6 ms·

Olympics Are Turning into a $20B Bust for Japan

29 points by harambae 5y ago

HardwareLust 5y ago
Toyota made a point of saying they're not running ads in Japan, but they're sure running them here. I was watching softball stream on NBCSN last night and there was two Toyota Olympics ads on the page running over and over again all night.
joemaffei 5y ago
"a disgruntled populace just wants it all to go away." The same thing happened in Brazil. Back to back Olympics and World Cup, billions spent on single-purpose, once-used infrastructure, while the economy was in shambles. No one but the government wanted any of it - okay, maybe the World Cup, but definitely not the Olympics.
- petermcneeley 5y ago
  The poor complain; they always do But that’s just idle chatter Our system brings reward to all At least all those who matter.
- salt-thrower 5y ago
  Doesn’t this happen in almost every country that hosts the Olympics? If my city were proposed as a site for the games I would oppose it as much as possible.
  - pasabagi 5y ago
    In England, everybody remembers it as a success. I was actually living in London at the time, and I remember it being pretty shambolic (the buildings weren't ever finished, for example), but if you have your national media on side, I think Olympics can work for you. Hardly anybody actually goes to the event itself, so public perception is basically dependent just on how critical the media is. It also worked out well for China.
torgian 5y ago
It’s such a shit show. I refuse to watch the Olympics this year because of how poorly handled the whole situation is.
mensetmanusman 5y ago
So an increase of 0.14% of the national debt.. https://www.statista.com/statistics/270121/national-debt-of-japan/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/270121/national-debt-of-...
jdhn 5y ago
Why don't we just put the summer Olympics in Athens? There's already infrastructure there, and the Olympics originated in Greece.
- baud147258 5y ago
  Money (/prestige/fame), I guess? The people/companies benefiting from it aren't the ones footing the bill.
ksec 5y ago
I felt sorry for Japan. All the preparation for years if not a whole decade. I also wanted to ask, why wasn't the Olympic postponed to the next cycle in 2024. And instead it has to be done in during a pandemic?
- evgen 5y ago
  It was probably not pushed to 2024 because Paris has already started prepping for those and would not allow Tokyo to push their date. A lot of the facilities work is built under the assumption of a particular schedule, at least when it comes to expected longevity and plans for the infrastructure after the games; you can push out some things for a year but people already have plans and schedules for using the space taken up by some of the facilities. Maybe they could have given Tokyo 2032, but it would have represented a huge loss in terms of wasted funds and few of the facilities would be available for the later games. There is also the reputation aspects to consider. The IOC is a rigid, corrupt organization and any disruption or delay that might turn any focus to the IOC itself is not to be tolerated. I am assuming that internally the org is willing to put up with another Montreal or Sochi if it means that the schedule keeps ticking along and the org can hope that people forget the failures in four or eight years.
- jfengel 5y ago
  The athletes certainly want to participate. Athletes have a very limited time in which to be at their peak. The Olympics is the top international competition for many sports, and is literally a lifelong dream. Quite a few would be too old come 2024; it would be time for the next set of athletes to get their turn. I don't know if the athletes themselves were really high up in the list of things to be considered, but I'm sure they're all very happy to be allowed to compete. It won't be quite the same as the thing they dreamed of, but I suspect some are happier to have it be less of a carnival.
- shalmanese 5y ago
  The Olympic village was already presold as apartments. Purchasers already delayed moving in by a year due to the pandemic, it's not like you can just ask them to wait 3 more years to move into apartments they already paid for.
jaas 5y ago
The Olympics are an extremely wasteful way to see athletes do fun and sometimes heartwarming stuff. They need to stop building massive new infrastructure every time. Aside from the environmental issues, it seems like it almost always comes at massive cost to the citizens of the host country. Our world deserves better, and we have plenty of other sports we can watch in the meantime.
- majora2007 5y ago
  I agree 100%, the problem is the Olympics committee themselves, where they have such strict requirements that almost make it that you have to build all these one-time structures. This video gives a great view into how crazy it actually is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3FKtBNEBRc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3FKtBNEBRc

