Preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics "sank deeper into trouble on Monday when the president of Toyota abruptly stepped down" from the Games’ main organizing committee, according to Leo Lewis of the FINANCIAL TIMES. The resignation of Akio Toyoda, whose company has "taken an unprecedented" $1B marketing bet on becoming one of the biggest corporate sponsors of the Olympics, "followed renewed speculation that the cost of hosting the event in Tokyo may spiral to over six times" the original $2.5B estimate. The claims of the spiraling costs were "first reported by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK at the weekend and if true would make the Tokyo Olympics even more expensive" than the £8.77B cost of hosting the London 2012 Games. People close to the decision said that Toyoda’s move "arose from a possible conflict of interest" between his roles on the organizing committee and as head of the business federation’s main Olympic lobbying group. Toyoda’s departure is the "latest setback" for an organizing panel that has been forced, "through scandal and public outrage, to tear-up plans for a new national stadium, scrap the Tokyo logo over plagiarism claims" and abandon the bid pledge of being the "compact games" by hosting some events hundreds of miles from the capital (FT, 12/21). The AP reported Toyoda said in a statement that he "decided to reorganize his roles to intensify his efforts to encourage business support for the 2020 Games." He said that he is "looking forward to forging even closer ties between the organizing committee and Japan's business community" (AP, 12/21).
