Olympic stadiums are built million-by-million

Preparing for Tokyo 2020

By Maggie Franke

Late November marked the official completion of Tokyo’s National Stadium, which was built primarily for its upcoming use in the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to Reuters.

“Completed at a cost of more than $1.25 billion, the stadium, which can accommodate 60,000, will also host athletics and soccer events during the Games,” Jack Tarrant wrote in the Reuters article published on Nov. 29.

Oftentimes, questions of monetary value and excess spending emerge when looking at the numbers involved with preparing for the Olympics and building new arenas for sport-purposes. The National Stadium in Tokyo was actually redesigned after citizens of the country said that the original design cost too much.

The cost of sports venues

In the wake of the development of this new stadium, USA Today published an article noting the most expensive stadiums in the world.

Topping the list, valued at $1.7 billion to build, is MetLife Stadium, home to the NFL team the New York Giants in New Jersey.

Rounding out the top five are Yankee Stadium, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, AT&T Stadium and Levi’s Stadium. All of these stadiums were built in the last decade, and Arlington, Texas’ AT&T Stadium was the first to break the $1 billion-barrier.

Many of the stadiums in USA Today’s Top 25 list are used on a weekly basis during their team’s seasons and host anything from concerts to political rallies. The worth of building a stadium for one specific Olympic Games consistently brings the cost of hosting the event under fire.

An economic burden on Olympic hosts

While the $1.25 billion that Japan spent on their stadium is a big chunk of change, The Mainichi published an article this morning estimating that the Tokyo 2020 Games will cost upwards of $9.77 billion.

“The figure, projected to be spent on 340 different projects, is seven times larger than what the state had initially agreed on, at 150 billion yen,” the article writes. 150 billion yen is equivalent to $1.38 billion.

The $500 million Tokyo Aquatics Centre will likely be finished in March even though the interior was revealed back in mid-November. It is the last permanent venue to be finished for the games with a 15,000-person capacity and an Olympic-sized 50-meter pool.

Organizing the venues

There are two main “zones” of Olympic venues in Tokyo. The Heritage Zone is actually the site from the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and will touch on themes of history, tradition, and legacy. The Tokyo Bay Zone will highlight innovation and modern technology/style.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will be held from Friday, July 24 through Sunday Aug, 9, 2020.

Photo courtesy of the Olympic Channel

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.