TOP sponsors may 'reschedule' payments due to Oly postponement, says IOC

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said that some of its TOP (The Olympic Partner) sponsors for the Pyeongchang 2018-Tokyo 2020 Olympic cycle may delay payment due to the postponement of the Tokyo Games and the global financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The IOC's chief operating officer Lana Haddad told a media conference on Thursday that there might be some "rescheduling" of payments. However, she said that the sponsors remain fully committed and it won't be a problem for the IOC.

14 multinational corporates have signed IOC's flagship worldwide sponsorship programme for the current cycle and it was expected to generate over $2 billion.

However, the sponsors themselves are facing issues due to the lockdowns imposed in most countries around the world to deal with the deadly virus that has killed over 300,000 people and infected over 4 million worldwide.

The Tokyo Olympics, which was originally scheduled to start on July 24, was postponed to July 23, 2021 due to the pandemic.

"We anticipate we will have to bear costs of up to $800 million for our part and responsibilities in the organization of the postponed Games Tokyo 2020," Bach said in a teleconference after the IOC''s Executive Board meeting.

Bach said that "$650 million would go towards the organization of the Games next year and $150 million to support international federations and National Olympic Committees (NOC)."