No clarity yet on how cost of postponing Olympics will be shared with Japan: IOC

TOKYO (Reuters) - The financial impact of postponing the Summer Games by a year is still being worked out, the International Olympic Committee said, noting that Japan and the IOC were responsible for their respective share of the costs in line with their contract. In a statement updated on April 20, the IOC said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed that “Japan will continue to cover the costs it would have done under the terms of the existing agreement for 2020, and the IOC will continue to be responsible for its share of the costs. “For the IOC, it is already clear that this amounts to several hundred millions of dollars of additional costs,” the IOC said. Earlier, Kyodo news agency reported that Abe had agreed that Japan would shoulder the cost, which Kyodo said amounted to around $3 billion. Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said on Tuesday Abe had not agreed to any additional costs. Earlier, the postponed Olympic Games will now begin on July 23 next year and run until Aug. 8, the head of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee said on Monday, as the coronavirus pandemic made it impossible to plan and prepare for them properly this year. The Games were postponed last week – the first such delay in the 124-year history of the modern Olympics. The move was a huge blow for Japan, which invested $13 billion in the run-up to the event and raised $3 billion from domestic sponsors. Yoshiro Mori, the head of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, confirmed the new dates after he made the decision with the International Olympic Committee. Mori said the Paralympic Games would run from Aug. 24-Sep. 5. “The Tokyo Olympics Games and the successful delivery of these Games will be how we overcome all the problems that the world is facing and that the Olympics could be a symbol for this,” Mori said. “These Games are going to have great historical significance.” Earlier on Monday, the Games’ chief executive, Toshiro Muto, said the committee was moving “in the direction” of honouring tickets bought for the 2020 Games at the rescheduled event, or providing refunds in case of scheduling changes. “We want to honour the hopes of all those who purchased the tickets amid high demand,” Muto told a news conference. It was too early to say what the additional costs of the delay would be, Muto said.