As always, the world of Olympic and international sports continues to progress and to make news. These activities impact the full range of international sports but, most particularly, existing and future Olympic bids. The following provides an update on relevant international sports news and activities.
2012 Summer Olympic Games – London
These games are rapidly approaching and by all accounts will be extremely well organized and presented. Of additional interest is that the Games are expected to be completed at or under the last formal budget established in late 2011. Interestingly, while effectively most tickets have been sold by the London organizing committee, there are a substantial number of football (soccer) tickets unsold as British fans are awaiting the final competition schedule before committing. While virtually all other tickets have been sold to travel companies, national Olympic Committees and sponsors, many will be available on the secondary market. From a facility standpoint, all will be ready (if not already finished) but the main stadium has not yet found a permanent tenant. Plans for its post-Games use by a Premier League soccer team have not materialized as LONDOC organizers opted not to build in major under-field heating units for cold weather play, rendering the facility almost unfit for that level of play.
2014 Winter Olympics – Sochi
Preparation is also reported to be on track for these games to begin in less than two years with games-related preparation on track. Of concern, with practically no real solution, will be the sufficiency of the normal level of anticipated visitor accommodations and services. There will be a critical level provided but availability at some levels will be tight. Financially, the central Russian government is providing the funds committed during the bid process and recent television contracts (most recently NHK in Japan) have exceeded expectations ($225 MM USD). Ticket sales will not begin until later this year. Recently, Sochi organizers made their first public appeal for volunteers (a relatively new concept in Russia) with over 25,000 Russian citizens responding. International volunteers will be sought at some future date.
2016 Summer Olympic Games – Rio de Janiero
With World Cup Soccer 2014 preceding the 2016 Games in Rio, much of the needed infrastructure improvements and planned facility work is being scheduled to meet 2014 needs first. For the games, there has been some public concern expressed that marketing and other non- structural aspects of the games are falling behind. With the 2014 World Cup in the interim, it is challenging to make an actual determination. As with Sochi, the good news is that some television agreements have already been reached with Japan’s NHK committing $247MM USD. From a sports standpoint, the most interesting note is the awarding of the design/build contract for a world-class golf course in Rio for the Games. At present, no qualified course exists. The competition attracted all of the world’s top course designers and the award was a surprise with all of the “name” designers bypassed in favor of one (using American golfer Amy Alcott as their golf “expert”) that made environmental sustainability the core of their design.
2018 Winter Olympics-Pyeongchang
With six years to go and three games in the interim, it is unusual to have much news or information coming out of a future games but, at some level, Pyeongchang is creating some significant awareness by having key games and Korean Tourism officials travel the world to promote both the games and the virtues of travel to Korea. They have scheduled their presence at multiple sports management and marketing meetings around the world and are meeting with as many media outlets as possible.
2020 Summer Olympics
The competition for 2020 has heated up with the first formal bid dossiers submitted by the candidate cities (Baku, Doha, Istanbul, Madrid, Tokyo) to the IOC prior to February 15, 2012. Just prior to that date, the Italian government (Prime Minister Mario Monti) decided not to support a 2020 bid and the Rome bid was withdrawn. The decision was not unanimous and Italian IOC member Mario Pescante who also chaired the bid, resigned from his IOC roles as a consequence. Monti’s decision was based on their current economic situation and was reached even though their bid team had dramatically reduced planned bid and actual games cost projections. Interestingly, although the Spanish economic circumstances for Madrid are similar, their bid continues although they have announced a 40% reduction in planned bid costs. With a planned reduction in the number of candidates on May 23, and in response to a desire for these cities to have the opportunity to promote their candidacies, the IOC relaxed a restriction on promotion and allowed the candidates to promote themselves at the recent ANOC (Association of National Olympic Committees) meeting. Prior to the relaxing, the IOC had a provision prohibiting promotion through year end 2012. The May 23 decision will be based on information provided in the February 15 dossiers and IOC team visits. A recent AROUND THE RINGS Power Poll, has ranked the cities as follows: (1) Tokyo, (2) Madrid, (3) Istanbul, (4) Doha and (5) Baku. The reduction in number of cities follows past practice but following the poll results may be problematic if the IOC would like to have multiple ”new” candidates.
2022 Winter Olympics
Still awaiting the resolution of the IOC/USOC revenue split talks, bid preparation efforts continue at the permissible level in the U.S. Reno Tahoe and Denver are widely acknowledged as candidates with Salt Lake City and Bozeman, Montana also mentioned. It has been discussed that the IOC and USOC may resolve this issue following meetings in Quebec City in May or by the Olympics in July. Both Denver and Salt Lake City have formed exploratory committees to evaluate their bid prospects. Internationally, interested cities/countries include Ukraine (Lviv), Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Germany), Davos/St. Moritz, and a Norwegian bid with all candidates nominated by fall 2013. The IOC has just announced that the final decision on the 2022 Games host will be made at their recently announced 2015 meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in the fall of 2015.
Tenth Anniversary –Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Games
Last month, with a wide variety of commemorative events built around the official 2002 opening date of February 8, 2002, the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the 2002 games began. As with all such celebrations, only good memories were recalled and the celebration sparked Salt Lake and Utah’s initiation of consideration for hosting a future Olympic Games. While an exploratory committee has been established, interest has appeared to be lukewarm and has not generated significant interest nationally or internationally. One observation has been that, unlike Los Angeles following 1984, Salt Lake civic and sports leaders have not established or maintained a strong Olympic international outreach or partnership program.
Other news
In other Olympic news of significance, long time Olympic leader Mario Vasquez-Rana has resigned all of his roles (IOC Member, IOC Executive Board Member, President of the Pan American Sports Organization, president of Olympic Solidarity) following several public governance disputes with other Olympic leaders. He has reached the formal Olympic retirement age but had not planned to withdraw so publicly as he drafted a lengthy memo outlining many of his areas of disagreement. This was particularly unusual for an Olympic member to be so public. The impact of his resignation on the U.S. and any U.S. bids is unclear as his influence in the Americas was substantial.
