TOKYO 2020 Venue Plan

[gotosy]

Olympics: Baseball's world body to inspect Yokohama Stadium

The World Baseball Softball Confederation will conduct an inspection next week of Yokohama Stadium as a possible venue for Olympic baseball and softball at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The stadium, home of the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in Japanese pro baseball, is emerging as the most likely candidate due to factors such as perimeter space for security barriers and media.

Tokyo Dome, which hosts the Yomiuri Giants, and the Chiba Lotte Marines' QVC Marine Field in Chiba were also considered by the Tokyo Olympic organizing committee, which is looking to gain WBSC approval and firm up venue plans ahead of the International Olympic Committee Session in August.

The IOC Executive Board recommended earlier this year that five sports including the combined bid of baseball and softball be added to the Olympic program for 2020, with the body's general assembly set to hold a vote just prior to the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

The five sports, which also include surfing, karate, skateboarding and sport climbing, will be approved for 2020 if they receive a simple majority from the roughly 100 IOC members.

Also in advance of the vote, Japanese pro baseball is working on a plan to alter its schedule for the 2020 season to accommodate the Olympic tournament. The move is a show of support for the inclusion of baseball and softball, which have not been played at the Olympics since 2008.

Kyodo

http://kyodonews.net/news/2016/07/07/67873

[phandrosis]

Here is an updated venue plan video.

 

https://youtu.be/kFdceNqxNsY?t=26422

 

[stryker]

Not using the Tokyo Dome is a head scratcher. Makes no sense.

[TeamBlakeUSA]

Tokyo Dome Will Be Home To Baseball.

[stryker]

1 hour ago, TeamBlakeUSA said:

Tokyo Dome Will Be Home To Baseball.

Makes sense. I thought that one stadium would be hosting both baseball and softball.

[phandrosis]

7 minutes ago, stryker said:

Makes sense. I thought that one stadium would be hosting both baseball and softball.

Tokyo Dome will not be used as the baseball venue. Yokohama Stadium has been studied and will be able to host both baseball and softball (look at the top of the page). They talk about it later in the video I posted during the new sports package presentation.

[phandrosis]

Here's a new render of the post-games Olympic Village.

 

[thatsnotmypuppy]

On 8/5/2016 at 7:58 AM, stryker said:

Not using the Tokyo Dome is a head scratcher. Makes no sense.

The Tokyo Dome is a privately owned venue that is part of a huge amusement park/shopping/hotel complex.  Furthermore it is used 200+ days a year for a variety of sports/concerts/conferences.  The owners would lose access tot he venue for months before and after the Games and would lose a mint.  They are not obligated to lease the venue - nor can they be forced to.  It is an iconic venue and will remain so without the Olympics.  There are adequate other venues in Yokohama etc that can host the Olympic tournament - all with lower, realistic capacities.

[LatinXTC]

3 minutes ago, thatsnotmypuppy said:

The Tokyo Dome is a privately owned venue that is part of a huge amusement park/shopping/hotel complex.  Furthermore it is used 200+ days a year for a variety of sports/concerts/conferences.  The owners would lose access tot he venue for months before and after the Games and would lose a mint.  They are not obligated to lease the venue - nor can they be forced to.  It is an iconic venue and will remain so without the Olympics.  There are adequate other venues in Yokohama etc that can host the Olympic tournament - all with lower, realistic capacities.

Months? Will the renovations needed for it to be Olympic-ready really that extensive to take up that much time?

[thatsnotmypuppy]

Venues go into lock down 6-8 weeks prior to the Games.  Factor in a bit of work to make it adaptable to two sports and yeah...  months.

[gotosy]

Baseball: Tokyo 2020 to stage baseball, softball game in Fukushima

TOKYO, Sept. 3, Kyodo

Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers are working toward staging a baseball and softball game in the 2011 quake and tsunami struck Fukushima Prefecture, a source close to the matter said Friday.

 

Baseball and softball were among the five sports approved last month by the International Olympic Committee to be added to the Tokyo Games program, and the 2020 organizers will look to get approval for the plan from the IOC Executive Board in December.

 

The organizers are working to present the idea to IOC president Thomas Bach in October when he visits Japan for a meeting.

 

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2016/09/431717.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Sir Rols]

5 hours ago, gotosy said:

Baseball: Tokyo 2020 to stage baseball, softball game in Fukushima

TOKYO, Sept. 3, Kyodo

Tokyo 2020 Olympic organizers are working toward staging a baseball and softball game in the 2011 quake and tsunami struck Fukushima Prefecture, a source close to the matter said Friday.

 

Baseball and softball were among the five sports approved last month by the International Olympic Committee to be added to the Tokyo Games program, and the 2020 organizers will look to get approval for the plan from the IOC Executive Board in December.

 

The organizers are working to present the idea to IOC president Thomas Bach in October when he visits Japan for a meeting.

 

http://english.kyodonews.jp/news/2016/09/431717.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Will @paul be going?

Edited September 2, 2016 by Sir Rols

[scoobiesnacks]

On 04/08/2016 at 10:41 PM, phandrosis said:

Here is an updated venue plan video.

