It was the last big decision that had to be made in a good four weeks before the start of the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

How many spectators are allowed to cheer for the athletes in the stadiums?

The Japanese organizers had delayed the decision for months and hoped that a subsiding pandemic would allow the fullest possible spectator seats.

But the decision announced on Monday is as uncertain as the further development of corona infections.

Patrick Welter

Correspondent for business and politics in Japan, based in Tokyo.

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    A maximum of 10,000 domestic spectators are admitted to each stadium.

    The second, lower upper limit is half of the available seating capacity in the arenas.

    Foreign sports fans had already been discharged in March.

    But if the corona situation in Tokyo worsens and a new virus emergency may even be declared, the domestic spectators could also have to forego the sports experience in the stadium entirely.

    This was unanimously confirmed on Monday by Seiko Hashimoto, the president of the local organizing committee, Yuriko Koike, the governor of the city of Tokyo and, last but not least, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

    The number of spectators admitted to the Paralympic Games will not be decided until mid-July.

    The unanimous commitment to security against virus infections is intended to reassure Japanese who are still highly skeptical of the major sporting event.

    In a recent survey by the daily Asahi Shinbun, 32 percent of those questioned still wanted the games to be canceled and 30 percent wanted the games to be postponed.

    Only about a third want the games this summer.

    If the games take place, 53 percent of those surveyed do not want any visitors.

    Sponsors and officials are not spectators

    The number of new infections in the 14 million metropolis of Tokyo has fallen significantly in the past few weeks to 236 on Monday, but it has not been falling for a few days.

    Scientists calculate in hypothetical scenarios that with the influx of Olympic guests a further virus emergency will be necessary after the requirements have only just been relaxed.

    Bars and restaurants in Tokyo have been allowed to serve alcohol again until 7:00 p.m. since Monday, for the first time in weeks.

    The fact that sponsors, their guests and representatives of the international sports associations are not counted as spectators but as organizers in the stadiums creates uncertainty.

    Including these guests, less than 20,000 people will probably be present at the opening ceremony on July 23 in the new national stadium in the middle of Tokyo.

    Further details have not yet been decided, said the managing director of the organizing committee, Toshiro Muto.

    The stadium has a seating capacity of 68,000 spectators.

    School classes are not counted as visitors either.

    Muto justified the special position with the fact that the Olympic Games should convey hope and inspiration for the future to the young generation.

    590,000 tickets were sold in this special program.

    A financial gap of 400 million euros

    Capping the number of spectators will be a balancing act for the organizers in the coming days.

    4.48 million tickets have already been sold for the Olympic Games.

    840,000 of these were returned after the postponement last year.

    The remaining 3.64 million tickets are now to be reduced to 2.72 million through a lottery.

    The financial loss is foreseeable. 90 billion yen, about 790 million euros, are set in the economic plan for the games from ticket sales. Actual earnings would now be less than half, Muto said. The upper limit of the audience brings a hole in the box office of at least about 400 million euros. The government, the city of Tokyo and the organizing committee would discuss who pays the costs, Muto said.

    The International Olympic Committee under President Thomas Bach is fine on these financial issues. The IOC finances its work with sponsorship money and the income from the sale of television rights. The interest in Lausanne is that the games take place. From a financial perspective, the number of visitors is of secondary importance from the IOC's point of view. However the Japanese partners decided on the number of spectators at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the IOC will fully support the decision, said a good-humored Bach on Monday.