29 points by harambae 5y ago

Toyota made a point of saying they're not running ads in Japan, but they're sure running them here. I was watching softball stream on NBCSN last night and there was two Toyota Olympics ads on the page running over and over again all night.

joemaffei 5y ago

"a disgruntled populace just wants it all to go away." The same thing happened in Brazil. Back to back Olympics and World Cup, billions spent on single-purpose, once-used infrastructure, while the economy was in shambles. No one but the government wanted any of it - okay, maybe the World Cup, but definitely not the Olympics.

petermcneeley 5y ago
The poor complain; they always do But that’s just idle chatter Our system brings reward to all At least all those who matter.
salt-thrower 5y ago
Doesn’t this happen in almost every country that hosts the Olympics? If my city were proposed as a site for the games I would oppose it as much as possible.
- pasabagi 5y ago
  In England, everybody remembers it as a success. I was actually living in London at the time, and I remember it being pretty shambolic (the buildings weren't ever finished, for example), but if you have your national media on side, I think Olympics can work for you. Hardly anybody actually goes to the event itself, so public perception is basically dependent just on how critical the media is. It also worked out well for China.

torgian 5y ago

It’s such a shit show. I refuse to watch the Olympics this year because of how poorly handled the whole situation is.

mensetmanusman 5y ago

So an increase of 0.14% of the national debt.. https://www.statista.com/statistics/270121/national-debt-of-japan/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/270121/national-debt-of-...

jdhn 5y ago

Why don't we just put the summer Olympics in Athens? There's already infrastructure there, and the Olympics originated in Greece.

baud147258 5y ago
Money (/prestige/fame), I guess? The people/companies benefiting from it aren't the ones footing the bill.

ksec 5y ago

I felt sorry for Japan. All the preparation for years if not a whole decade. I also wanted to ask, why wasn't the Olympic postponed to the next cycle in 2024. And instead it has to be done in during a pandemic?

evgen 5y ago
It was probably not pushed to 2024 because Paris has already started prepping for those and would not allow Tokyo to push their date. A lot of the facilities work is built under the assumption of a particular schedule, at least when it comes to expected longevity and plans for the infrastructure after the games; you can push out some things for a year but people already have plans and schedules for using the space taken up by some of the facilities. Maybe they could have given Tokyo 2032, but it would have represented a huge loss in terms of wasted funds and few of the facilities would be available for the later games. There is also the reputation aspects to consider. The IOC is a rigid, corrupt organization and any disruption or delay that might turn any focus to the IOC itself is not to be tolerated. I am assuming that internally the org is willing to put up with another Montreal or Sochi if it means that the schedule keeps ticking along and the org can hope that people forget the failures in four or eight years.
jfengel 5y ago
The athletes certainly want to participate. Athletes have a very limited time in which to be at their peak. The Olympics is the top international competition for many sports, and is literally a lifelong dream. Quite a few would be too old come 2024; it would be time for the next set of athletes to get their turn. I don't know if the athletes themselves were really high up in the list of things to be considered, but I'm sure they're all very happy to be allowed to compete. It won't be quite the same as the thing they dreamed of, but I suspect some are happier to have it be less of a carnival.
shalmanese 5y ago
The Olympic village was already presold as apartments. Purchasers already delayed moving in by a year due to the pandemic, it's not like you can just ask them to wait 3 more years to move into apartments they already paid for.

jaas 5y ago

The Olympics are an extremely wasteful way to see athletes do fun and sometimes heartwarming stuff. They need to stop building massive new infrastructure every time. Aside from the environmental issues, it seems like it almost always comes at massive cost to the citizens of the host country. Our world deserves better, and we have plenty of other sports we can watch in the meantime.

majora2007 5y ago
I agree 100%, the problem is the Olympics committee themselves, where they have such strict requirements that almost make it that you have to build all these one-time structures. This video gives a great view into how crazy it actually is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3FKtBNEBRc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3FKtBNEBRc