On Wednesday, Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee, said the organization had not mentioned the words “cancellation” or “postponement” during two days of executive board meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland. Bach said the I.O.C. would follow the advice of the Geneva-based W.H.O.

The Coronavirus Outbreak Sports and the Virus Updated Sept. 17, 2020 Here’s what’s happening as the world of sports slowly comes back to life: In reversing their call to postpone the season, the Big Ten’s presidents ignored the realities of life on their campuses in the pandemic, but the Pac-12 has a chance to resist pressure and continue to stand down, Times columnists write. Fans can debate whether this season’s baseball records really count. But M.L.B.’s official historian insists the achievements are as real as any other. The Superdome in New Orleans had a dystopian feel as football returned without one of its most loyal congregations of fans. Oh, and Tom Brady flopped as the Saints beat the Buccaneers.



It remains unclear how any decision about the Olympics would unfold if officials in Tokyo conclude they have to alter plans for the Games. Seiko Hashimoto, Japan’s Olympic minister, said this week that Japan’s position was that as long as Tokyo held the Games in 2020, the I.O.C. could not cancel them.

The 80-page contract the Japan Olympic Committee and the City of Tokyo signed with the I.O.C. in 2013 obligates the local organizers to set up the competitions, ticket sales, fan services and countless other amenities — a deal that would seemingly allow the I.O.C. to push back against any plan to hold the Games without spectators.

But the I.O.C.’s host city contract also gives the organization broad rights to cancel the Olympics in the event of war or other forms of civil unrest, or if it believes, in the contract’s words, that “the safety of participants in the Games would be seriously threatened or jeopardized for any reason whatsoever.”

Neither Bach nor officials in Tokyo have set a timetable for deciding whether the Olympics will take place.

A senior official for the 2012 London Olympics said contingency plans had been made for those Games to take place without spectators in the event of an act of God or terrorism. According to those plans, the first group to be prohibited from attending would have been spectators, then nonessential staff members and other groups until only broadcasters and those responsible for running the events were allowed to remain.

Holding the Olympics without spectators, and having to refund ticket sales, could cost Tokyo organizers some $850 million, according to the organizing committee’s budget documents.