Jan 17, 2020 - Sports

Tokyo 2020 Olympics tickets are selling like crazy

The National Stadium in Tokyo during a media tour following its completion in December. Photo: Behrouz Mehri/AFP via Getty Images

After recent Olympics in Russia, South Korea and Brazil struggled with attendance, tickets to this summer's Tokyo Games, which open July 24, are selling like gangbusters.

Demand in the U.S.: Another batch of U.S.-market tickets were released yesterday after the previous batches in June, July and October all sold out within three hours. (Just checked online, almost every event is sold out).

Demand in Japan: "National pride also is spurring Japanese fans to fill seats and driving the sale of domestic Olympic sponsorships, which typically come with ticket allotments or the right to purchase tickets," per WSJ.

What they're saying:

"Tokyo 2020 continues to prove it is the most popular event of all time. Tickets for events like gymnastics and swimming are proving extremely difficult to obtain, even for veteran Olympic fans."

— Ken Hanscom, COO of TicketManager, tells Axios

In related news ... NBCUniversal formally unveiled its new streaming service, Peacock, to investors yesterday. There will be live sports (including Olympics coverage), and the service will be mostly free.

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Axios

Tokyo Summer Olympics postponed until 2021

Photo: John Walton/PA Images via Getty Images.

The International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that the Tokyo Summer Olympics were postponed until 2021 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Why it matters: The Olympics entail a massive amount of travel, congregating and physical contact — all things that are being discouraged in order to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Multiple athletes and teams had already called for the committee to postpone the Games, which were scheduled to begin July 24.

Go deeperMar 24, 2020 - Sports

Orion Rummler

Coronavirus: Norway, Brazil join U.S. teams in push for postponement of Tokyo Olympics

Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee President Yoshiro Mori watches as Olympic gold medalists Tadahiro Nomura and Saori Yoshida hold the Olympic torch on March 20 in Matsushima, Miyagi, Japan. Photo: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images

Norway and Brazil's Olympic committees — alongside the USA Swimming and Track and Field teams — are joining the call for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to be postponed, due to the novel coronavirus.

The latest: The Brazilian Olympic Committee called on Saturday for the games to be postponed until 2021, citing rising infection rates and "the consequent difficulty for athletes to maintain their best competitive level due to the need to stop training and competitions in global scale."

Go deeperUpdated Mar 21, 2020 - Health

Rebecca Falconer

Abe says Tokyo may have to postpone Olympic Games over coronavirus

Odaiba Seaside Park in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the Tokyo Olympics may have to be postponed if the Games cannot run in "complete form" because of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the Japan Times reports.

Why it matters: This is the first time Abe has made such a statement. The International Olympic Committee said in a statement Sunday it would "step up its scenario-planning" for the event and was in talks with the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Japanese authorities "to complete its assessment of the rapid development of the worldwide health situation and its impact on the Olympic Games, including the scenario of postponement."

Keep ReadingMar 23, 2020 - Sports