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

rojo wrote:

How in the world can anyone say the following with a straight face?

The AP wrote:

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is angry about it. Her allies say no change is needed and have raised questions about who will pay if the move goes through, and have not ruled out a lawsuit to recover damages.

Taro Shirato and Hiroshi Yamada, members of Koike’s political party in the metropolitan legislature, told a news conference Tuesday that moving the marathon would cost at least $34 billion yen (about $310 million).

$300 million to move a marathon?

How much does it actually cost to put on a marathon? And if anything I"d think it would be cheaper to put on in Sapporo than Tokyo although there might be some travel costs.

https://apnews.com/dcb29da612fa4c24ab4323b5b17dbf90

brojo wejo or whatever is infinitely wet behind the ears.

the OG process is one of rape, gouging, scams, graft.

the 300 mil number is just the highest one they can get away with.

and stop saying i'm surprised, when jack the ripper kills again.

jack the ripper, is jack the ripper

as the OG is the OG.

there is no reform, you silly letsrun people.

there is no learning curve.

gotta retire soon from here and make a website on track that nick diaz would be proud of.

my god, people actually debate this stuff, offering like only $10 mil to put on a marathon.

there is no debate.

the OG is a total criminal enterprise, with you stiffs, debating.

there is no debate.

Yeah it's a bit silly, and this is some crazy accounting, but the numbers aren't that crazy when you think of it like her.

She's saying Tokyo will miss out on 300 million in revenue to all business elements located within Tokyo (not really the same as cost, but maybe this is a poor translation, who knows).

Say for the races (olympics + paralympics) you have 2,000 participants + support staff, and an additional 20k spectators. That's 22,000 people. That's 13000 per person give or take, and we can easily round that to 10k.

So then you say food, touristy stuff, hotels, flights (that will still happen, but go to a different city), you can easy get up towards that number where the exaggeration isn't so unbelievable.

Think of it - a decent hotel in Tokyo at the time of the olympics is going to be around 500 per night, I'd give it a 1 week stay of average for about 3.5k. R/T airfare? 2-3k a head. Spending money for rich olympic tourists + standard food + travel expenses? Easily another 5k, which puts you over 10k a person already.

Yes, this is an exaggeration, and its done in such a way that it massively inflates the true amount being missed (hotels will probably go booked to other spectators who now have more options, etc). But... there is some reason to say it, as long as she is referring to total missed revenue from all Tokyo businesses that are missing out, and assuming airline tickets are included.

Old article:

https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20110427/FREE/110429872/nyc-marathon-runs-big-money-into-city

Each year the NY Marathon generates over 300 million

Multiply that in Tokyo for two weekends of marathons and race walks.

Don't forget that Tokyo will also sell out the 60,000 seat stadium x 2 for the start & finish of both marathons.

[quote]sit and kick wrote:

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

/quote]

Sorry, you said “‘thon” your opinion is no longer valid.

4 extra letters wrote:

[quote]sit and kick wrote:

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

/quote]

Sorry, you said “‘thon” your opinion is no longer valid.

'Thon is a very common abbreviation as a joke with runners.

Luv2Run wrote:

Multiplier effect wrote:

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.

Right now, RT from Tokyo to Sapporo next summer is ~$500, not $1500.

But this is quibbling. The bigger point remains: Olympic accounting has even less relation to reality than tax accounting.

veryveryoldman wrote:

Old article: Each year the NY Marathon generates over 300 million.

Oh, come on. Everyone knows the numbers produced by sports consultants are the pure fiction. They bear no relation to reality. None. They are meant to provide fodder for press releases, not give honest estimates of the net benefits of the event. The true impact is much, much lower.

You’re talking individual, old-school Japanese.

The newer corporate types gave Japan a bank bailout that has kept them stagnant for 20 years, and Fukushima nuke power plant & all the lies that followed.