The Japanese Olympic Committee will make a formal request that the cities of Sapporo and Obihiro bid to cohost the 2017 Asian Winter Games, sources said Tuesday.
JOC president Tsunekazu Takeda, who received a request from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to host the winter event, is scheduled to visit Sapporo on Dec. 3.
The cost of hosting the Winter Asiad is thought to be between ¥3 billion to ¥4 billion.
"We still have to work out details on how much of the cost the OCA would be willing to take on, but so far they are positively considering the plan," said one JOC official.
The 2017 Asian Winter Games will be decided at an OCA general assembly at the 7th edition of the Winter Asiad being held in both Astana and Almaty, Kazakhstan, from Jan. 30-Feb. 6 next year.