IOC eyes Olympic villages for cost reductions

TOKYO (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee is looking at various areas to cut costs for hosting the Games including the "level of service" in Olympic villages, IOC Vice President John Coates told Tokyo 2020 organisers on Tuesday.

IOC eyes Olympic villages for cost reductions

(Reuters)





Coates, in opening remarks before a regular project review meeting, said the IOC had contacted 28 major national Olympic committees (NOCs) for their feedback by the end of this month.

"We are putting a number of questions to those national Olympic committees as to how we think we can find savings by reducing, to an acceptable level, the level of service in the Olympic village," he said.

Tokyo organisers have been working to slash costs after a study last year warned expenses could balloon to four times the initial estimate made during the bid process.

The IOC is keen for Tokyo to cut costs further and set a good example to attract future candidate cities, rather than scare them off with stories of out-of-control spending.

Coates said the IOC would share the responses of the national Olympic committees with its athletes commission.

"NOCs might receive some financial compensation to give up some beds, they might receive some compensation in return for more transferable accreditations for their support staff, those things," Coates said of possible ideas, without elaborating.

"We have to be satisfied that there's no impact on the services for the athletes," he added.

Recommendations would be presented at the IOC's executive board meeting in December, he said.

The IOC last month awarded Paris the 2024 Summer Olympics and Los Angeles the 2028 Games, the first time it has awarded two Olympics at the same time.

That decision came following the withdrawal of four of the six cities bidding for the 2024 Olympics, amid concerns about the size, cost and complexity of organising the world's biggest multi-sports event.





(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world