Speaking at Securing Sport 2014 in London on Tuesday, Franz Beckenbauer told a select group of the press including HOST CITY that FIFA should make the findings of its investigations into alleged corruption public.
Beckenbauer was on the FIFA Executive Committee during the controversial bidding procedure for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. Asked to reveal who he voted for, he said he had to respect the rules of the secret ballot. He also categorically stated that he did not accept, or receive any offers of, lavish gifts in attempts to influence votes.
But he did say “I was surprised that Qatar won. It was a good bid like all the others, but it’s not possible to play football there in the summer. You have to put a lot of effort into cooling the stadiums. My suggestion would be to host in the winter.”
In June 2014 Beckenbauer was suspended by FIFA from all football related activities for failing to help with the investigations of FIFA’s ethics prosecutor Michael Garcia.
Beckenbauer then agreed to take part in the investigation and the ban was lifted.
He told Securing Sport that he did not initially complete Garcia’s questionnaire because it was in complex legal English and he would have preferred to have answered such questions in German.
FIFA has indicated that the ethics report, which should now be in its final stages, will not be made public. But Beckenbauer said the report should be made public as soon as it is finished.
“Rumours are going round and that is very negative,” he said. “If the recent report has been finalised, it should be published. It’s up to FIFA – there is an Executive Committee to make these decisions, but personally, there is nothing to hide.”
Winning bid was my best achievement
Beckenbauer told delegates at Securing Sport that winning the bid to host the 2006 World Cup exceeded all of his many sporting and professional achievements.
Franz Beckenbauer led his national team to world cup victory as captain in 1974 and as manager in 1990. Yet asked by moderator David Walsh of the Sunday Times to name his greatest achievement, Beckenbauer said “Winning the bid for 2006 was the greatest moment of my sporting career.”
The greatest effect of winning the bid was the effect it had on sport in the country, he said. “German football has never been better than now; that is down to the World Cup. We have great infrastructure and full capacities.
“The way football has developed is fantastic. I feel sorry for other sports: you switch on the television and all you see is football.”
Beckenbauer told delegates in London that hosting the World Cup could have a similar positive effect in England. “It is surprising that England hasn’t won the World Cup since 1966. There is so much talent, such great stadiums and fans, financially there is no problem.
“If England won a bid to host a World Cup, perhaps that might be an incentive for improving the standard of football.”
To find out more about bidding procedures for major events, register for HOST CITY Bid to Win on 28th October
Category: Event Bidding
-
FIFA should publish corruption investigation
-
Olympic bidding procedure must retain human element – Lord Coe
Lord Sebastian Coe said on Tuesday that the bidding procedures for major events such as the Olympic Games must retain the “human element”.
As well as being vice president of the IAAF and a key figure behind London’s successful bid, Lord Coe is a member of the Olympic Agenda 2020 working group that is currently reviewing the bidding procedure for the Olympic Games.
“It’s quite dangerous to think that you can choreograph every moment of a bid,” Lord Coe told delegates at Securing Sport 2014 in London. “For a bid to win and gain acceptance you need personal relationships. They have got to work alongside an organising committee for many years – you need to know that the team that is bidding will also make a good organising team.”
Lord Coe also contributed to the IOC’s last major review, the Olympic Commission 2000 which, he says, “made it very tough for bidding cities” while bringing about positive changes such as managing interaction between IOC members and bidding cities.
“There’s a balance. We have to be careful not to take the human element out. And it’s hard to be told that you can’t just sit down with an IOC member and explain what the transportation or security strategy is.”
Asked about the issue of gifts, Lord Coe affirmed that he had never been offered or accepted any gifts in relation to bidding procedures.
“We all probably understand the difference between a commemorative plate and a calendar and something more substantive. The law of common sense should prevail.”
The review of bidding procedure will be under discussion at HOST CITY Bid to Win on 28th October in London. Register at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net -
French officials make case for Olympic Games and World Expo bids
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has offered public support for bringing the World Expo to France’s capital, prompting reports earlier this week that such a move would end the city’s chances of staging the Olympics exactly 100 years on from its previous hosting in 1924.
However, Nathalie Iannetta, the sports advisor to French President Francois Hollande, told the Associated Press news agency that it could be financially viable for both events to be pursued. “The investments that will be made will benefit both projects,” she said.
A feasibility study is due to be completed by the French Olympic Committtee early next year in collaboration with influential figures from sport, politics and business, with Iannetta stating that the findings will be central to deciding Paris’ next course of action.
“If it shows that a Paris bid is pertinent and that we have good chances to win, then the World Expo bid won’t be an obstacle,” Iannetta added.
The United States, Hungary, Italy, Germany, Qatar, South Africa and Turkey have joined France in expressing an interest in hosting the 2024 Olympics.
