Business braced for big hit from Tokyo switch

Sporting events and related businesses in China are braced for a major commercial fallout from the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a joint statement released on Tuesday evening, the International Olympic Committee and Tokyo organizers confirmed the Games would be delayed.

The statement read: "In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO (World Health Organization) today, the IOC President (Thomas Bach) and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.

"The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present.

"Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020."

The postponement had been widely expected, with Chinese sports event organizers and stakeholders now facing up to major financial challenges as a result.

Speaking before Tuesday's announcement, Wei Jizhong, a former secretary-general of the Chinese Olympic Committee, had backed the idea of staging the Games in 2021.

"Dragging it two more years is too long but staging it at a later date this year will not be safe enough, given the worsening virus situation," Wei wrote in a column published on qq.com on Tuesday.

"The postponement will have a huge effect on the Tokyo Games' marketing program, especially the broadcasting revenue," added Wei, who is also an honorary life president of the Olympic Council of Asia.

"Broadcasting plans for the Games have long been set while the sales of TV commercials during the Games' original window have been completed as well... Everything has to be rescheduled, thus causing a great economic loss that cannot be retrieved."

Tuesday's postponement followed mounting pressure from national Olympic federations to delay the Games.

Canada and Australia had both said they wouldn't send their athletes to the Tokyo Olympics unless the event was postponed, while World Athletics had also called for the Games to be rescheduled.

Wei believes the postponement will have major repercussions for events in China, including the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

"Sponsors and business partners of the Games will have to keep investing extra money in their marketing programs for Tokyo.... potentially forcing them to cut their budgets for the next Olympics," he said.

"On the other hand, it's also possible that the slowing economy amid the pandemic will limit sponsors' investment in Tokyo 2020, instead saving some additional budget for their Beijing 2022 marketing plans."

Staging the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of 2021 will likely have a significant financial effect on China's National Games and the World University Games－which are due to be staged that year in Xi'an and Chengdu respectively.

The upheaval will make sponsors reconsider their investment, said Adam Zhang, founder of sports marketing consultancy Key-Solution.

"It will definitely have a subsequent effect on all businesses involved in the Games and Chinese companies are of no exception," Zhang told China Daily on Tuesday.

"Some of the companies' pre-Games investments in promotional and marketing campaigns are likely to be wasted, while the uncertainty going forward... will make it difficult to deploy future campaigns and make further investments."

The marketing strategies for the Tokyo Games of Chinese companies, such as Alibaba, Anta and Caissa Tourism Group are all subject to adjustments due to the postponement, added Zhang.