An Athletes' Village had initially been expected to account for ¥30 billion (£182 million/$224 million/€207 million) of a ¥85 billion (£514 million/$636 million/€586 million) budget for the 2026 Asian Games, but projected construction costs had doubled to around ¥60 billion (£363 million/$449 million/€414 million).

Hotels are set to be used to house athletes instead of the Village, which was due to be built on the site of a former horse racing track in Nagoya and accommodate approximately 15,000 people.

A final decision on accommodation is expected later this year following inspections by governing bodies and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Public scepticism towards major sporting events in light of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics corruption scandal, which has previously hampered Sapporo's hopes of staging the 2030 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, has been cited as a factor in the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Executive Board's decision.

Aichi Governor Hideaki Ōmura is President of Aichi-Nagoya 2026, and vowed to "do our utmost to keep this within the budget".

According to public broadcaster the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, Ōmura stressed the importance of public support following the Tokyo 2020 scandal - which has included arrests of high-ranking officials on the Organising Committee and at six companies for alleged bid-rigging - and a need to cut costs because of difficulties securing sponsors and rising material prices.

"The environment regarding international events has changed dramatically since we announced our intention to host the event in 2016," Ōmura reflected.

"We want the tournament to be simple, streamlined and functional as appropriate to Japan."

Aichi-Nagoya 2026 is also considering reducing the size of the Asian Games in terms of the number of events.

"The 32 events to be held at the Paris Olympics will be held, but the Asian Games will have something extra," Ōmura said.

"The question is how far we go with that.

"Both in terms of the number of competitions and the number of individual events."

insidethegames has asked the OCA for a comment.

A total of 482 medal events in 40 sports representing 61 disciplines are due to be held at this year's delayed Asian Games in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.

The size of the multi-sport event has become a concern, and the OCA last year approved changes to scale it back.

Hanoi in Vietnam pulled out of staging the 2019 Asian Games because of financial difficulties, and the event was ultimately held in 2018 in Jakarta-Palembang in Indonesia.

Japan is set to host the Asian Games for the first time since Hiroshima 1994 from September 19 to October 4 in 2026.

Tokyo had also hosted the Asian Games in 1958. 

The OCA secured hosts for the 2030 and 2034 Asian Games with a double award to Qatar's capital Doha and Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh respectively in 2020.