In just over a week, the 2020 Summer Olympic Games will finally start—a year late—in Tokyo, Japan.
It’s hard to know if it will be a super-spreader event for the pandemic or a symbol of how the world pulls together in the face of adversity. What we do know is that as of last week there will be no fans in the stands to watch after Japan declared a State of Emergency due to COVID-19 in Tokyo. And with that decision goes any hope of income for the fraught mega event from ticket sales—estimated to be about US$800 million (and it looks like there is little to no money coming from insurance coverage for that loss, either).
Still, I’m sure there are sighs of relief from both the Games organizing committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that there will be a Games at all considering about three-quarters of the revenue of the IOC comes from broadcast rights for the events.
It does mean that the purpose-built venues will be empty of spectators—that’s about US$3 billion worth of structures. On paper it is estimated that these Games have cost Japan about US$15.4 billion, but the real “cost” of them will surely be measured in other ways.
For example, how about measuring the cost to Japan’s exhausted health-care workers? We all appreciate the burnout that our health-care workers at every level are feeling right now due to 16 months of hellish pandemic response.
The situation in Japan is no different. Indeed, many in Japan’s own health-care sector have called for the Games to be cancelled. In Tokyo, medical personnel are contractually obliged to provide support for the Games, and it is being estimated that up to 10,000 health-care workers could be diverted to Olympic causes.
Said the 6,000-member Tokyo Medical Practitioners’ Association in an open letter last month: “The doctors and nurses of the medical system who are being asked to respond are already at this point exhausted, and there is absolutely no extra manpower or facility for treatment.”
While vaccination is recommended for anyone associated with the Games, it is not required. So far, about 28 per cent of Japan’s population of 126 million has received one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine (Canada is at 43 per cent fully vaccinated while B.C. is at 46 per cent) with over a million doses a day now being administered. However, it is being reported that many of the 70,000 volunteers are not fully vaccinated, though a push is on to do so. There have been 821,296 infections and 14,970 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
Obviously this is a case of money first when it comes to hosting these Games. How can a nation declare a state of emergency but go ahead and host a mega event?
Michael Naraine, an assistant professor with Brock University’s department of sport management who studies major games and the Olympic movement, told CBC in February, “I would hazard to say the biggest reason why they would never get cancelled is because of the money that’s on the table.”
Naraine said cancelling an Olympics could, in the future, diminish the significant revenues the IOC generates from television contracts and sponsorships.
“It would massively impact the brand,” he said. “The value of the Olympic brand would be devalued to the point where sponsors will not be willing to pay the price points that they are currently paying.
“And with the hyper-competitive sponsorship market that we’re seeing in sport ... it’s going to become a lot more difficult for the Olympic movement to try and attract sponsors if they cannot deliver on their core product.”
This is not to take away from the dedication and hard work of the athletes, of course. I can’t imagine the roller-coaster the last couple of years has been for them, and remember, this is a Games where none of the athletes will have their families and loved ones there to support them and cheer them on.
I still remember the passion of hosting a Games, and there is no doubt that Whistler gained a great deal from hosting the event in 2010.
But at the same time, can we really support an organization that is putting lives at risk for a sporting event?
