Will We See the 2021 Olympics in Florida?

For nearly a year, officials within the International Olympic Committee and Japan’s government have been scrambling to come up with ways to safely hold the Summer Olympic Games. It hasn’t been easy, and more residents of Japan are now calling for the event to be canceled. New reports now indicate there’s a chance we’ll see the 2021 Olympics in Florida.

It would be a huge turn of events. A tremendous amount of time and money has already been spent to hold this event in Japan. Today, we’ll talk about why this could eventually be moved over to the Sunshine State.

Let’s check it out.

More of Japan Pushes to Cancel the Olympic Games

There has been a huge amount of attention placed on the Olympic Games recently. It’s been one of the most difficult Olympic events ever held. As of now, the plan is still for the 2021 Olympics to begin in July.

Initially, however, the Games were expected to take place in July and August of 2020. Back in March of last year, it became clear that this event could not go on as planned. The IOC was forced to announce the Japan Olympics were being postponed that month.

Simply pushing this event back by a year did not prove to be a perfect solution. More issues have continued to creep up as the event draws closer. Many in Japan now feel that hosting the Summer Olympics is no longer worth the risk.

That’s not much of a surprise. The world is still in an extremely difficult position and travel restrictions remain in place in nearly every country. Residents in Japan fear that allowing thousands of individuals from different parts of the world to attend this event will result in disaster.

The IOC refuses to cancel the event altogether. Many of Japan’s top leaders also support holding the Games. Hope is now that plans can be set in place that allow the Olympics to take place in as safe and effective a way as possible.

Things are changing fast right now. It wouldn’t be a shock to see Japan decide to walk away from this event sometime in the near future. If that is the case, there are some other locations that could end up hosting the Games.

There Are Now Calls to Hold the 2021 Olympics in Florida

Prior to 2020, expectations for the Summer Olympics in Japan were high. The government in Japan had spent an incredible amount of money into this event. It seemed as if we were in for one of the most impressive spectacles in Olympic history.

As we just mentioned, however, things took a huge turn last year. There is some doubt that the Games will be held in Japan at all. If they are, this event will be toned down and simplified, with less pageantry than the Olympics in the past.

There could be a few backup plans being discussed right now. This week, the state of Florida’s CFO Jimmy Patronis began pushing for the Games to be held in the Sunshine State. He released a formal letter to IOC President Thomas Bach asking for this change in location.

“With media reports of leaders in Japan “privately” concluding that they are too concerned about the pandemic for the 2021 Olympics to take place, there is still time to deploy a site selection team to Florida to meet with statewide and local officials on holding the Olympics in the Sunshine State. I would welcome the opportunity to pitch Florida and help you make the right contacts to get this done,” he said.

Patronis went on to tout Florida’s accomplishments in the professional sports industry. He spoke about the success that Florida had in forming a “bubble” that allowed the UFC and the NFL to successfully hold events.

It would be a huge surprise to see things change with the 2021 Olympics in Florida. Anything is possible, though. We’ll need to wait and see how Japan and the IOC responds to this letter over the next few weeks.

IOC is Still Unsure of Allowing Fans to Olympic Games

There have been a million questions surrounding the Olympics in Japan. Will it be postponed again? Will any sporting events be canceled? Perhaps the biggest question right now is whether or not any fans would be allowed to attend this event.

The IOC seems to be going back and forth on this issue. Initially, it seemed highly unlikely that any fans would be given permission to attend the Games. Later on, IOC officials claimed that with effective vaccine distribution, this event could take place as planned.

No one seems to know if fans will eventually be permitted to attend this event. Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto claims that it’s still unclear at this point. He went on to say it would be “undesirable” to see the event take place without fans, but in the end it is whatever is safest.

Muto is confident that the Olympics will be held in Japan. That casts doubt on seeing the 2021 Olympics in Florida. There is still a lot that can happen between now and July, though.

It is an incredibly difficult time for the organizers of this event. The athletes involved are also having a difficult time with so many questions left unanswered. Stay tuned for updates over the next few months!

Do you think we could possibly see the 2021 Olympics in Florida? Let us know in the comments section below!