Bids for the Games must be submitted by next year and the International Olympic Committee will select the winner in 2017. Bids for the hosting rights to the 2025 World Expo straddle this process, with submissions due in 2016 and a decision set to be made two years later.
Bernard Lapasset, the head of the French Committee for International Sport, called upon experience from his other role as the president of the International Rugby Board to state that hosting the Olympic Games and the World Expo in consecutive years would be possible.
“We’ll obviously need to be careful with the finances, but look what happened with Japan,” Lapasset said. “They won the rights to host the Rugby World Cup in 2019 and the 2020 Olympics.”
In other news, Germany will delay its decision over whether to put forward either Berlin or Hamburg as a candidate city for the 2024 Olympics until next year.
The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) was expected to make its choice at a December 6 strategy meeting, but president Alfons Hörman is keen for his organisation to see the results of the IOC’s ‘Agenda 2020’ initiative and further assess the levels of support for Olympic hosting in both cities.
Hörmann told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper: “The worst option would be that we decide firmly on a city only for its citizens to then say the project will not be supported.”
The latest polls suggest Hamburg has significant public weight behind a bid, while Berlin – host of the 1936 Olympics – is more lukewarm overall.
Munich failed in a bid to stage the 2018 winter Olympic Games and Hörmann added: “A second Munich must not happen to us.” -
WTA broadens Asia-Pacific presence with new Chinese event
The WTA Elite Trophy, a singles and doubles event offering $2.15m (€1.7m) in prize money, will be staged in the southern China city for the next five years, from 2015 to 2019.
The 12-player singles field in Zhuhai will consist of players ranked No.9 through No.20 in the world, along with one wildcard, in a four-group round robin format. The winners of each respective group will advance to the single elimination semi-final stage of the event.
Six doubles teams will compete in a two-group round robin format, with the winner of each group advancing to the final.
The Elite Trophy will take place at the custom-designed, state-of-the-art tennis centre in Zhuhai, and will be played the week after the WTA Finals, which see the sport’s top-ranking stars compete in Singapore.
“This brand new event combining great players, a fantastic new stadium and the magnificent location of Zhuhai is a formula that will make the WTA Elite Trophy a success,” WTA chairman and chief executive Stacey Allaster said. “Thanks to the commitment and vision of the Zhuhai government, Huafa Group and Ace Pro Group – APG, the fan experience will be exciting and inspirational, and we will showcase women’s tennis and this beautiful city to a global audience through broadcast, digital and social media.”
Zhuhai’s Vice-Mayor Lydia Long added: “We are deeply grateful for WTA’s trust and support in making Zhuhai’s dream of joining the WTA family a reality. The people of Zhuhai will warmly welcome the best women tennis players and tourists from around the world to this beautiful, romantic and dynamic city.”
The addition of the Elite Trophy in Zhuhai aligns with the WTA’s strategic growth and development within the Asia-Pacific region. In 2014, 17 WTA tournaments took place in the region.
The existing Tournament of Champions has been staged in the Bulgarian capital Sofia since 2012, but this year’s edition is set to be its last. -
Abu Dhabi lands World Triathlon Series opener under five-year deal
Under the deal, the capital of the United Arab Emirates will make its debut on the series’ calendar by hosting the first event of the 2015 campaign on March 6-7. The deal will run until 2019.
“This is a partnership which represents a meeting of like minds in terms of ambitions,” ITU president Marisol Casado said. “Abu Dhabi is a world-class city and offers a fantastic combination of beautiful water and superb road infrastructure that is entirely suitable for a WTS event.
“In our talks leading up to the partnership it became apparent that Abu Dhabi wants to take its triathlon to the next level and expand the sport’s reach in much the same way as ITU is determined to progress the sport internationally.”
While a first-time ITU race, Abu Dhabi has organised triathlons for age groups and professional triathletes in recent years. British athletes Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, who collected gold and bronze at the 2012 Olympics respectively, are familiar with the race, with Alistair having won in 2013, and the brothers having crossed over together last year.
The event, slated as a sprint for the elites with both standard and sprint races on offer for age groupers, will be headquartered at the Abu Dhabi Sailing & Yacht Club where a 2,000-seat grandstand, a bike park, a ‘Friends and Family’ area, refreshment kiosks and kids zone will be built. It will also feature a ‘swim start’ off the Volvo Ocean Race yacht pontoons on Abu Dhabi Corniche – a first for the series.
His Excellency Aref Al Awani, general secretary of ADSC, said: “We envisage a host of benefits emerging from this partnership. These include further positioning of Abu Dhabi as a destination for world-class sporting events, additional destination exposure among an influential client base, encouragement of our own youth to join in one of the world’s fastest-growing Olympic sports and the promotion among our own community of the benefits of healthy lifestyles.”
