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

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.

That assumes the hotel rooms will sit empty.

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.

Do the volunteers get housing? The USOC is advertising for volunteers in Tokyo. You pay your own way and then you get to help!

Multiplier effect wrote:

DejanP wrote:

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

Don't forget the Paralympics too.

Not necessarily. Para starts after the Games. Should be cooler--although many para athletes have more serious concerns with heat than able-bodied.

This has to be fake. You can build and fully outfit small/average sized cruise ship for 300 million.

This is how much it would realistically cost to move it and I will be extremely generous.

Transport - 100 per ticket x 500 people including timing equipment = 50,000 round up to a nice 250,000 just to be safe

Cordoning of a marathon worth of roads (which usually includes loops so not even 26 miles of road) - max 250,000 (if not free due to the amount of economic income and tourism it will bring the area).

Set up breakdown and labor - Max 250K and thats being generous

Broadcasting? - Cant be more than a million dollars

Hotel - Even if you give every athlete and staffer their own room at a very nice hotel - 500 x 500 = 250K

Food - Max 500 x 250 = 125K

Total 2,125,000 round that up to a tidy 3 Million

LEAVES YOU WITH A GRAND TOTAL OF 297 MILLLLLLLION DOLLA LEFTOVER

and we wonder why America has a 22 trillion dollar deficit

Grenio wrote:

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.

Lol

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.

In all reality these are revenues. It's phrased a cost because it makes it seem difficult and the people making millions won't look corrupt. They calculate these numbers by saying things like "NBC paid 300 million for broadcasting rights." Then they say "Gatorade, Nike, BMW are paying 500 million in advertising rights". They than say that costs are already at 800 million or whatever when in reality NBC just made 200 million by selling commercials.

There's lies. There's damn lies. And then there's statistics.

*I made up these numbers to illustrate a point. Please don't comment correcting the actual values NBC or whoever paid

This has got to be the stupidest reply ever. You win.

Oh, by the way, care to show us your math? Because just like your teacher in grade school, I don't think you did any.

This is the real answer- end of thread right here:

You're the kind of guy that everyone likes playing poker with, because you don't understand math on any level.

Don't worry, though, I'm going to help you out. Sign up for my real estate wholesaling class so you can start earning the big $$$ that you deserve!

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.

They're camping out at Sapporo?

300MM Yen sounds right not $'s

Could you explain that in a little more detail? I'm not an econ guy. Let me say a little more, first. Ahead of the 1976 Montreal Olympics, mayor Jean Drapeau famously said the "Olympics could no more lose money than a man could have a baby." It's worded somewhat awkwardly but his point was there's no way Montreal would suffer from hosting the Olympics. Of course, the never-finished stadium famously went from being nicknamed "the Big O" to "the Big Owe" damned fast and Montrealers paid for decades. In 1984 Peter Ueberroth led the LA games using private money and updating existing facilities wherever possible. The games did not cost the city. Every Olympics since then, however, has been a huge drain on the local and national purse. Tokyo's figures are almost exclusively public money--almost $20billion US dollars. How does calling this "revenue" make a difference. Tokyo and Japan will spend publicly-raised, taxpayer yen to host the Olympics instead of any number of other projects they could choose to pursue with that money. No?

Revenue wrote:

Er... wrote:

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

.

In all reality these are revenues. It's phrased a cost because it makes it seem difficult and the people making millions won't look corrupt. They calculate these numbers by saying things like "NBC paid 300 million for broadcasting rights." Then they say "Gatorade, Nike, BMW are paying 500 million in advertising rights". They than say that costs are already at 800 million or whatever when in reality NBC just made 200 million by selling commercials.

There's lies. There's damn lies. And then there's statistics.

*I made up these numbers to illustrate a point. Please don't comment correcting the actual values NBC or whoever paid

Taking the marathon and race walks from Tokyo is outrageous. The marathon is the marquee event for the Japanese, and the crowd support would have been incredible. The race walk relocation is also bad, because it means I will never get the chance to reenact this scene:

https://youtu.be/wILPoWNq9Vo?t=6371

I actually don't understand how the IOC can just make this kind of unilateral decision. Tokyo bid on the games, and the bid was accepted. Heck, people are making a big deal out of Tokyo not being consulted, but was Sapporo even consulted? Why does the IOC think it can make a non-bidding city host an event? Why should Tokyo spend a dime on the event if it's not even going to be there?

The Tokyo Hospital Assoc. makes $ from all the emergency-room heatstroke visits?

I have spent time in Japan and assisted with international athletic events. Nagano Winter Olympics.

I say these things in defense of the Japanese, and from my personal experience in working with them. They can seem a little quirky at first, but once you understand it all, it makes total sense and you fully appreciate them, their efforts and love them for it.

Please understand that they are extremely detail oriented and want even the smallest little things to be as near perfect as possible. They have made an extremely detailed plan for exactly how everything will be, and if there were any questions they were addressed long ago.

They will leave no stone unturned to accomplish this. They will literally and figuratively go the extra mile to ensure everything is just so. Armies of people in Japan have been working on the 2020 Olympics. You likely can not imagine each and every thing that they have planned for.

They have a tremendous amount of national pride, and they view hosting the Olympics as much more than hosting an athletic competition. They have spent years planning these Games. They want to be the perfect host, and they want to host it their perfect way.

Please understand also how important the marathon is to the Japanese. You can bet that every Japanese marathoner who thought they might make the team has trained on the course. Brett Larner even mentioned seeing top runners on the course when he did his one year before test run. Imagine all the details Japan has planned and arranged to ensure their athletes, and what will likely be the marquee event at these games, will run as perfectly as possible.

( I predict at least 2 road medals for Japan in 2020...)

I can only imagine the disbelief and scrambling that is going on behind the scenes after being told at this late date that they will have to move the marathons and walks to another location.

It reflects poorly on the IOC to wait so long to do this. Telling your host what they must is just not something that you do.

Being told at this late date that they have to move the marathon likely seems outrageous and incomprehensible to the Japanese, on all levels (ethically, logistically, morally... ) What you are hearing is backlash, but many Japanese are too polite, too civil and too respectful to just tell the IOC what they really think.

The $US 300 mil figure is one way for them to express their extreme displeasure. Surely the IOC and others can understand money?

I have no doubt that Japan will be able to accomplish the venue change, but it will not be easy and it will come at a great costs.

If a city actually lost money on the Olympics then they wouldn't bid to host it. They might claim they lost money but that would be due to corruption (see rio where this went public). After a city wins a bid (which they do pay money to get) they then have the ability to license out to contractors and advertisers and media companies the ability to participate. These companies spend a lot of money to have that right. This is how the city makes money. Those companies then sell their own advertising space or whatever to turn a profit (again if there wasn't a profit they wouldn't bid to get the contract). Overall the system makes a ton of money. Some companies may overpay on a contract and with poor execution lose money however this is usually because someone was embezzling (again see rio).

In specifics to the marathon, due to road closures and the like, there is a chance the city has to pay all the business's on the route for potential lost revenue. This frequently happens when roads close. So it is a costly endeavor but cities usually end up on top. So if they've already contracted with these business's then changing the contracts could result in additional expenditure.

A joke? Well, I don't hear anybody laughing. Do you?

Racket wrote:

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.

they could avoid a lot of this by keeping the games permanently in Athens.