This summer, the city of Tokyo, Japan is set to, for the second time, host the Summer Olympic Games. However, the global coronavirus pandemic is threatening to force what could be the first-ever cancellation of a modern Olympic Games for a reason other than war. Events that are significant for Olympic qualification purposes in multiple sports have already been cancelled or postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and ESPN has a running list of sports events in Olympic and non-Olympic sports that have been cancelled due to coronavirus.
The (U.S.) Associated Press recently published this article detailing what the fallout from an Olympic cancellation would look like. From a financial standpoint, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which governs and organizes the Olympic Games, would be one of the least negatively-affected organizations from an Olympic cancellation. The people and entities that would be most negatively impacted by an Olympic cancellation include athletes (especially athletes in sports that lack a very large following outside of the Olympics), coaches, broadcast media outlets that hold Olympic broadcast rights (such as Comcast-owned NBC in the U.S.), the economy of the host country (especially in regards to industries like lodging and tourism), international federations for each Olympic sport (although the international federations for sports like, for example, rowing and fencing would be more negatively affected than, for example, soccer’s FIFA), national Olympic committees, and Olympic volunteers, among other entities.
It is important to note that it is logistically impossible to relocate this year’s Summer Olympics this close to the scheduled opening of the Games. If considered a single sporting event, the Summer Olympics are, by far, the largest sporting event in the world, taking place in dozens of venues in or near the host city, typically with some events (especially preliminary soccer matches) held elsewhere in the host country. The IOC does not have any permanent backup host cities that can be called on to host a Summer or Winter Olympics on short notice. The last time an Olympic Games was relocated was the 1976 Winter Olympics, which were moved from Denver, Colorado to Innsbruck, Austria after voters in the U.S. state of Colorado voted against public funding of the Olympics. However, in that case, the IOC had a little over three years to get a replacement host city ready to host the Winter Olympics, which has considerably fewer events and has fewer participants than the Summer Olympics. If the IOC were to try to relocate this year’s Summer Olympics, they would have a little more than four months to do so, which isn’t enough time to relocate such a massive event.
If the coronavirus pandemic is not contained within the next few months, there is a good chance that the Tokyo Olympics could be cancelled.
Apollo Corner Sports 