[POLL] Should the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games be cancelled, postponed or held at any cost?

[EselTheDonkey 824]

11 hours ago, LDOG said:

 

I'm sure that 90% of olympic sport international federations would sacrifice whatever calendar they have planned for 2021 in order to have their olympic event contested. Too many of them have total dependence on olympic-related revenue. 

 

 

Exactly this. For almost all of these federations, the Olympics are by far the most important event. Many of them are in the eyes of the public basically inexistant for the rest of the time and it's their one chance to get into the limelight for four years. Even the big ones like Athletics would probably sacrifice their World Championships for the Olympics.

 

The only exceptions to this rule might be men's football, men's basketball, men's golf and tennis. And for golf or tennis wouldn't be much change, because they basically have the same sports calendar year after year. And men's football already made a big change by postponing the European Championships, which will lead to the delayment of other events anyway (even the women's European Championships, so that they aren't overshadowed by the men).

Edited March 20, 2020 by EselTheDonkey

[Sindo 1,504]

11 hours ago, LDOG said:

 

I'm sure that 90% of olympic sport international federations would sacrifice whatever calendar they have planned for 2021 in order to have their olympic event contested. Too many of them have total dependence on olympic-related revenue. 

 

Absolutely right. Its not what I think will happen, its what I would like to happen

[phelps 7,677]

Just now, EselTheDonkey said:

 

Exactly this. For almost all of these federations, the Olympics are by far the most important event. Many of them are judging by public interest basically inexistant for the rest of the time. Even the big ones like Athletics would probably sacrifice their World Championships for the Olympics.

 

The only exceptions to this rule might be men's football, men's basketball, men's golf and tennis. And for golf or tennis nothing there wouldn't be much change, because they basically have the same sports calendar year after year. And men's football already made a big chance by postponing the European Championships, which will lead to the delayment of other events anyway (even the women's European Championships, so that they aren't overshadowed by the men).

 

you are forgetting where the 2021 worlds are scheduled...

 

it's not world athletics itself (which would easily change dates for their crown juwel event), the real problem is the US environment (federation, sponsors and, above all, tv networks)...

 

I mean, sponsorship agreements have already been signed, TV schedule has just been fixed (even if not released to the public yet), corporation tickets have already been sold, hotel rooms have already been reserved, the new "athletes' village", which is part of the new Oregon University Campus, is already booked by the students for the following semesters and once they enter that structure, they can't be thrown off because of the Athletics Worlds have changed schedule...

 

there are a lot of problems that can't be solved just by moving a couple of dates on a calendar...

 

and more or less it's the same for all the other events already scheduled for 2021, even those not having the US TV as such a strong stakeholder (we all know that NBC Universal is basically the owner of the IOC and consequently of many International Sports Federations by virtue of all the money they spend for the TV rights of those events, especially the Olympic Games...but not only them)...

[Giovanni Gianni Cattaneo 142]

The only way for me (and probably for CIO) is to pospone games for few weeks.
Best date is at the end of september. Hope virus go down in summer, and in 3-4 months atlethes can tranining, qualification can complete, and games start. In 2021, probabilly, we are in the same way about virus.

[Quaker2001 251]

2 hours ago, phelps said:

 

you are forgetting where the 2021 worlds are scheduled...

 

it's not world athletics itself (which would easily change dates for their crown juwel event), the real problem is the US environment (federation, sponsors and, above all, tv networks)...

 

I mean, sponsorship agreements have already been signed, TV schedule has just been fixed (even if not released to the public yet), corporation tickets have already been sold, hotel rooms have already been reserved, the new "athletes' village", which is part of the new Oregon University Campus, is already booked by the students for the following semesters and once they enter that structure, they can't be thrown off because of the Athletics Worlds have changed schedule...

 

there are a lot of problems that can't be solved just by moving a couple of dates on a calendar...

 

and more or less it's the same for all the other events already scheduled for 2021, even those not having the US TV as such a strong stakeholder (we all know that NBC Universal is basically the owner of the IOC and consequently of many International Sports Federations by virtue of all the money they spend for the TV rights of those events, especially the Olympic Games...but not only them)...

 

So what is the solution then?  Since you seem to be blaming this on the United States, as if we're standing in the way of the IOC making a decision.

 

If the Olympics have to move to 2021, the IAAF will very happily tell Oregon they can't have the world championships in 2021 and push them off to a later date.  We are at an unprecedented time here, so if that's what needs to happen in order for the Olympics to be held, then that's a small price to pay.

Edited March 20, 2020 by Quaker2001

[Olympian1010 7,976]

45 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

So what is the solution then?  Since you seem to be blaming this on the United States, as if we're standing in the way of the IOC making a decision.

 

If the Olympics have to move to 2021, the IAAF will very happily tell Oregon they can't have the world championships in 2021 and push them off to a later date.  We are at an unprecedented time here, so if that's what needs to happen in order for the Olympics to be held, then that's a small price to pay.

