tokyo organisers at which the organisers would not acknowledge that a postponement was under consideration. He said that while nothing had been said about a postponement, several other sponsors were concerned it was a possibility.
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The Olympics’ global partners include Coca-Cola, General Electric and Alibaba. The Tokyo Organising Committee also hired the advertising group Dentsu to bolster the number of sponsors, to assemble a 46-strong army of Japanese backers. These include Toyota, Panasonic, five financial services companies, airlines, media groups and household names from across the country’s business community.
“All sponsors, and I work closely with several with them, are proceeding fully with their plans on the basis that the Games will take place,” said Michael Payne, a former IOC marketing director who helped broker recent global Olympic sponsorship deals for Alibaba, Coca-Cola and China Mengniu Dairy.
“This has got to be judged not as it stands today, but in the Olympic case, how it will be four months from now.”
IOC officials have flown to Greece for the lighting of the Olympic flame on Thursday, though the event willbe witnessed by just 100 guests rather than a wider group of spectators as had been planned.
The global sporting calendar has already been severely disrupted, with fixtures across Europe and Asia being suspended or played behind closed doors.
Source: Economy - ft.com
