mmarshall

With the postponement of this year's 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Toyota will suffer a setback, as it had spent a lot of money on the event and developed several new electric vehicles.


https://www.vulture.com/2020/03/2020...ronavirus.htmlVULTURE SPORTS UPDATED 8:50 A.M.

The Olympics Are Officially Postponed to Summer 2021

By Justin Curto
Photo: Getty ImagesUpdate, Tuesday, March 24, at 8:45 a.m.: The International Olympic Committee and Japan agreed to postpone the 2020 Olympic Games on March 24. According to the New York Times, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the Games are rescheduled from late July 2020 to summer 2021. The decision came after months of speculation and protest from athletes and officials.

While just about every major sports league, from the NBA to WrestleMania, has canceled or adapted due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Summer Olympics, set for this July and August in Tokyo, have been taking their time. Longtime International Olympic Committee member **** Pound told USA Today on March 23 that “postponement has been decided,” the first concrete development in the IOC’s plans. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know,” he said. IOC president Thomas Bach first indicated that the committee was considering postponing the games in a March 22 memo to athletes. “Together with all the stakeholders, we have started detailed discussions today to complete our assessment of the rapid development of the worldwide health situation and its impact on the Olympic Games, including a scenario of postponement,” he wrote, adding that the IOC would detail a plan in four weeks. Pound echoed that in his comments: “We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense,” he said.

On March 17, the games showed no signs of stopping. “The IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and with more than four months to go before the Games, there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage; and any speculation at this moment would be counterproductive,” the IOC said in a press release. And on March 20, the Olympic torch came to Japan — currently under a level two CDC travel advisory because of coronavirus — ready to begin its journey to Tokyo.

After Bach’s updated message to athletes, Canada became the first country to say it would not send athletes to a summer 2020 Olympics, calling on the IOC “to postpone the Games for one year.” “This is not solely about athlete health — it is about public health,” the Canadian Olympic Committee’s March 22 statement said. Australia joined Canada the following day, saying, “The [Australian Olympic Committee] believes our athletes now need to prioritise their own health and of those around them, and to be able to return to the families, in discussion with their National Federations.” Notably, Australia is encouraging its athletes to plan for the Tokyo Olympics to take place in summer 2021. Committees in Brazil, Germany, and Norway are all urging the IOC to postpone the games.

While the Olympics have been canceled three times before, most recently for World War II in 1944, Bach said March 22 that “cancellation would not solve any problem and would help nobody.” The games routinely drive huge ad revenues for NBC, and on March 23, a spokesperson told Vulture, “These are extraordinary and unprecedented times, and we fully support the IOC’s decision to step up its scenario-planning for the Tokyo Olympics. We are prepared to stand behind any decision made by the IOC, the Japanese government, and the world health officials with whom they are working regarding the Tokyo Olympics.” Brian Roberts, CEO of Comcast (which owns the network), said earlier in March that “there should be no losses should there not be an Olympics,” thanks to insurance.

So don’t count on the solace of gymnastics, swimming, and Leslie Jones’s iconic sports commentary this summer — but maybe it will be a post-quarantine treat in 2021?


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TOYOTA IS FACING AN OLYMPIC-SIZE NAIL-BITER

With the 2020 games in doubt the automaker stands to lose big
By Hans Greimel. Published on March 23, 2020.
Toyota concept car


Credit: ToyotaFor Japan's biggest automaker, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics has been a five-year, about $1 billion bet on showcasing the company and its technology to the world. But speculation is mounting that the games will be postponed, or even canceled, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Monday, International Olympic Committee member **** Pound told USA Today that games will likely be postponed to 2021, although the IOC has yet to make anything official.

Toyota Motor Corp. has a lot to lose. For starters, the automaker spent a reported $835 million in 2015 to sign on as a top sponsor of the games through 2024. Since then, it has put untold millions into developing a fleet of electrified, new-mobility vehicles to roll out for the event — from hydrogen fuel cell buses to automated athlete shuttles and a cast of robots to help at events. A self-driving Toyota pod car is supposed to escort the torch relay.

Toyota also created a sophisticated worldwide marketing campaign called "Start Your Impossible" that revolves around the Olympics and the idea of delivering new modes of mobility to all people. It even spent years developing a new, more user-friendly taxi, the JPN Taxi, to transport the expected droves of international visitors flocking to the country for the world's biggest sporting event.

But now, maybe no one will come.

The International Olympic Committee, the Japanese government and Toyota are still publicly committed to lighting the flame in Tokyo's Olympic Stadium on July 24. "With more than four months to go before the games, there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage," the IOC said last week. Speculating about its fate, the committee said, is "counterproductive."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also has been bullish on going ahead as scheduled. But that changed.

Last week, he opened some wiggle room for rescheduling the Olympics. Dodging questions on whether they should open as planned, Abe instead told reporters that the games should be held in their "complete form," and that he has the backing of other Group of Seven leaders. Japan's Olympic minister later did hasty damage control to clarify that Japan still wants stay to on track.

