Photo/Illutration Seiko Hashimoto, head of the Tokyo organizing committee, and Tamayo Marukawa, the state minister in charge of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, lead a meeting with local government officials regarding prohibiting spectators on July 8 in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward. (Pool)

Spectators will be banned from all Olympic sports events scheduled in Tokyo and the surrounding three prefectures, guaranteeing a massive financial loss on ticket sales.

At a meeting on July 8 in the capital, the five stakeholders--the central government, the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, the Tokyo metropolitan government, the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee--arrived at an unprecedented decision that no spectators will be allowed in the venues in Tokyo.

After a discussion with local officials, the Games' organizers also decided to ban spectators at the sports events scheduled in those three prefectures as well.

The agreements came only two weeks before the start of the Games, just hours after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced yet another state of emergency for Tokyo as COVID-19 cases surge again.

Neighboring Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures are currently under the central government’s pre-emergency measures.

The decisions affect 34 venues out of all 42 Olympic venues.

The ban will apply to all sports events, regardless of venue capacity and the scheduled competition time.

IOC officials and other credentialed people are still allowed to enter the venues.

The organizers said they will scrutinize how many are “truly needed” to be let in. But Tamayo Marukawa, the state minister in charge of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, said they had yet to have a concrete discussion about the number.

On the other hand, the organizers decided to allow spectators at sports events scheduled at venues located outside the areas around Tokyo.

Fans will be able to watch competitions in four prefectures not under a state of emergency or pre-emergency measures: Miyagi, Fukushima, Shizuoka and Ibaraki.

In Miyagi, which is hosting soccer games, Fukushima, where baseball and softball events will take place, and Shizuoka, which will host the cycling, fans will be allowed in, but limited to half capacity and up to a maximum of 10,000 people.

In Ibaraki, which will also host soccer games, only school-organized groups of children will be allowed to watch the competitions from the stands.

The organizers are still discussing what to do with the sports events held in Hokkaido: soccer, the marathon and race walking.

Whether they will allow fans at the Paralympics will be decided after the Olympics close on Aug. 8, they said.

IOC President Thomas Bach, who arrived in Tokyo on July 8, as well as IPC President Andrew Parsons, attended the five-way online discussion.

Seiko Hashimoto, who is head of the Tokyo organizing committee, was in a room with Marukawa. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike also joined online.

The decisions are expected to leave the organizers in the red, as they lose most of the revenue expected from the ticket sales, estimated to be about 90 billion yen ($820 million) including the Paralympics.

The IOC is not liable for the loss, according to the Olympics candidature file submitted by Tokyo.

The central and metropolitan governments will likely have to compensate for the deficit.

The Tokyo Olympics was postponed in March 2020 by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Abe pledged to hold the Games a year later in their “complete form.”

But the pandemic has not abated since then.

Holding the Summer Games under a state of emergency and without spectators will be a first in the history of the Olympics.

The organizers decided in March to ban spectators from abroad. Suga had insisted on allowing domestic spectators.

The five stakeholders on June 21 announced that fans would be allowed in but limited to 50 percent capacity, up to a maximum of 10,000 people. That decision was based on the assumption that the pre-emergency measures would be lifted by July 11.

But the stakeholders had agreed to change the policy and consider banning spectators should the central government issue a state of emergency or extend pre-emergency measures.

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