Japanese Olympic officials said today the 2020 Olympic Games will have its opening ceremonies on July 23, 2021, almost one year to the day from the originally scheduled date.

According to a story on ESPN.com, there had been talk of rescheduling the Games to next spring, coinciding with Japan's famous cherry blossoms.  But that would clash with European soccer and North American sporting events.

The Paralympics have been rescheduled August 24-September 5.

The cost of rescheduling is expected to reach the billions of dollars, the brunt of which will be felt by Japanese taxpayers.

Katsuhiro Miyamoto, an emeritus professor of sports economics at Kansai University, puts the costs as high as $4 billion. That would cover the price of maintaining stadiums, refitting them, paying rentals, penalties and other expenses.

Japan is officially spending $12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. However, an audit bureau of the Japanese government stated that the costs are twice that much.

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