Olympic sports fret over lost income

The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics and the shutdown of the sporting calendar because of the coronavirus pandemic are going to hit international sports federations hard financially.“The situation is tense and very gloomy. An assessment will be made, but clearly some posts are under threat,” said an official of a major international federation.The 28 international federations (IFs) of the sports that were due to be present at the Tokyo Olympics would have received substantial sums from the International Olympic Committee.Freeze of payments However, the postponement of the Games until 2021 could lead to a freeze of payments.“We have a lot of IFs with substantial reserves, but others work on a different business model, they have income from major events which are suspended, which can be a problem for the cashflow if they don't have enough reserves,” said Andrew Ryan, director-general of the Association of International Olympic Summer Sports Federations, which is responsible for distributing this money.The five additions to the Tokyo Games programme – karate, surfing, skateboarding, climbing and baseball/softball – are not eligible.The Olympic payout totalled US$520 million (N$9.3 billion) after the Rio Games, four years ago. The Olympic money could be less than for Rio 2016,” Ryan warned before adding: “My advice is to budget the same as in Rio”.The federations receive money on a sliding scale determined by their audience and size. The three largest (athletics, swimming and gymnastics) can expect approximately US$40 million (N$718 million).For the second tier, made up of cycling, basketball, volleyball, football and tennis, the sum is US$25 million (N$449 million).For group three, which contains eight sports, including boxing, rowing, judo and table tennis, it is US$17 million (N$305.3 million).The nine sports in the next level (including sailing, canoeing and fencing) receive US$12 million (N$215.5 million). For the three in the last category (rugby, golf, modern pentathlon) the payout is US$7 million (N$125.7 million).For the largest associations, such as football's Fifa, which has a US$1.5 billion nest egg, or basketball body Fiba, which has US$45.8 million (N$822.6 million) in reserves, the IOC aid represents a small proportion of their income. Income is vital“Some IFs probably don't have the cashflow to survive one year,” said Ryan.For most federations, the postponement of the Olympic Games has a domino effect, forcing them to reschedule their own money-earning competitions. The revenues from these events will eventually come in,” said Ryan. “But this impacts the cashflow.”World Athletics has already postponed the 2021 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon to 2022. - NAMPA/AFP

Olympic sports fret over lost income

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Namibian Sun 2026-08-28

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Olympic sports fret over lost income

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Namibian Sun 2026-08-28

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