Tokyo Games sponsors pay $3.3 billion, but more still needed

TOKYO (AP) — Domestic sponsors have already contributed a record of $3.3 billion to help pay for the Tokyo Olympics. That's at least twice as much as any previous Games.

But it's still not enough.

Now they're being asked to pay millions more to cover some of the soaring costs of the one-year postponement.

This comes as Japanese businesses are battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, raising doubts about re-investing in an Olympics that may be short on fans, but long on pandemic-related rules to discourage tourists, sightseeing and spending.

“We are in the process of asking for additional sponsorship (payments) from our partners,” organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said last week as he detailed why the postponement will cost organizers and Japanese taxpayers an extra $2.8 billion. “The sponsors have expressed the willingness to contribute to the Games next year. But they have not specified an amount.”

None of the the nearly 70 domestic sponsors is saying “no"— at least publicly — to an Olympics backed by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, and driven by Japan's powerful advertising conglomerate Dentsu Inc., the official marketing agency for the Tokyo Olympics.

Dentsu helped land the Olympics, lined up the sponsors, and stands to profit with the Olympics opening on July 23, 2021.

Little arm-twisting may be needed to keep sponsors on board. Harmony and consensus are valued in Japan, and this stretches to the corporate world. It's best illustrated by this Japanese saying: The nail that sticks up gets hammered down (Deru kugi wa utareru.).

Pulling off the Olympics is viewed as a national project, a matter of honor and saving face. Doubts expressed behind the scenes are unlikely to trickle to the surface. Some sponsors might offer additional “in-kind” payments...