 

https://youtu.be/kFdceNqxNsY?t=26422

 

Based on this venue configuration , if you wanted to be closed to metro and a major venue hub what are the names of the Toyko districts to start my hotel search? (Assuming the really big hotels will be signed up to the games)

[Faiyez]

Inner Tokyo is arguably the best place in the world to be served by public transportation. It roughly corresponds to the upper portion of the infinite symbol. Heritage sites like the Olympic Stadium and Yoyogi Gimansium will be most easily accesible from the major transportation hubs of Shinjuku and Shibuya.

The Tokyo Bay Zone, where most of the venues will actually be, is a different story though. I never had the impression that there were many options for accomodation in Odaiba. It's probably still best to stay in the outskirts of the bay. I'm thinking places like Shimbashi and Shiodome.

Actually, Tokyo proper (Chiyoda) should be the ideal location to have convenient connections to most anywhere, though by no means the cheapest area.

[gotosy]

Tokyo gov't panel to propose 3 Olympic venue changes as costs mount

 

TOKYO —

Japanese authorities reviewing the cost of hosting the 2020 Summer Olympic Games will propose major changes for three planned venues - including moving rowing and canoeing some 400 kilometers from the capital, media reported on Wednesday.

A Tokyo city government panel will release a report on its findings on Thursday after recently elected Gov Yuriko Koike ordered a review of ballooning costs, Kyodo News and other media said.

The proposed changes, which would require the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and each sport’s international federation, are the latest in a series of setbacks and broken promises for organisers who had won the bidding largely on Japan’s reputation for efficiency.

Tokyo’s bid proposal said the majority of venues would be within 8 kilometers of the Olympic Village in central Tokyo.

Kyodo said the panel would recommend that the construction of three venues - for volleyball, swimming, and rowing and canoe sprint - be reconsidered and that other, existing locations should be able to host those events.

Public broadcaster NHK said the panel would propose moving the venue for rowing and canoeing to Tome City in the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi, due to soaring costs and because not enough measures had been taken against wind and waves at the site in the original plan.

A Tokyo Metropolitan Government official declined to comment, saying while they were aware of the media reports they had yet to receive an official report from the panel.

Tokyo has already shifted the venues for several events out of the capital, including sailing and basketball. Cycling will take place in Shizuoka Prefecture, about 200 kilometers west of Tokyo.

Tokyo organisers have been grappling with a series of blunders. They were forced to scrap an initial design for the centrepiece National Stadium, site of the opening and closing ceremonies, because it was too expensive, and had to redesign the logo for the games following accusations of plagiarism.

Last month, Koike delayed the relocation of a Tokyo fish market, the Tsukiji market, which could jeopardise the construction of a road linking the Olympic Village and National Stadium. 

https://www.japantoday.com/category/sports/view/tokyo-2020-olympic-panel-to-propose-3-venue-changes-as-costs-mount

 

 

[gotosy]

Tokyo favors venue changes as 2020 Games costs soar

 

A Tokyo panel on Thursday urged changes to three venues for the 2020 Olympics in the face of ballooning costs but organizers say such adjustments may prove difficult to instigate in time for the Games.

Tokyo touted access to a $4.5 billion war chest when it beat Madrid and Istanbul in its successful 2013 bid for the Summer Games but recently elected governor Yuriko Koike campaigned on reining in ballooning costs and ordered a review of expenses.

The proposed changes, which could include moving rowing and canoeing some 400 km (250 miles) from Tokyo, would require the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and each sport's international federation.

They are the latest in a series of embarrassing setbacks and broken promises for organizers, who won the bid largely on Japan's reputation for efficiency.

Tokyo's bid proposal, for example, said some 85 percent of venues would be within 8 km (5 miles) of the Olympic Village in central Tokyo.

According to a preliminary report, released on the same day as an executive board meeting of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, overall costs could surge to more than four times original estimates of 734 billion yen ($7.24 billion).

"Given the current situation, costs could run over 3 trillion yen ($29 billion)," the panel wrote in its report.

When it won the Games, Tokyo said they would bring in economic benefits of 3 trillion yen and create 150,000 jobs.

To cut back, the panel proposed reconsidering the construction of three new venues -- for volleyball, swimming and rowing/canoeing -- in favor of using existing venues.

 

SERIES OF BLUNDERS

For rowing and canoeing, they suggested three possible sites outside Tokyo, including a city in northeastern Miyagi prefecture, hours north of the capital.

Volleyball and swimming could be covered by renovating existing venues in downtown Tokyo, not far from the site of the Olympic Village, the panel said.

The rowing venue, estimated to cost 6.9 billion yen, now comes in at 49.1 billion yen, the panel noted.

But organizers expressed doubts, saying it might be difficult to win acceptance for changes.

"These sites were chosen over years and approved by the sports federations and International Olympic Committee," said Yoshiro Mori, head of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee.

"It would be extremely difficult to overturn this."

Tokyo has already shifted venues for several events out of the capital, including sailing and basketball. Cycling will take place in Shizuoka, about 200 km (125 miles) west of Tokyo.

