The northern Japanese city of Sapporo announced Monday a significant cut to its projected hosting costs for the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, slashing the budget by ¥90 billion ($790 million) or 20% of its initial estimate.
Sapporo, which hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, is considered a leading candidate to win the right to host the events, but local residents have expressed concern about a repeat of this year's Tokyo Games budget blowout.
In its initial budget in 2019, the city expected costs to total between ¥310 billion and ¥370 billion. On Monday, Sapporo revised that downward to a range of ¥280 billion to ¥300 billion.