Abu Dhabi is the only new stop on the 2015 calendar. Gold Coast in Australia (April 11-12) will return for the first time since 2009, while the ITU also confirmed that the World Triathlon London event will take place on May 30-31.
Other previously-announced stops on the schedule include Auckland, New Zealand (March 28-29); Cape Town, South Africa (April 25-26); Yokohama, Japan (May 16-17); Hamburg, Germany (July 18-19); Stockholm, Sweden (August 22-23); Edmonton, Canada (September 5-6); and Chicago, USA (September 15-20). -
Host City: Bid to Win to put spotlight on bidding for major events
Host City: Bid to Win, a conference which will be held at the St James’ Court, A Taj Hotel, London on 28 October 2014, is set to bring together experts and decision makers to explore the challenges and benefits of bidding for major global events. At a time when the bidding process for events has never been more highly scrutinised, Host City: Bid to Win promises place further expert insight into the heart of the ongoing debate.
The conference will examine engaging themes central to the debate including the IOC’s proposed Agenda 2020 reforms and emerging trends in the bidding for and hosting of large-scale, multi-sport and cultural events.
Keynote speaker Sir Craig Reedie, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice-President, believes there has never been a more important time for rights holders to engage with cities.
Speaking about Host City: Bid to Win, he said: “I am supporting Host City: Bid to Win as it is a great opportunity to get rights holders and cities together debating the key issues. Rights holders and cities are both seeking new ways to showcase their unique qualities, attract new audiences and enhance their reputations – I’m looking forward to sharing insights and opinions with experts from across the global landscape.”
Mario Andrada, Rio 2016 Director of Communications, said: “Host City: Bid to Win will be a great arena for debate on major event bidding and hosting. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences and insights into the bid and delivery of Rio 2016 and this is a great opportunity to connect, learn and share ideas about how cities and countries can truly benefit from hosting a major sports event.”
Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO of marketing communications giant WPP and an advisor to the IOC sees the conference as an important platform for furthering the debate on major event hosting in the current climate.
“We clearly need to articulate more effectively the tangible, intangible and legacy benefits of sporting, cultural and business events.” Sorrell said.
Alexander Koch, Corporate Communications Manager at FIFA, said: “This is an important time for all stakeholders involved in bidding and hosting and I’m looking forward to what should be an engaging debate between bidding cities and rights holders at Host City: Bid to Win.”
Host City: Bid to Win will host various structured and informal networking opportunities, as well as a series of thought provoking panel sessions on what cities need to do to win sporting, cultural and business events.
Topics to be covered include:
•How Event Owners and Cities Can Benefit From Improving Their Dialogue
•Emerging Trends in Large Scale Events
•Olympic Agenda 2020: Overview of Proposed Changes to the Bidding Process
•Attracting International Events to Cities
•Bidding for the Right Event
•Evaluating Bidding & Hosting
•Successes and Failures
•Meeting the Evaluation Criteria: Planning, Infrastructure, Transport & Security Strategies
•Campaigning to Win the Bid
•Beyond the Bid: Winning for the Future
For further information on the engaging panel sessions and other top class speakers confirmed for Host City: Bid to Win, please visit: http://www.bidtowin-hostcity.net/
Join the conversation on social media by using the #HostCity hashtag.
For media enquiries, please contact: Robert Fawdon, VERO Communications, rfawdon@verocom.co.uk, m: +44 (0)7769 216649, t: +44 (0)20 7812 6589 -
Almaty chasing private investment for Olympic Games bid
The Tengrinews website said Kazakhstan’s Vice-Minister of Culture and Sport, Tastanbekov Yesentai, cited the example of this year’s winter Olympics in Sochi, where the Russia authorities successfully implemented a mixed funding model and also pointed towards Tokyo’s projected revenues for the 2020 summer Olympics as arguments in favour of his government’s approach.
Yesentai said: “Russia has used a mixed model at the Olympics in Sochi. Their income made $10bn (€7.9bn). Japan has officially declared that it would be able to earn $30bn from hosting the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in 2020.
“We also want to stick to the mixed model of financial management, in which the share of state involvement would be 33 per cent and the rest will be raised by investors. In that case we will be able to hold the Olympics in 2022 at a proper level.”
Concerns regarding state financing for hosting the 2022 winter Olympics have become a central theme of what is now a sparse bidding process.
Almaty and Beijing are the only two cities left in the running after Oslo withdrew from the race at the start of this month. The Norwegian government decided against providing the required financial support to host the multi-sport event due to prohibitive projected costs.
Oslo was the latest in a long line of cities to end a bid, following Stockholm in Sweden, Krakow in Poland and Lviv in Ukraine, while bids from St. Moritz in Switzerland and Munich in Germany were scrapped after public referendums.
