Deepening Tokyo Olympics bribery scandal casts shadow over 2030 bid

The people of Japan don't want it, the people of Sapporo don't want it.

Just say no to this pointless waste of public funds. No Olympic games in the history of the games has "made money".

It should be no surprise there were a lot of bribery scandals for the Olympics. Japan is run on brown paper bags of cash passed under the table. It’s just that in this case the cronies didn’t have any underlings to throw under the bus and have had to cop it themselves.

Bidding to host another Olympics after all the scandals and cost-overruns of the 2020 Tokyo Games. When will they ever learn?

Despite the misgivings of some, a survey conducted earlier this year found that a majority of people on the island of Hokkaido, where the city is located, were in favor of hosting the Games.

The city of Sapporo has, however, ruled out holding a referendum.

This says it all…I have now lived in a suburb of Sapporo for two years and not one person I have talked to wants to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. Not…a…one.

The people of Japan don't want it, the people of Sapporo don't want it.

Just say no to this pointless waste of public funds. No Olympic games in the history of the games has "made money".

All of it is a giant scam in the end and all the renovation and construction of building new venues never or hardly sees long lasting return profits in the end, quite the opposite actually.

I would be shocked if there is no scandal at all.

"If Sapporo come forward, they have a very strong bid from a technical perspective," said Michael Payne, who as director of IOC marketing from 1989-2004 is widely credited with transforming the organization's brand and finances through sponsorship.

"I think of this very much as a local, political issue. It raised eyebrows as to why they're making such a meal out of what frankly is minor sponsor influence-peddling."

Payne's efforts to gloss things over provides even more reasons to view the whole Olympic structure as infested with rot.

Underlining public concern, Sapporo Mayor Akimoto and JOC president Yamashita on Thursday signed a joint declaration promising to hold a "clean" bid free from corruption.

Are these two guys really clean and free from corruption?

This just gets more and more idiotic and damaging to the public with each day.

So of course they are going to go through with it.

Now the process largely takes place away from the glare of publicity

Well, that's convenient.

Sports economist Andrew Zimbalist believes the scandal will "continue to be an issue in Japan" but will "fade away in international memory".

Don't be surprised if the opposite proves true, Andrew.

If the cast shadow makes things to dark, might I suggest dousing that “Sapporo 2030” sign in kerosene and setting it alight for illumination?

Then throw all the bidding application docs on the fire while they’re at it.

Don’t do it, Sapporo! Tell the unelected quasi-state that is the IOC to go away.

And get rid of those buffoons betting state funds at the roulette table with this bid. Jeez, and I thought the dude that gambled away an entire township’s support payments was being reckless….

a "clean" bid free from corruption.

Simply ban Dentsu from the process

Sapporo has so many things going for it that it will far outweigh the fading memory of this scandal.

So the argument is for us to forget what happened and let another heist take place while being distracted by the facade of sports and competition. This is how dumb they think the "common people" are. Hope they are proven wrong.

Doesn't matter if it casts "a shadow", Sapporo will still get it because no one else besides desert countries want the Winter Games, and since Japan has proven time and again they are easily suckered into paying 10 times the amount it SHOULD cost, the IOC won't bat an eye in choosing them.

From my memory, the LA Summer Games didn't have any bribery problems - it's LA! - the sporting capital of the world! - but the Salt Lake City Winter Games did.

Bribes casting a shadow on more bribes?

It said the Japanese public view the Olympics "with mistrust and suspicion".

Just like they view all authority in Japan

We mustn't forget that the Dentsu paid US$6 million for "lobbying" in Singapore prior to Tokyo being selected and that the IOC is paying large sums to defend Tsunekazu Takeda, who served as JOC president until June 2019, of paying bribe money to help Tokyo win the bid to host the 2020 Games.

The delegation last week cancelled the trip, with Yamashita blaming a scheduling issue.

Akimoto said that it had "nothing to do with the bribery case surrounding the Tokyo Olympics".

nothing at all. Not a coincidence in timing At all.

something that was planned months in advanced has to suddenly be canceled.

nothing strange here.

The Asahi Shimbun daily in an editorial urged Sapporo to "hold off" on its 2030 bid until the scandal had been "resolved".

are they new? Japan has never been and will never be clean from scandals. It’s the official culture of Japan.

or all the domestic attention on the scandal, experts are doubtful it will have any impact when the IOC comes to choosing a 2030 host.

of course not, the IOC only cares about getting paid. They couldn’t give a darn if it was to be held in a war ridden country or an absolute poverty stricken land, so long as they got those bags of money.

With cities ever more reluctant to assume the expense and controversy of hosting a Games, the IOC cannot afford to be picky.

if japan ever paid attention, they would see how little interest there is for holding Olympics, and see that they can actually low ball the ioc if they wanted to. The ioc is desperate as heck to find any bidders these days.

………predicted that Japanese officials would "simply acknowledge to the IOC that they had some bad actors involved and that they're going to clean it up".

Shades of Rumpole when he did his bit to clean out one of the few rotten apples in that sweet-smelling barrow load, the Metropolitan Police.