The issue with moving the Olympics back is the eventual forced moving of other international events. This could cause a lack of interested hosts in international events. It’s very bad from a “sports as a business” point of view.

[Quaker2001 251]

51 minutes ago, Olympian1010 said:

The issue with moving the Olympics back is the eventual forced moving of other international events. This could cause a lack of interested hosts in international events. It’s very bad from a “sports as a business” point of view.

 

Same question.. so what's the solution?  We're dealing with an unprecedented situation in the history of organized sport.  A lack of interested hosts in international events?  What happens if that hits the Olympics?  Talk about bad business 

 

If the Olympics were to get postponed to 2021, let's see who gets affected?  The Euro moving back a year doesn't make a big difference as they'd still be clear of the Olympics.  I'm sure the folks in Eugene would be disappointed if the IAAF Worlds had to be cancelled, but then they'd get first dibs on 2025.  Not like the stadium is going anywhere.  The FINA Worlds are slated for Japan, so they'll gladly sacrifice that for the sake of the Olympics.  After that, you've got the World Games slated for mid-July.  The Summer Universiade in August.  After that, what else is there?

 

As we all know, there are a zillion logistical challenges in order to make an Olympics postponement work.  Very low on that priority list is what it does to other international events.  IAAF and FINA need the Olympics a lot more than they need their world championships.  If they have to skip a cycle to make that happen or for there to be a ripple effect on their future calendars, that seems like a small price to pay.

[Olympian1010 7,976]

6 minutes ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

Same question.. so what's the solution?  We're dealing with an unprecedented situation in the history of organized sport.  A lack of interested hosts in international events?  What happens if that hits the Olympics?  Talk about bad business 

 

If the Olympics were to get postponed to 2021, let's see who gets affected?  The Euro moving back a year doesn't make a big difference as they'd still be clear of the Olympics.  I'm sure the folks in Eugene would be disappointed if the IAAF Worlds had to be cancelled, but then they'd get first dibs on 2025.  Not like the stadium is going anywhere.  The FINA Worlds are slated for Japan, so they'll gladly sacrifice that for the sake of the Olympics.  After that, you've got the World Games slated for mid-July.  The Summer Universiade in August.  After that, what else is there?

 

As we all know, there are a zillion logistical challenges in order to make an Olympics postponement work.  Very low on that priority list is what it does to other international events.  IAAF and FINA need the Olympics a lot more than they need their world championships.  If they have to skip a cycle to make that happen or for there to be a ripple effect on their future calendars, that seems like a small price to pay.

There’s no solution. It’s a lose/lose issue at this point. There’s already of shortage of hosts, and now very few countries are seeing an economic benefit in the events that they are hosting. 
 

More than just World Athletics (no longer IAAF ) will be affected by the Olympics moving. Many smaller, but vital events, will be affected as well, and it would take years for them to recover from this. 
 

The problem with moving the World Athletics Championships from Eugene is the amount of money they’ve invested into them. Why would any country to pay to host the championships, upgrade their venues, upgrade their public infrastructure, etc. if there’s no guarantee the events will happen (same goes for potential Olympic hosts).
 

FINA would lose so much money because of that though, and so would the Japanese government. I agree the Universaide might not be affected, but the field of athletes would be weaker than what we’ve seen in the past few editions. World Games wouldn’t be affected athlete wise, but they’d take a huge market hit. The World Games need protection as well, because they are just as vital to international sports as the Olympics (and that’s according to Thomas Bach). There are dozens of sports that require the World Games to stay in operation. Olympics sports have larger and more supportive fan bases, so they could survive a cancellation, but I fear many of the World Games sports couldn’t.

 

I’m not actually sure how much World Athletics, FINA, IJF, etc. need the Olympics. I think they make more physical capital off their markee events, but I could be wrong. I just think there are a lot of negatives that come with postponing the Olympics, and it’s a messy issue. I’m not sure the Olympics can survive cancellation either. There’s just no good options here really.

[justony 454]

I would vote for postponed to Autumn 2020.

[phelps 7,677]

5 hours ago, Quaker2001 said:

 

So what is the solution then?  Since you seem to be blaming this on the United States, as if we're standing in the way of the IOC making a decision.

 

If the Olympics have to move to 2021, the IAAF will very happily tell Oregon they can't have the world championships in 2021 and push them off to a later date.  We are at an unprecedented time here, so if that's what needs to happen in order for the Olympics to be held, then that's a small price to pay.

 

I don't have any solution, unfortunately...

 

and no, I'm not blaming the USA for defending their interests...

 

we all know that the USA are the strongest political powerhouse in the sports world and that the US TV Networks are those who pay the highest amount of money for the tv rights of almost every event...

 

therefore we have to keep in mind what's easy to adjust and what might be complicated and make all the required adjusments very difficult if not impossible...

 

it's not a question of blaming someone or not, it's only a question of analyzing every situation in depth, without stopping on the surface (which could lead to wrong conclusions or excessive semplification of any question)...