Corporate sponsorship
Antti Pihlakoski, evaluation panel chairman of the World Athletics (WA), center left, and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, surrounded by other WA members, pose for a photo before their talk in Tokyo, Wednesday, May 25, 2022. Council member Nawal El Moutawakel, back, from left, Vice President Ximena Restrepo and Director of Competitions & Events Jakob Larsen join the photo session. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
Tokyo a candidate for track and field world championships

By Stephen Wade May. 25, 2022 12:44 AM EDT

FILE - In this Nov. 9, 2018, file photo, Hockey Hall of Fame inductee Jayna Hefford shakes hands with people associated with the hall before a hockey game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New Jersey Devils in Toronto. Two officials with direct knowledge of discussions tell The Association Press that talks with select NHL teams and major corporate sponsors have intensified in the Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association’s bid to form a pro league within the next calendar year. In a text to The AP, PWHPA executive Jayna Hefford would only say she is not in a position to comment at this point. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
PWHPA inching closer to forming women's pro hockey league

By John Wawrow Mar. 02, 2022 04:22 PM EST

Spectators cheer during a preliminary round men's hockey game between China and Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
China crafts a carefully curated slate of Olympic spectators

By Sam Mcneil Feb. 14, 2022 10:09 PM EST

FILE - In this July 23, 2021, file photo, fireworks illuminate over the National Stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The price tag for the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion. Tokyo built eight new venues. The two most expensive were the National Stadium, which cost $1.43 billion, and the new aquatic center, priced a $520 million. (AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama, File)
Tokyo Olympics cost $15.4 billion. What else could that buy?

By Stephen Wade Aug. 06, 2021 10:11 PM EDT

FILE - In this July 8, 2021, file photo, Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a news conference at his official residence in Tokyo. The Tokyo Olympics are going ahead despite opposition from many quarters inside Japan. The Japanese medical community is largely against it. (Nicolas Datiche/Pool Photo via AP, File)
Olympics, pandemic and politics: There's no separating them

By Stephen Wade Jul. 21, 2021 04:37 AM EDT

FILE - In this Nov. 2, 2020, file photo, visitor wearing a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walks by the logo of Toyota Motor Corp. at its showroom in Tokyo. Toyota won't be airing any Olympic-themed advertisements on Japanese TV during the Tokyo Games despite being one of the IOC's top corporate sponsors. The unusual decision by the country's top automaker underlines how polarizing the Games have become in Japan as COVID-19 infections rise ahead of the July 23, 2021, opening ceremony.(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)
Olympic sponsor Toyota pulls Games-related TV ads in Japan

By Yuri Kageyama Jul. 19, 2021 04:02 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 28, 2021, file photo, Olympic sponsors' vehicles parade ahead of torch relay in Ashikaga, Tochigi prefecture, north of Tokyo. The Olympic corporate sponsorship program has been a key part of the Olympic experience since it began in 1985. But all that magic from the Olympic sponsorship is being undermined because of the virus. (Shinji Kita/Kyodo News via AP, File)
Olympic sport of schmoozing eludes corporate sponsors

By Anne D'innocenzio Jul. 15, 2021 11:03 AM EDT

FILE - In this May 1, 2021, file photo, athletes warm up prior to the men's synchronized 10-meter platform preliminary at the FINA Diving World Cup, served as a qualifying competition for Diving at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo. Public sentiment in Japan has been generally opposed to holding the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. This is partly based of fears the coronavirus will spike as almost 100,000 people — athletes and others — enter for both events.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
Why are Olympics going on despite public, medical warnings?

By Stephen Wade Jun. 17, 2021 12:20 AM EDT

FILE - In this May 4, 2019, file photo, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, right, is presented with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) President's trophy by AOC president John Coates at the AOC annual general meeting in Sydney, Australia. The only thing more difficult than staging next year's Tokyo Olympics in a pandemic might be convincing sponsors to keep their billions on board in the midst of economic turbulence and skepticism. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File)
Tokyo needs to convince sponsors Olympics will really happen

By Stephen Wade Sep. 22, 2020 01:41 AM EDT

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2020, file photo, Naomi Osaka, of Japan, holds up the championship trophy after defeating Victoria Azarenka, of Belarus, in the women's singles final of the US Open tennis championships, in New York. Osaka's victory in the U.S. Open helped raised the issue of racial injustice in the United States. Before each of her matches, she wore a mask with the names of seven Black Americans who died as victims of violence. The daughter of a Japanese mother and Haitian father, she has become a leader of the Black Lives Matter movement. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Japan celebrates Osaka; Sponsors cautious about activism

By Yuri Kageyama And Stephen Wade Sep. 14, 2020 03:54 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 4, 2020, file photo, people wearing masks walk past the Olympic rings near the New National Stadium in Tokyo. Local Japanese sponsors have chipped in a record $3.3 billion to organize the postponed Tokyo Olympics. That's almost 60% of the income for the privately funded operating budget. With the games delayed for a year, sponsors will be asked to sign up again. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Tokyo Olympics must firm up $3.3 billion in sponsor income

By Stephen Wade Jun. 25, 2020 02:46 AM EDT

FILE In this Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020 a general view of the Camp Nou stadium prior of a Spanish Copa del Rey soccer match between Barcelona and Leganes at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort, File)
The Latest: Japan's medical head says vaccine needed quickly

By The Associated Press Apr. 27, 2020 03:23 PM EDT