Tokyo 2020 Olympics receive record US$3.3 billion lift from local sponsors to support postponed Games
- The figure represents double the amount of previous Olympics and 60 per cent of the income required for the Games’ operating budget
- Japanese advertising giant Dentsu has lined up most of the 67 local sponsors that are supporting Tokyo 2020
Local sponsors have chipped in a record US$3.3 billion to support the postponed Tokyo Olympics. That’s at least two times more than any previous Olympics, and it amounts to almost 60 per cent of the income for the privately funded operating budget.
Another 14 per cent of the income is budgeted from ticket sales, which could be in jeopardy with empty venues a possibility because of the coronavirus.
With the Games delayed for a year, sponsors will be asked to sign up again. Tokyo spokesman Masa Takaya said talks would begin next month.
“We are planning to start sitting together with those companies, including the arrangement and content of the contract, in the very near future,” Takaya said this week in an online briefing with reporters.
A poll published earlier this month by Japanese broadcasters NHK said two-thirds of sponsors are undecided about extending for another year.
Sixty-seven companies have signed up as local sponsors for the Olympics or Paralympics, most lined up by Dentsu Inc, the giant Japanese advertising agency that serves as the exclusive marketing agency for Tokyo 2020.