For its part, Toyota issued a statement saying it hasn't heard of any change in plans from the Olympic organizers, and thus, there is "no change of plans for Toyota as well."

But global skepticism and concern are spreading as the coronavirus reaches new frontiers. The head of the French Olympic Committee told Reuters the global pandemic must be on the wane by the end of May to green-light the Summer Games. But President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has said the crisis in the U.S. could drag into August. At the same time, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported that Canada's athletes' commission representative to the IOC called the committee "insensitive and irresponsible" for pushing ahead with the Summer Olympics. And a study of data from the Japan health ministry by Kyodo showed that the outbreak in Japan has not reached its peak yet.

A poll by the country's Asahi newspaper found that 63 percent of Japanese voters think the Summer Olympics should be postponed.

Athlete, logistics issues

The IOC conceded that many athletes around the world will face difficulties securing their qualification for the games because of the social-distancing policies adopted to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

"Athletes are even finding it hard to continue their regular training schedules," the IOC said, noting that so far, only 57 percent of the athletes are qualified.

Calling off the games would be a huge hit to the Japanese economy and the government, which has positioned the games as a national pride project and economic stimulus. Tokyo, in particular, has been on a yearslong building boom to prepare for the Olympics.

But postponing them would also be a costly logistical nightmare.

Toyota meticulously timed product placement and unveilings for a slew of vehicles and new-mobility gadgets to the Olympics spotlight. The strategizing includes this year's launch of the second-generation Mirai, the svelte and sexy upgrade to Toyota's trademark fuel cell sedan.

Also in the works is the LQ, a self-driving electric vehicle equipped with a digital assistant designed to deliver a "personalized mobility experience." That car builds on the Concept-I exhibited in 2017 at CES in Las Vegas. Toyota planned to have a working version of the LQ ready for public test drives from June to September. And it previously said the vehicle will run as an escort vehicle for some events during the Olympics.

The question is whether these vehicles and others Toyota has on tap will still carry a "wow" punch if the Olympics are delayed to 2021 or later. And the ramifications reverberate far beyond Toyota. In the event of a delay or cancellation, any automaker that bought airtime during the Olympics would have to rethink that advertising pitch and its timing.

Impact in Japan

Japan has acted inconsistently to contain the coronavirus. The government canceled all schools throughout the month of March, for instance. Many companies have instituted teleworking policies, and public spaces are quieter and more subdued than normal.

But bars, restaurants and stores are still open, and there are no drastic shelter-in-place orders yet.

Japan reported last week that 1,728 people had tested positive for coronavirus, including 712 from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined at the port in Yokohama, and 14 others evacuated from China by government charter flights, according to a tally by Kyodo.

The death toll in Japan stood at 29 people.

But as of last week, only 12,239 people in the country had been tested in this nation of 126 million, leading some to question whether the limited testing captures the true scope of transmission here.

Hans Greimel reports from Tokyo for Automotive News.

Toys4RJill

Toyota will bounce back strong w the Olympics. Should be a great event after this is all done.

Tokyo will rise 🇯🇵

Johnhav430

Toyota will be fine.

One thing that I find doesn't sit right. I'm an avid hockey fan and after 2005 I quit for 2 full years. Put into context people who own sports teams go to massage parlors and have billions (most likely today they take it to go), their own social circles, laws that apply to them, etc. I saw an article saying that staff for two local professional sports teams would have their salaries cut by 20%--I get it some folks lost their jobs. I think my personal situation is all or nothing. I get my raise, my bonus, until the co. goes out of business if they cannot survive. I consider myself fortunate. They were thinking too about cutting the players' salaries under force majeure at 1/92 of their gross annual. What's wrong with that picture? We're in a middle of a humanitarian crisis and a headline is who's coming to Tampa Bay.

It would be heartbreaking as an athlete because all the money can't build a time machine. Perhaps the fair thing is to cancel altogether. Because the likelihood of similar results 4 years from now, there is some. One year, not really. my .02

Times like these we need to rethink this notion of heroes.

Our CEO said things are bleak. But it's the 4th time in his lifetime that things were bleak, we'll pull through. One of our businesses has more than we can handle, more than ever in our history. Others, are dead. That's diversification. My guess is Toyota is diversified as such that they will survive.

edit it's the 1/92 that struck me as not right. Rhetorical--have you ever given away 1/92 of your gross salary--my bet is you've given away and likely do give away 10/92 or more. Where did ninety-two one-hundredths even come from in these players' contracts? Let's get it converted into 32's so at least it's in a standard we can relate to from tire depth. On the other hand, true, I've never given away $423k myself in one year.

The other piece--I've never taken a pay cut nor been let go (knock on wood came close 6 years ago, bad boss), other than as a waiter in a motor inn back in the 90s. So that's not something where I can say I know how it feels. This is why I feel a 20% pay cut to staff while players take maybe 1/92, is not fair. Nor would I know how it is to be 14-25 and have the games canceled. But this is more serious. And we can look back at the comments earlier this season around end of January and early Feb., as to what some marquis athletes said when the virus wasn't as it was a few weeks ago. Not their finest moments.