- Japanese companies have struck deals to sponsor the summer games in the national capital next year, according to Reuters.
- The sum of $3 billion in sponsorships for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is thrice more than the previous record.
- The London games in 2012 reportedly clocked $1.1 billion in corporate sponsorships.
- However, the economy does not seem as buoyant as it ought to be given the huge investments made ahead of the games.
Japanese companies have struck deals to sponsor the summer games in the national capital next year, according to Reuters. The sum of $3 billion in sponsorships for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo is thrice more than the previous record. The London games in 2012 reportedly clocked $1.1 billion in corporate sponsorships and the one in Rio De Janeiro in 2016 got $1.x billion.
"This does not include the partnerships with (Japanese companies) Toyota, Bridgestone and Panasonic and their contribution to the TOP programme," the IOC's Coordination Commission chief for Tokyo John Coates reportedly said. Tokyo now has 15 gold partners, 32 official partners and 15 companies that have signed up as official supporters.
The record sale of sponsorships may trigger from the booming interest for the event in the island country. 7.5 million citizens have already registered to apply for tickets through a lottery system, whereas the event will have only 7.8 million tickets, of which 20% to 30% are meant for international tourists and sponsors.
The 2020 summer Olympics iin Tokyo are scheduled to begin July 24 next year and will run till August 3. The Tokyo Metropolitan government has set aside a sum of $3.6 billion to host the games next year.
This may be the big boost Japanese economy needed to kick-start the economy that has sputtering for decades. There are at least eight different stadiums under construction ahead of the Olympics. The inflow of capital, tourists, the boost in consumption and sponsorships were expected to revive the economy. However, it hasn't played out the way Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would have liked it to.
The country's economy grew 2.2% but key components - consumption, capex, exports and imports - all had slowed down sharply from the prior quarter. "As Tokyo Olympics-related capex runs its course, a stronger yen lifted by expectations of Fed rate cuts will add downward pressure on growth," Yasunari Ueno, chief market economist at Mizuho Securities told Japan Today. "Moreover, if the sales tax rises to 10% as planned in October, that will hurt consumer sentiment," he added.
Making matters worse for the the world's third largest economy is the ongoing tariff war between Donald Trump's United States and Xi Jinping's China. This has reduced global trade, affected supply chains for Japanese manufacturers and capped any boost in sentiment from the upcoming Olympics and the investments made around the games.
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