Photo/Illutration The National Stadium in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A private consortium consisting of NTT Docomo Inc., the J.League and other institutions has been chosen to operate the National Stadium, which was built for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in 2021.

The Japan Sport Council announced on June 3 that it gave preferential negotiation rights to the consortium. 

The contract period for operating the stadium is 30 years starting from April 2025.

There were three entries in the open bidding process.

Among these, the consortium involving NTT Docomo and the J.League received the highest evaluation points, primarily because it proposed paying 52.8 billion yen ($340 million) for the operating rights to the stadium.

“The consortium’s proposals will offer new potential for the stadium business,” JSC President and CEO Satoshi Ashidate said in a statement. 

The stadium rang up a deficit of 750 million yen in fiscal 2022, according to the JSC and other sources. Its low profitability made the JSC concerned if it could find an operator willing to take it on. 

The central government previously planned to provide up to 1 billion yen per year in subsidies for the operation of the stadium.

The JSC will pay about 1 billion yen annually to the Tokyo metropolitan government and other parties for the rental of the land, as well as large-scale repair costs, even after commissioning the stadium’s operation.

But there will be no public funds going toward the annual maintenance costs, the sources said.

There have been complaints that it is difficult to hold concerts and other similar events because the stadium doesn’t have a retractable roof, which was initially planned to be installed in the draft design.

The consortium will try to improve profitability by developing technologies to reduce the noise levels and solve other problems, the sources said.