Is this a joke? Tokyo Officials says it will cost $300+ million to move Olympic marathon to Sapporo

I'm assuming maybe that number includes tickets sold to watch the finish inside the Olympic Stadium, transportation, hotels for all participants, officials and police? Even if you include that, it still seems like a staggering amount.

payoffs and bribes and graft are about $299.8 million of that.

lets say 20k attendees bought tickets to the 'thon, say a flight R/T is 1500, thats $30m right there

Then lets say those attendees also get a hotel, thats probably another $5m

Then lets say a stadium is re-used but has to be modified for viewership/attendees/handicap/transgender code, local police employed, and some sort of olympic signage designed/built/delivered, course re-certification (maybe not), and permits/fees/etc from the city/county, easily another 30m

Then the transportation/housing for the athletes and their coaches/staff/etc, probably necessitates a new mini olympic village being assembled, I imagine thats the balance of the funds [~150-200m]

dirty business wrote:

payoffs and bribes and graft are about $299.8 million of that.

Exactly. Modern Olympics is basically a huge racketeering and money laundering scheme for any and all well connected individuals of the host nation. This often includes corrupt government officials and members of organized crime syndicates.

When politicians talk about "cost" in this case they are talking about opportunity cost for the city. So, hotel revenue for the city, food revenue for the city, leisure revenue for the city, and so on. So, what he's saying is it will cost $300m is essentially saying his city will miss out on $300m in revenue. That's probably true if you fudge a few numbers.

sit and kick wrote:

lets say 20k attendees bought tickets to the 'thon, say a flight R/T is 1500, thats $30m right there

[~150-200m]

How is this a cost? $30M in form ticket sales and $30M out back to those people. Net zero

sbeefyk2 wrote:

When politicians talk about "cost" in this case they are talking about opportunity cost for the city. So, hotel revenue for the city, food revenue for the city, leisure revenue for the city, and so on. So, what he's saying is it will cost $300m is essentially saying his city will miss out on $300m in revenue. That's probably true if you fudge a few numbers.

finally someone who gets it......was that so hard to understand?

sbeefyk2 wrote:

When politicians talk about "cost" in this case they are talking about opportunity cost for the city. So, hotel revenue for the city, food revenue for the city, leisure revenue for the city, and so on. So, what he's saying is it will cost $300m is essentially saying his city will miss out on $300m in revenue. That's probably true if you fudge a few numbers.

A good reason to never listen to politicians because a decrease in expected revenues is not a cost. Cost is something much different. It's not a cost if you never had it and don't have to pay anything if you lose it. You are at a net zero. Nothing gained, nothing lost.

It's not one, it's three races (marathon + two race walking) multiply by two (genders). Not to forget that it's happening scattered across Olympic schedule.

On top of all discussed here is more: volunteers, housing for volunteers and transportation. Security for additional city. Infrastructure changes to accept spectators, teams and personnel involved in the event (media coverage from personnel to infrastructure).

The mere fact that you have such a complicated events happening in two such distant places but which are part of same "event". Think it's stupid to isolate them like this.

DejanP wrote:

It's not one, it's three races (marathon + two race walking) multiply by two (genders). Not to forget that it's happening scattered across Olympic schedule.

On top of all discussed here is more: volunteers, housing for volunteers and transportation. Security for additional city. Infrastructure changes to accept spectators, teams and personnel involved in the event (media coverage from personnel to infrastructure).

The mere fact that you have such a complicated events happening in two such distant places but which are part of same "event". Think it's stupid to isolate them like this.

Knock Knock. It's reality. The cost for all above is mere pittance compared to 300 million dollars (though I have to wonder if the Brothers Johnson misread yen for dollars).

You think NYC marathon cost anywhere near 300M to put on? For 50,000+ runners compared to maybe 300 total?

DejanP wrote:

It's not one, it's three races (marathon + two race walking) multiply by two (genders). .

Don't forget the Paralympics too.

The cost includes the tourism effect of people finding out that Sapporo is beautiful, while Tokyo is crowded & expensive.

”That television you watch, the sake you drink, even that kimono you wear...where do you think all your dollars are going, Jerry? That's right ... the Japanese!"

I assumed the cost was for moving the actual marathon - like, the course itself. 26.2 miles of pavement, shipped on trucks and laid out in a field in Sapporo.

What happen if a big typhoon happen during the olympics like in the World Cup of Rugby this year , forcing the cancellation of several games?

The olympic would be cancelled.

2013 Japanese estimate of cost of hosting Olympics: $7.3 billion US dollars.

2019 estimate of cost to Japan to host Olympics: $25 billion US dollars.

Fiscal responsibility doesn't appear to be at the forefront of this process.

Er... wrote:

2013 Japanese estimate of cost of hosting Olympics: $7.3 billion US dollars.

2019 estimate of cost to Japan to host Olympics: $25 billion US dollars.

Fiscal responsibility doesn't appear to be at the forefront of this process.

I think that all the Olympics end up in massive costs, several times the cost estimated. London was not better.

I don' t understand wrote:

sit and kick wrote:

lets say 20k attendees bought tickets to the 'thon, say a flight R/T is 1500, thats $30m right there

[~150-200m]

How is this a cost? $30M in form ticket sales and $30M out back to those people. Net zero

Earlier based on prior planning facilities existed , and the 'thon organizers weren't on the hook to forward the attendees to Sapporo. Now perhaps to honor their commitment they will fly/house the participants in/around Sapporo. Maybe not, maybe they will refund/cancel the tickets to the 'thon and re-open it up there. I dont know.

Just imagining a scenario where since 20-100k attendees bought tickets for the 'thon [unsure on #'s], that perhaps the organizers are opting to cover transportation/housing to the new venue location. Maybe not

The whole marathon course including officials and spectators would be transported to Sapporo with helicopters. And it would have to be done many times for men's and women's marathon and race walks. Transporting the course back and forth many times. And during the transport the Olympic Stadium could probably not be used, so the schedule might change a little.