According to a report by BBC Sport, the Japanese Sports Minister, Hakubun Shimomura, wants to temporarily delay the plan to install a retractable roof on Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. The Olympic Stadium will be the main building for both the 2020 Summer Olympic Games and the Rugby World Cup the following year.
“We have been in talks with the contractors. We hope to present a precise budget and plan by the end of the month.”
Shimomura also intends to make 28,000 of the 80,o00 seats in the venue temporary to reduce costs and shorten construction time. The Olympic stadium in London was similar in that 25,000 of the stadium’s seats were temporary. The stadium in London downscaled back to 54,000 seats after the games. In another cost-saving measure, Shimomura has also asked the city of Tokyo to help absorb the cost of building the facility.
The roof of the venue has been criticized for being too elaborate, and architects believe it will be too costly and complicated to complete before the 2020 olympics. BBC reported the budget has been scaled back. At one point the budget was three times the budget for the London stadium, and has now been limited to two times the London budget.
The Tokyo 2020 venue will be built on the same land where the 1964 Olympic Stadium once stood.
Hosting the Olympics isn’t usually a financial win for the host city so it’s good to see them trying to be cautious with the costs.