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Tokyo has no 'Plan B' for Games despite coronavirus (Note this affects NBC Sports)

Y2kTheNewOldies

Y2kTheNewOldies

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...b-for-games-despite-coronavirus-idUSKCN20M1CL


TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo has no Plan B for this year’s Summer Olympics despite alarm over the spread of the coronavirus in Japan and elsewhere with under five months before the event, a senior official said on Friday.

“There will not be one bit of change in holding the Games as planned,” Katsura Enyo, deputy director general of the Tokyo 2020 Preparation Bureau at the city government, told Reuters.

Having prepared for years and invested some $12 billion, Japan is eager to quell fears the Games might be called off, postponed or moved to a different location due to the virus.

Though on the decline in China where it originated, the flu-like disease is moving fast around the world, including more than 200 cases and five deaths in Japan.
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But the interesting part here is that Brazil managed to have the Olympics back in 2016 in the middle of a Zika Scare though and they ran as normally.
 
Tokyo is betting on this subsiding by July. Those are slim chances but what else can they do. They spent billions on these games. Canceling is not an option if they can help it.
 
RadioPatrol said:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...b-for-games-despite-coronavirus-idUSKCN20M1CL

But the interesting part here is that Brazil managed to have the Olympics back in 2016 in the middle of a Zika Scare though and they ran as normally.
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No backup plan for a potential pandemic? COVID-19 (corona-virus) is completely different than Zika. Zika was transmitted by mosquitoes, and was a threat to pregnant women, where like similar SARS upper respiratory diseases, COVID-19 is transmitted through the air, or infected-touched surfaces. The preventative plans for Zika, was to spray pesticides to kill the threat around the vicinity. There is no such thing for COVID-19, or any SARS-like virus.
 
Kelly A said:
Don't know, I'll ask.

My guess is they have been working on several potential scenarios with the host country, Japan. They just haven't announced anything to the public yet.
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You'd think the TV rights money would be returned to the network, wouldn't you? What happened to ABC's money when President Carter ordered the USOC not to send American athletes to Moscow in 1980 as a way to punish the Soviet Union for invading Afghanistan? IIRC, Americans did get to see bits of the Moscow Olympics through syndication, but ABC was completely out of the picture, having decided that any Olympic Games without Americans competing wasn't worth televising. So did the IOC issue ABC a refund?
 
Not to sound like POTUS; but I seriously doubt it would ever come to cancelling the Olympic Games. They're working on vaccines as we type.
Worst case is the Athletes would probably have to undergo testing prior to getting on a flight to Tokyo and prior to that, proving that they've been vaccinated.
 
On the other hand, NBC Sports usually starts working on this a year or so in advance, so they already have a team of people on location now. I'd expect they're taking precautions on their end.
 
Of course there's no plan B right now. It's not something that is possible to plan for, especially given the limited certainty about how COVID-19 behaves.

Surely there are discussions ongoing about possible contingencies, but it would be insane for the IOC to, for example, announce a delay at this time.
 
NBC's gonna take a big financial hit with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics more likely to be canceled than moved or rescheduled
 
Don CT said:
Tokyo would take the biggest hit. Would they reschedule or just not have the games for another 4 years.
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If they waited another four years, the next Games wouldn't be in Tokyo. Remember, Tokyo was supposed to host the 1940 Summer Olympics, which were canceled because of World War II. It had to wait until 1964 for another opportunity. Rescheduling for later this year, with the dates up in the air until everyone agrees the dire virus threat is over, doesn't strike me as realistic. You just don't move a huge event like that to two weeks in September or October on short notice; the logistical challenges are too great. Maybe they could run them in Tokyo two years from now, temporarily going back to the schedule that saw both summer and winter Olympics being held in the same year, but then what do you do in 2024? The regularly scheduled Paris games?
 
Kelly A said:
No backup plan for a potential pandemic? COVID-19 (corona-virus) is completely different than Zika. Zika was transmitted by mosquitoes, and was a threat to pregnant women, where like similar SARS upper respiratory diseases, COVID-19 is transmitted through the air, or infected-touched surfaces. The preventative plans for Zika, was to spray pesticides to kill the threat around the vicinity. There is no such thing for COVID-19, or any SARS-like virus.
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In the case of the IOC management they might want to watch how the NBA management are trying to handle the COVID-19 situation because there are two NBA teams that are located in a 45 mile radius from Travis Air Force Base in Solano County it's the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors for now I have not heard of NBA leadership calling for games to get cancelled due to coronavirus. But like everyone else they have to watch how the CDC leaders and how hospitals in the Sacramento Valley and Bay Area handle the fallout.
 
AbrahamJSimpson said:
You can't just reschedule something of that magnitude and complexity.
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I agree, but if this virus is not contained what can they do. Tokyo spent billions to host the game. The IOC would either have to reimburse the city for their expense or shift the whole schedule.
 
If we get to the point when a decision needs to be made and the evidence points to something not sufficiently contained and posing a serious health risk, you cancel the games IMO. We’re talking pure last resort, but it’s not feasible to reschedule the entire games, and to when? If the virus remains (and this assumes for argument’s sake that it becomes) a pandemic, uncontrolled at the time, when would one know it’s safe to hold the games? You can’t pull them off on short notice.

Some things just aren’t doable. If, and I still think it’s a mighty epic if, things come to that, there will be disruption and financial losses, with the Olympics just one part of that.
 
Already an advocacy group is calling for the March Madness games be played without fans due to Coronavirus concerns. I think the NBA and Baseball would be other indicators on how sports and the Olympics will be affected by Coronavirus. It will be interesting to see what the NBA does with California’s issue with Coronavirus. Could they move games out of concern? Baseball will be another indicator to watch.
Off course if somehow March madness was played Fan-less that would definitely affect TV ratting. If the Olympics was not cancelled, could they also limit fan participation?

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/advoca...ns-due-to-coronavirus-concerns-191719807.html
 
xmtrland said:
Already an advocacy group is calling for the March Madness games be played without fans due to Coronavirus concerns. I think the NBA and Baseball would be other indicators on how sports and the Olympics will be affected by Coronavirus. It will be interesting to see what the NBA does with California’s issue with Coronavirus. Could they move games out of concern? Baseball will be another indicator to watch.
Off course if somehow March madness was played Fan-less that would definitely affect TV ratting. If the Olympics was not cancelled, could they also limit fan participation?

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/advoca...ns-due-to-coronavirus-concerns-191719807.html
Click to expand...

https://www.koin.com/news/health/co...-at-lake-oswego-schools-cancelled-over-virus/


I spoke too soon when I originally said that the IOC would have to watch how the NBA would react to the Coronavirus. It turns out Oregon has been hit by the COVID-19 too and possibly the NBA will have to have league wide protocols from the CDC for handling COVID-19 when the rest of the USA gets hit in March.

Yes the OLympics will happen July-August timeframe but to prepare for COVID-19 protocols and now the IOC will have to watch how the Japanese Baseball League is slowing down the infection rates in their stadiums.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28789524/japanese-baseball-league-shuts-doors-fans-due-virus
 
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