TOKYO—No welcome ceremonies for arriving Olympic athletes. Smaller contingents of visiting officials. Fewer celebratory banners and shuttle buses.
The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics, planning games delayed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic, presented on Friday around 50 modifications to next summer’s event to reduce costs and ward against the spread of the virus.
Most of the changes are modest. Athlete numbers won’t be reduced and no alterations were announced for the opening and closing ceremonies. Officials said they have yet to consider reducing the number of spectators.
The organizers said the changes would help rein in costs that are expected to rise by several hundred million dollars because of the postponement. No specific figures for savings were given and officials said they would look for more cuts.
“Sometimes they look small, but when you take them all together it will represent a large result,” said Christophe Dubi, International Olympic Committee executive director for the Olympic Games, after a meeting of the Tokyo 2020 coordination commission.
While health concerns from the coronavirus are the largest threat to next year’s Olympics, the global economic slump triggered by the pandemic has heaped further pressure on planners for the Games. Steps specifically to prevent the spread of the virus are to be announced by the end of the year.
Concerns over extra costs triggered rare public tension between the IOC and the Japanese organizing committee in April, when the IOC published a statement saying former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Japan would shoulder any additional spending. The IOC deleted the statement after a complaint from the Japanese side.
Over $3 billion of the pre-virus $12.6 billion budget for the event has come from 68 Japanese sponsors, but their contracts end this year and senior officials in the local organizing committee said they had been trying to persuade them to contribute more.
“I can’t say that all contracts have been renewed,” said Toshiro Muto, Tokyo 2020 chief executive officer.
Part of the challenge is convincing sponsors that the Games are still viable and will go ahead despite the unprecedented threats from the pandemic. IOC President Thomas Bach said that the staging of the Tour de France this year showed that large, complex sporting events could be successfully held.
Mr. Bach said the Olympics wouldn’t depend on a coronavirus vaccine being available, but forecast that hundreds of millions of doses would be available in the first half of next year.
Among the cost-cutting measures announced on Friday, organizers said they had a general agreement for countries to send around 10% to 15% fewer officials than originally planned, which will reduce demand for meals, transport and other services.
Cuts to infrastructure include reducing lights, power generators and X-ray machines for security at stadiums. Shuttle bus services to venues for officials may be reduced in favor of public transportation, although that could run into concerns in Japan about crowding leading to the spread of the coronavirus.
Athletes won’t get official welcome ceremonies on arrival in Japan, but Mr. Muto said the creative directors for the opening and closing ceremonies were just beginning to consider possible simplification steps for those events.
“That will take some time,” he said.
Write to Alastair Gale at alastair.gale@wsj.com
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