Meanwhile, Kazakh Olympic Committee vice-president Pavel Novikov has rejected calls for Almaty to share Olympic hosting rights with Astana, acknowledging Olympic bidding rules that the Games must be awarded to a single city.
The International Olympic Committee will select the host city for the 2022 Games on July 31, 2015. -
London facing competition to retain ATP World Tour Finals
The season-ending tournament of the men’s tour has resided in London since 2009, with the world’s top eight singles players, and leading doubles teams, battling it out at the O2 Arena.
The North Greenwich venue, formerly the Millennium Dome, currently holds the hosting rights through the 2015 edition after extending its deal with the ATP by a further two years in November 2012.
However, Kermode has said interest is high in the contract from 2016, adding a decision will be made on the successful candidate next spring.
“We’ve got interest from four other regions and we’ll make a decision by March or April,” Kermode told UK broadcaster BBC Radio Five Live.
The 2014 World Tour Finals run from November 9-16 with reigning champion Novak Djokovic having already secured his place amongst the top eight singles players, along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stanislas Wawrinka and Marin Cilic.
Since it commenced 44 years ago, the World Tour Finals have been staged in 14 different cities including Tokyo, New York, Lisbon, Sydney and most recently Shanghai, before moving to London.
Friday saw the start of a five-year residency for the season-ending showpiece of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) in Singapore.
The WTA has introduced a number of changes to coincide with the tournament’s move from Istanbul, with the event set to run through to October 26 at the new Singapore Sports Hub’s 7,500-seat indoor stadium.
This year’s event is the first of a five-year deal between the WTA and Singapore, which also sees the tournament rebranded from the WTA Championships to the WTA Finals and expanded by four days into a 10-day event of competition, exhibitions and activities for fans. -
Las Vegas and Madrid in F1 race talks
F1 failed to secure the necessary backing to make the temporary track developed in the car park of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas a permanent fixture on its calendar following races in the US city in 1981 and 1982.
Hermann Tilke, the designer responsible for the majority of new circuits developed for Formula One in recent years has made numerous recent visits to Las Vegas with a view to developing a race venue, according to UK newspaper the Independent, and Ecclestone is set to hold discussions over adding a second US race to the F1 season on his way to next weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
“There is a consortium in Las Vegas that wants to arrange a race. They are very serious and want me to go out there on the way to Texas so we will see,” he told the Autoweek.com website.
Ecclestone added that casino impresario Steve Wynn and Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberte – both counted by the 83-year-old as personal friends – are not members of the interested consortium.
As opposed to the USA, where home-based motor racing series such as Nascar and IndyCar hold sway, Spain represents an important market for F1 following the rise of Fernando Alonso and, according to the El Confidencial newspaper, Ecclestone is also in negotiations with a group of businessmen to stage a street race in the country’s capital.
El Confidencial added that the F1 chief has received bank guarantees and a detailed business plan. The proposed race would rely exclusively on private funding, and the group aims to secure financial assurances and Ecclestone’s backing ahead of going before the local authorities.
Barcelona’s has staged the Spanish Grand Prix since 1991, with its contract running through until the 2016 season. Spain staged two races per season between 2008 and 2012, with the European Grand Prix held on a street circuit in Valencia.
The additions of new races in consecutive years in Mexico City and Baku means Formula One is set to have 21 rounds by 2016. -
LPGA to take International Crown to Korea
The International Crown was formed as a national team matchplay tournament and its inaugural edition was held in Owings Mills, Maryland from July 24-27, at Caves Valley Golf Club.
The next edition of the biennial event had already been confirmed for Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois in 2016. However, the LPGA has said the 2018 International Crown will be staged in Korea, with dates and a host venue to be confirmed at a later point.
Korea is a key market for the LPGA with the second-most players, 41, represented from the nation in the world rankings. World No.2 Inbee Park is one of three Koreans in the top-10.
“The Republic of Korea has clearly demonstrated their support for the LPGA by hosting 18 different tournaments over the years with tremendous fan support.” LPGA commissioner Mike Whan said. “It made perfect sense that the first time we take the International Crown outside of the United States was to a country with so many dedicated fans and supporters of women’s golf.”
The announcement has coincided with safety consulting and certification company Underwriters Laboratories signing on as the first title sponsor of the International Crown, in a deal spanning the 2016 and 2018 events.
UL served as an ambassador sponsor for the inaugural International Crown, which saw Team Spain crowned the event’s first champion.
Whan added: “When we came up with the idea for the International Crown our goal was to launch a truly global event for women’s golf which we did earlier this year at Caves Valley Golf Club. We were looking for a partner to help grow it globally and I can think of no better partner than UL, whose business aligns perfectly with the LPGA.”