The Tokyo games cancellation can lead to two different scenarios as because Coronavirus is leading its death rate and thus if it does not subside in the coming months, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will be left with only these two options-
1. To postpone the Tokyo games
2. To cancel the Tokyo games
The other option which comes in the head of everyone is to reschedule the event but that will be practically impossible. The planning and coordination between all IOC-recognised sports federations come with a plan that no other major event is held while the Olympics are on. It is done to ensure all the best athletes are able to compete at the Olympics and, from the broadcasters’ and sponsors’ point of view, there is no clash of sports programming.
Rescheduling the Olympics would mean they will have to reschedule entire sporting calendars and that can lead to many disturbances and clashes – from the World Championships of different sports to domestic football, baseball and basketball seasons. That, in turn, would create logistical and financial headaches for those sports. FIFA, for example, faced stiff resistance from several countries when they announced Qatar 2022 will be a winter World Cup, which forced many to change their domestic calendars.
The rescheduling of a game or postponing the game will is not a considered option for now. And with no Plan B in terms of a back-up host, the only options that IOC has – according to its longest-serving member Dick Pound – is calling off the Games altogether.
The cancellation of Olympics games will lead to a bad impact on the athletes as they train themselves for their whole life just to be at the games and perform their best. And it will also lead to massive fallout in terms of financial issues- the IOC has generated $5.7 billion in revenue, according to CNBC. Almost 73 per cent of it comes from selling media rights across the world. The rest is from sponsorships. So the cancellation of the Olympics, the worst-case scenario, would impact all of this.