Every four years, the Olympics return and dominate television ratings for weeks on end. This time around, NBC will enjoy the ratings boost from the summer games. However, one of the network’s most prominent voices is calling for the International Olympic Committee to push this year’s event to 2022.
During a recent interview with Bill Maher of HBO, Costas openly called on the IOC to push the games back one year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In his words, the Tokyo games should be “postponed, not canceled.”
“If they postponed it until the summer of 2022, then as a one-off it would go back to the way it was prior to the ’90s,” Costas said.
Costas is not the only one to question whether or not the Olympics should take place in Tokyo this summer. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper published an editorial calling for the games to be postponed or canceled.
“We cannot think it’s rational to host the Olympics in the city this summer,” the editorial reads.
“Distrust and backlash against the reckless national government, Tokyo government and stakeholders in the Olympics are nothing but escalating.”
Japanese government officials have already extended a COVID-19 statement of emergency order until June 20. There is also a possibility that the games will move forward without fans. With only 4% of Japanese citizens being vaccinated against the virus, there is a worry that there will be another breakout. Still, the IOC appears set on beginning the 2021 Olympic Games on July 23 in Tokyo.
