First No-Audience Olympics Since the 1896 Athens Olympics in Greece
[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which are just two weeks away, will be held as the first-ever spectator-free Olympics. This is due to the Japanese government declaring a fourth state of emergency amid the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant. With the games held without spectators, ticket losses are expected to reach approximately 1 trillion won.
According to Japanese media such as NHK and Mainichi Shimbun on the 9th, the night before, the Japanese government, the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee, Tokyo Metropolitan Government, International Olympic Committee (IOC), and International Paralympic Committee (IPC) held a five-party meeting and agreed to hold all events in Tokyo without spectators. The three prefectures in the metropolitan area adjacent to Tokyo?Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba?will also hold the Olympics without spectators.
The Tokyo New National Stadium, where the Tokyo Olympics will be held, has a capacity of 68,000. All events held at this stadium, including the opening and closing ceremonies, will proceed without spectators. Since the first Olympics held in Athens, Greece in 1896, this is the first time the Olympics will be held without any spectators.
However, in the three prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi, and Shizuoka, where venues are located outside the metropolitan area, the Olympics will be held with spectators limited to a maximum of 10,000 or 50% of capacity. The Tokyo Olympics will be held across 42 venues in 8 metropolitan areas (cities or prefectures) outside Tokyo, but since most events are concentrated in the four metropolitan areas, the number of events held with spectators is expected to be limited. Representative events held outside Tokyo include soccer, baseball, and marathon. The organizing committee has requested that spectators refrain from attending events held in public places outside stadiums, such as the marathon.
With the decision to hold the Olympics without spectators, ticket refund losses alone are expected to reach about 90 billion yen (approximately 942 billion won). NHK reported that 363 general admission tickets have already been sold, amounting to about 90 billion yen.
Seiko Hashimoto, Chairperson of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee, said, "We deeply regret and sincerely apologize to ticket purchasers for this very unfortunate news," adding, "We ask for your understanding that this was an unavoidable choice to prevent infections."
Due to the spectator-free Olympics, it is also difficult to expect the 'Olympic economic boom.' Initially, it was anticipated that 200,000 people would flock to Tokyo during the Olympics, but with the decision to hold the games without spectators, industries such as travel and dining are expected to suffer damage.
Furthermore, the economic loss caused by the state of emergency already declared by the Japanese government is 44.6 billion yen, so the economic effect of the Olympics is effectively expected to be negative.
The financial burden on Tokyo Metropolitan Government is also expected to increase. In principle, the Olympic deficit is borne by Tokyo, but Tokyo’s finances have not been ample due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation since last year.
Mainichi Shimbun reported that Tokyo’s financial adjustment fund used for COVID-19 measures has been nearly 95% depleted from 903.2 billion yen last year.
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