First Time Ever, There Will Be No Fans at the Summer Olympics

TOKYO (AP) — Fans will be banned from the Tokyo area’s stadiums and arenas when the Olympic Games begin in two weeks.

The decision by the city’s governor, in agreement with Olympics officials, came after the prime minister put the capital under a COVID-19 state of emergency because of rising new infections and the highly contagious delta variant. That means the Olympics will be a largely TV-only event.

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It was a serious blow for Japanese taxpayers and local organizers of the games, which already had been postponed from 2020 by the coronavirus. Hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket revenue will be lost, and that must be made up by the government.