...

Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympcis-tokyo-costs-idUSKCN11Z0H7

[yoshi]

It really is time to end this insistence on 'compactness' & allow whole-nation bids from the outset. Perhaps only allow bids to new-build if no suitable venue exists in the whole country. 

[TeamBlakeUSA]

Construction of Some Venues Are Under Construction.

[Athan]

3 hours ago, yoshi said:

It really is time to end this insistence on 'compactness' & allow whole-nation bids from the outset. Perhaps only allow bids to new-build if no suitable venue exists in the whole country. 

Mmh... I'm not sure about that. Compactness is one of the reasons why the Olympics are so attractive. The farther the venues are, the less Olympic atmosphere there will be.

[stryker]

2 hours ago, Athan said:

Mmh... I'm not sure about that. Compactness is one of the reasons why the Olympics are so attractive. The farther the venues are, the less Olympic atmosphere there will be.

That's true but I think Tokyo has a chance to make a statement here. One article I read suggested that approval for these venue changes would be unlikely. In that case, the Tokyo Organizing Committee should tell the IOC and the respective sports federations, "you want these venues you pay for them." In theory, even if the IOC and sports federations said no to any changes, realistically, what would their options be? It's not like they'd strip Tokyo of hosting rights. That's be a PR disaster. What's interesting about all this is the soaring costs for the temporary venues such as the aquatics center. Just goes to show that even temporary facilities are sometimes to expensive. The Tokyo budget is on pace to soar past 60$ billion.

So if the changes go through, any thoughts on what the replacement venues would be? I read where rowing and canoeing would be moved to Tome in the Miyagi prefecture. No mention of volleyball or swimming. If I had to speculate, perhaps volleyball goes to either Tokyo Big Sight or to the Yokohama Arena. Perhaps the swimming venue gets set up in one of the smaller football stadiums?

[zekekelso]

I've always wondered about that... They say the federations have to sign off on the changes, but what exactly happens if they don't?

[gotosy]

Rowing federation opposed to proposed Olympic venue move

 

TOKYO (AP) — The head of the international rowing federation wants to stick with his sport's planned venue for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics rather than move to a site hundreds of miles (kilometers) outside the city.

World Rowing president Jean-Christophe Rolland said Monday he was surprised and "disappointed" by a city government panel's recommendation to relocate the venue to save money.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike ordered a review of venues and costs by a panel of independent experts. A preliminary report Friday warned of soaring costs and proposed using existing venues for rowing, swimming and volleyball instead of building new ones.

"I was very surprised ... to hear about a possible change, and not to say more, a little bit disappointed," Rolland told reporters in Tokyo, where he was on a scheduled visit. "We made a full in-depth review of all the possibilities, and the outcome of this is that the Sea Forest is the best solution."

Rolland said he visited the originally proposed venue, called "Umi no Mori (Sea Forest)," earlier Monday and felt confident that it remained the best site for the competition.

"For me, there is no doubt this is absolutely suitable for the sport of rowing," he said.

Koike, who met with Rolland later Monday, said cost-cutting is key to Tokyo's broader reforms and she planned to review the Olympic venues. She noted that the games were originally intended to help Japan's northern region, including Fukushima, recover from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Any further changes to the venues will require approval of the sports federations and the International Olympic Committee.

"What we know is that in general the costs for construction have been rising not only for Olympic projects, but for many different reasons, in particular because of the reconstruction which has to happen in Japan because of Fukushima," IOC President Thomas Bach said during a visit to Paris. "So we will discuss this in a constructive way with the organizing committee."

Tokyo's report recommended an existing venue about 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Tokyo as a cheaper option to the rowing site in Tokyo, where the latest cost estimate for renovations has risen to seven times its initial projections. While organizers hope to make the venue a future "mecca" of rowing, the report calls it groundless because of Japan's small rowing communities and their lack of incentives to relocate to Tokyo.

The alternative existing venues for the other two sports are in the Tokyo area.

Organizing committee deputy director Yukihiko Nunomura reassured Rolland that the venue included in the initial bid is the one approved by all concerned parties.

Nunomura said Japanese and IOC officials, including coordination commission chairman John Coates, had an emergency teleconference Friday to discuss Tokyo's cost-cutting proposals. Coates raised concerns about relocating venues too far away from the athletes village, Kyodo News said.

 

AP

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2016/10/03/rowing-federation-seeks-clarification-on-tokyo-2020-venue/91457070/

[Athan]

Not surprising, in my opinion. If the new venues proposed for volleyball and swimming are still in Tokyo Bay or the Heritage Zone (or maybe even in Yokohama), there shouldn't be any major problem for the IOC, FIVB and FINA to move their sports there, but 400 km away from Tokyo like the venue suggested for rowing and canoeing seem to be too much. We may now know what happens when an IF does not accept a venue change.

[Faiyez]

3 hours ago, gotosy said:

The alternative existing venues for the other two sports are in the Tokyo area.

Which are... ?

[baron-pierreIV]

Scrap the 2020 Games!!