Menu
Download the app

SBJ subscribers – Enhance your experience with the revamped iOS app

Olympics

Japanese Government Approves $1.5B Contract For New 2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium

The Japanese government approved a 150B yen ($1.5B) contract Friday to build a new main stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, "a project that has been delayed by more than a year," according to Mari Yamaguchi of the AP. Officials said that the stadium construction "would begin in December after an earlier plan was scrapped because of spiraling costs and an unpopular design." The Japan Sport Council, a government-funded organization operating the project, said that the stadium "was scheduled for completion" at the end of Nov. '19, "still five months behind schedule." The delay "forced a venue change" for the Rugby World Cup that Japan is also hosting in '19. The 150B yen contract is "just below" the 155B ($1.55B) ceiling set this time for the contractors, a joint venture among Taisei Corp., Azusa Sekkei Co. and the office of Kengo Kuma, an architect who designed the new stadium (AP, 9/30). KYODO reported the terms were agreed to at a ministerial meeting at the PM’s Office, "which also heard plans for the stadium’s use" after '20. It is "likely to live on" as a privatized football, athletics and arts venue. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike was among the non-governmental officials "present at the meeting." She said that she "will fight tooth and nail for cost-effectiveness." Koike: "I will keep raising my voice so that (the stadium) will be used for the people of Tokyo, to make up for the burden that Tokyo has to bear." Approval of the construction cost "comes after months of apparent inactivity." The government "scrapped a previous design blueprint" in July '15 (KYODO, 9/30).

URGENT CONFERENCE: In a separate piece, KYODO reported a source revealed IOC VP & IOC Coordination Committee Head John Coates "took part in an urgent teleconference on Friday regarding a Tokyo metropolitan government proposal to switch three venues for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics." Coates conferred for "roughly an hour" with 2020 Organizing Committee CEO Toshiro Muto and Tokyo Vice-Governor Takashi Yamamoto, during which Coates "expressed his grave concerns over a plan to abandon the already-agreed-upon venues." The Japan Rowing Association said that "it will demand the metropolitan government stick to the original plan of a new Tokyo venue for rowing and canoe sprint and not try to shift it to Naganuma rowing course in Miyagi Prefecture," more than 400km away (KYODO, 10/1).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2016/10/03/Olympics/Tokyo-Stadium.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Global/Issues/2016/10/03/Olympics/Tokyo-Stadium.aspx

CLOSE