Olympics 2020 Tokyo

Newsguy said:
Well, they’re officially postponed.
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I haven't seen an official announcement yet. What I did see was that Dick Pound, a longtime IOC member (whom I've interviewed a few times) but who is not currently on the IOC Executive Board, told Christine Brennan, a good and careful reporter:

“On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided.... The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.”

That's from this article in USA Today:

IOC member says 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed because of coronavirus pandemic

So an official announcement is probably forthcoming, but I don't think has been made as of this instant. But sure looks like it will be soon.
 
Yeah, just waiting on the IOC to put out a press release. Which may take a couple of days because there’s a bit of face to save after how they handled the whole thing. They were almost cocky about the whole thing making bold statements in the press and inter office emails.
 
Run&Gun said:
Just saw on the news that the Olympics have been officially postponed until 2021.
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Where are you seeing this official annoucement? It could be, but that in the article I cited above, Pound was expounding. And note what Anita DeFrantz told Phil Hersh (also a good reporter) a little while ago:

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International Olympic Committee vice president Anita DeFrantz of the United States said Monday she had not yet received any official word that a final decision on any postponement of the 2020 Olympics has been made.

“If that is the case, then you know more than a vice-president of the International Olympic Committee,” DeFrantz said via telephone from her home in Santa Monica, Calif. “It would be news to me.”

[And then Pound walks his earlier statement back just a little]

Dick Pound of Canada, the longest-serving IOC member, said via telephone Monday that he is “convinced there is no other viable option” than postponement.

“I don’t speak officially for the IOC, but I have been around long enough to understand IOC speak,” Pound said, referring to what the organization said Sunday.

“If you’re going to stick with Plan A (starting as scheduled), you don’t need nearly a month to evaluate it. So I think the decision has effectively been made.”
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You can read all of Hersh's (not long) article here:
IOC vice-president DeFrantz says she has no official word yet on 2020 postponement

DeFrantz has a reputation for being a bit prickly at times, but also for being honest and not a spinmeister. So I'd guess she's been more involved in the conversations than has Pound, but I'm willing to take her word that the IOC hasn't made a final decision. It's a fairly obstinate organization; it could take a while for the seriousness and length of the whole COVID-19 thing to soak in. And I wouldn't be suprised if they haven't delayed actually making what would for them be a hard decision... especially since they've been such bullheaded dopes about the whole thing (as Newsguy says).

So again, I don't see any official announcement yet.
 
Jim Feeley said:
Where are you seeing this official annoucement? It could be, but that in the article I cited above, Pound was expounding. And note what Anita DeFrantz told Phil Hersh (also a good reporter) a little while ago:

=====
International Olympic Committee vice president Anita DeFrantz of the United States said Monday she had not yet received any official word that a final decision on any postponement of the 2020 Olympics has been made.

“If that is the case, then you know more than a vice-president of the International Olympic Committee,” DeFrantz said via telephone from her home in Santa Monica, Calif. “It would be news to me.”

[And then Pound walks his earlier statement back just a little]

Dick Pound of Canada, the longest-serving IOC member, said via telephone Monday that he is “convinced there is no other viable option” than postponement.

“I don’t speak officially for the IOC, but I have been around long enough to understand IOC speak,” Pound said, referring to what the organization said Sunday.

“If you’re going to stick with Plan A (starting as scheduled), you don’t need nearly a month to evaluate it. So I think the decision has effectively been made.”
=====

You can read all of Hersh's (not long) article here:
IOC vice-president DeFrantz says she has no official word yet on 2020 postponement

DeFrantz has a reputation for being a bit prickly at times, but also for being honest and not a spinmeister. So I'd guess she's been more involved in the conversations than has Pound, but I'm willing to take her word that the IOC hasn't made a final decision. It's a fairly obstinate organization; it could take a while for the seriousness and length of the whole COVID-19 thing to soak in. And I wouldn't be suprised if they haven't delayed actually making what would for them be a hard decision... especially since they've been such bullheaded dopes about the whole thing (as Newsguy says).

So again, I don't see any official announcement yet.
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10 o'clock news was doing a Global Effects of Coronavirus segment and part of it was the Olympics were officially postponed to 2021 and Canada and Australia had said they were not sending athletes if it was still happening as planned in July.

*EDIT*
Okay, after looking on-line, it looks like all the articles(USA Today, SFGate, WSJ, etc.) are based on the same quote/article(USA Today) that you posted earlier and after reading several times, reads like they have decided to postpone the Olympics, but have not said it will be 2021.
 
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The semi-weasely bury-the-lede statement from the IOC is here:

JOINT STATEMENT FROM THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE AND THE TOKYO 2020 ORGANISING COMMITTEE

The key graph:

"In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community."

I guess that pushes a couple of my deadlines back. :-) Anyway, the right decision, so good for the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 committee.
 
Nikkei reports today that Japan will lose $6 billion in income due to the delay of the games. If that estimate is accurate, then the games if held on schedule would have been a loss of over $6 billion as the cost of setting up the games was reported earlier to be $12 billion. Consider how much it will cost to maintain and secure those facilities for a year without income. I'd be quite upset with my city if they wanted to host the games. What a foolish endeavor; not the games, but the hosting. https://www.businessinsider.com/why...tment-host-city-china-rio-pyeongchang-2017-12
 
Paul F said:
Nikkei reports today that Japan will lose $6 billion in income due to the delay of the games. If that estimate is accurate, then the games if held on schedule would have been a loss of over $6 billion as the cost of setting up the games was reported earlier to be $12 billion. Consider how much it will cost to maintain and secure those facilities for a year without income. I'd be quite upset with my city if they wanted to host the games. What a foolish endeavor; not the games, but the hosting. https://www.businessinsider.com/why...tment-host-city-china-rio-pyeongchang-2017-12
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Yep. And that’s why there are nations now, like the US, that have stopped heavily pursuing the IOC and bidding to host the Olympics and told them that if they do, they’ll use or up-fit/retrofit existing facilities instead of building these new, lavish and super expensive facilities just for the games, that in a lot of cases fall into disuse shortly afterwards, but still require an ongoing financial commitment to maintain them, at least at a basic level. There have been several articles over the last few years about what a financial boondoggle actually hosting the games is. Hosting the Olympics has always been a very prestigious thing, but I don’t think they carry the weight they used to and countries are starting to realize that and all of that money can be put to better use than throwing a two week party.
 
The financial boondoggle that is the Olympics has long been criticized as wasteful. Frankly, I think it's good that people are finally paying attention. I'd like it to be more of a sporting competition and less of a pseudo-religious-kumbaya-but-still-jingoistic thing (not that I have an opinion on this...).

We've all seen some of the provocative ruin-p**n photographs of abandoned Olympic sites. If you want a refresher, here's a couple good collections:

These Abandoned Olympic Venues Prove the Games Are a Giant Waste of Money

These haunting photos of abandoned Olympic sites tell their own stories

If you have the time and interest, here's a good book on the economic cost and risk of hosting the Olympics. Written by an economics prof, and quite readable. Available everywhere.

Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup

And if you don't want to read the book, but do want to get infuriated, check out this positive review that gets at the main points and ends darkly:

Circus Maximus by Andrew Zimbalist review – an Olympic-sized rip-off
 
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