Photo/Illutration Pictograms shown during the Opening Ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics at the National Stadium on July 23 (Toshiyuki Hayashi)

The final cost of the Tokyo Olympics is expected to be about $13.6 billion when the organizing committee dissolves in June and gives a report, organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said Thursday.

Muto hinted to reporters after an executive board meeting that the final cost might be a “little bit lower” but gave no specific reason why he believes that.

“We are looking at every single detail,” Muto said. “It is not something where I can say this is the major reason why we are expecting a lower figure. It cannot be simply put that way.”

Organizers in December said the total cost for Tokyo--delayed one year by the pandemic--was $1.8 billion less than the estimate of $15.4 billion it had been using over the last year. It said this was because of reduced labor costs with no fans allowed to attend.

Olympic costs are notoriously difficult to track, and there is debate about what are and what are not Olympic specific expenditures. Several government audit reports in the run-up to the Tokyo Games suggested the cost may be twice as large as listed.

A study by the University of Oxford concluded the Tokyo Games were the most expensive Olympics on record. The study attempted to measure “like-for-like” at various Olympics and factored out massive non-Olympic costs that drove price tags up for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi ($51 billion) and the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ($40 billion).

No matter the final official cost for Tokyo, $5.9 billon was private money and the rest of the funding was from various levels of Japanese governments.

Muto said expertise gained in Tokyo would be lent to officials in Sapporo, who are bidding for the 2030 Winter Olympics.

Sapporo is believed to be a top candidate along with Salt Lake City and Vancouver. A bid is also possible from Spain. The International Olympic Committee has not said when it will announce the host city.

Muto said expertise gained from Tokyo would also be lent to Osaka, which will hold the 2025 World Expo, and the Japanese city of Nagoya, which is to host the 2026 Asian Games.

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