February/March 2010 edition


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  FIFA president, Sepp Blatter will fight any challenge to his re-election for a fourth term, after Mohamed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation, said the presidency should be limited to two terms. Bin Hammam may not stand for the position but there are a number of other Asian candidates who would like to see Asia play a more significant role in the organization.   Tiger returns to rehab after facing the press. Golfer, Phil Mickelson has been accused of taking advantage of a loophole in the rules by using a pre-1990 iron with square grooves - which allows him to impart backspin from the rough.  Irons with vee-shaped grooves are now the only ones that are legal ....except for the pre 1990 irons which have the square grooves. Is that clear?? or are the new rules so obviously contradictory that the price of a 20 year-old 'Ping' iron might go through the roof!.  Please check your old golf clubs!  The 'under-construction' for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow, Scotland has confirmed that the first major event at the venue will be the Junior Track World Championships.  The St. Louis Rams ownership is yet to be resolved with three bids still in the frame: Dave Checketts - the St. Louis bid's white knight appears to have been joined forces with Gerald Ford, Texas billionaire to purchase 60% of the franchise, reliant upon Stan Kroenke staying on as 40% owner. The two bidders - one from Toronto and the other possibly from Chicago have not been named.   The Mexican city of Guadalajara withdrew as a candidate to host the 2014 Youth Olympic Games - leaving only Nanjing, China, and Poznan, Poland in the race - in order to concentrate on preparations for hosting the 2011 Pan American Games.  English Premier League spent £30 million on player transfers in the January 2010 window, well down on last year's £170 million record, and a seven-year low.  Team GB chose Calgary as the location for their Preparation Camp for the Winter Olympics. The British Olympic Association spent four years planning a fully fitted out performance centre, with spinning bikes, power plates, physiotherapists, doctors, sport scientists and HQ support staff.  The result so far 'Gold'.   Hero Honda Motors Ltd, the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer will be the title sponsor of International Hockey's showcase event: The FIH Men's Hockey World Cup in India in 2010. The prestigious, once-in-four-year extravaganza will be held in March 2010 in New Delhi. Harrods in Knightsbridge, London refused entry to a group wearing tracksuits.  The Ukrainian footballers were in London for a match against Fulham FC.  Ironically Mohamed Fayed owns a slice of Fulham as well as being the owner of Harrods!  Federer is back with a vengeance beating Andy Murray in the final of the 2010 Australian Open. With Nadal's injuries taking him out of tournament for perhaps an indefinite period, is Federer now the only game in town.... again????  Undefeated Floyd Mayweather Junior will take on Shane Mosley in Las Vegas on May 1, 2010; as Manny Pacquiao files a defamation suit against Mayweather's camp after the collapse of their superfight following Mayweather's request for stricter anti-doping tests.

spotlight on:  budgets, profits and legacy?  

Last year led to a cash crisis for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games; and no surprises that the knives are already out for Vancouver 2010,but some should take a deep breath and wait until they are over to decide whether they can be considered a short-term success, a misused opportunity; the bad-luck games; a dexterous event against adversity such as 'the wrong weather' for many of the events, or a beneficial long term legacy for a city that spent relatively little and should have "No White Elephants!".

In January 2009 Nortel a TOP sponsor of the Games sought bankruptcy protection followed a few months later by GM's similar demise. The affect of Nortel's financial crisis did not have a great impact on the communications set-up for the Games; but VANOC's sponsored car fleet took a considerable cut.

All the signals were there for a big negative 'hit' as a result of the global financial crisis and cursed with a 'bad timing', VANOC will find it difficult, if not impossible to balance the books.

Even the usual guaranteed 'winners' of the Games - the Broadcast Rights holders paint a negative picture: NBC made $70 million from the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002; but there is little doubt that these figures will not be matched in 2010. Canada's rights holder, the CTV/Rogers consortium, has a goal to merely break even for its investment as a broadcaster - which includes income from ticketed, high-definition screenings in movie theatres.

Flat advertising and higher costs for rights led NBC to project its first loss in at least three decades on an Olympics.  As a result, The International Olympic Committee has delayed bidding for the 2014 and 2016 events until the ad market improves.  But it is difficult to determine how future broadcast bids will pan put as both Socchi 2014 and Rio 2016 may be enjoying a very different financial climate to today.

Despite significant participation from major corporations, the Winter Games have been backed by government spending which far exceeded the original budgets. Regretfully, this has been an economic period when the normal demand of the corporate sponsors has been overshadowed by an overwhelming movement that conspicuous consumption for rich companies is seen as highly undesirable and inappropriate. Coupled with a decline in advertising and a shortfall in the expected sales of hotel rooms, event tickets and merchandise, the IOC have had to dig deep as a result of their failure to sign more global sponsors. In August 2009, the IOC's August pledged to help cover up the anticipated $22 million in losses after the Games

  But isn't that the name of the game in the big wide world of hosting major sporting events. Last spring, VANOC's chief executive John Furlong's admitted that it was unlikely that the Winter Olympics would make a profit..... but surely Canada is in it for the long game and a variety of initiatives should draw global tourism and conferences to this much-upgraded city and its local resorts?

When it published the $1.63 billion budget and business plan in May 2007, the new Mayor Gregor Robertson declared that Vancouver taxpayers would be liable for the entire cost of the CAN$1.1 billion Olympic Village - although a financial 'rescue' was put together. No problem in London for the 2012 Summer Games. Very early on in the process the taxpayer had been well aware of the fact that they are on the hook for the Olympic Village. But questions remain such as "Will there be a demand for this housing? will the price of the homes be subsidized or inflated? and who wants to live in that part of London anyway?

In addition, London 2012 has diverted funds from its established cultural budget to the Olympics and The Cultural Olympics. No problem there, if the books end up balanced.

But London 2012 is after all a very different city to Vancouver. London is 'hot' and can be described as a world top destination for culture and Vancouver and Whistler BC can best be described as less urban but an equally attractive destination.  And if they do a good job marketing British Columbia, tourism and conferences should increase to a level where the anticipated loss for the Games is mitigated.

hot spot: promises, promises

The prospect of West Ham FMC moving into London's Olympic Stadium after 2012 may become more feasible as there appears to be growing support… but who will foot the bill for the stadium and its reconfiguration?

  West Ham's current home: Boleyn Ground

London 2012 legacy chiefs have set a deadline to take the £537m Olympic stadium off taxpayers' hands by the end of the 2010; and while intentions may be honourable to find a solution, which makes the project self-funding from the get-go, it is unlikely that the legacy commitment from Sebastian Coe that the Olympic Stadium retains its athletics track will remain intact.

This also begs the question as to why Wembley Stadium - the National Stadium was not put forward as an option in the first place - particularly as it has a track beneath the retractable front rows of seating?  And the question as to how much will be added to the half billion pound bill if and when some of the temporary seating is removed (and recycled?) and permanent facilities are added is yet to be answered.

The editor of this publication would like to see a multi-purpose facility of an appropriate capacity for the area - with the track and field accessible to both elite athletes and the training of local talent. So many stadiums now have the ability to reconfigure from track and field to concert arena to exhibition space - while not consider how best to serve the Olympic promise and the local residents in the decision process.

The concept of a multi-purpose venue will compliment the other legacy venues such as the Aquatics Centre and make the Stratford Olympic Park a destination that offers enough new and unique facilities for Londoners that it will have the capacity - managed by the right team - to make a profit and pay back the community who for several years have lived and worked around a building site.

Bidders will be given until the autumn to submit their proposals to the Olympic Park Legacy Company, co-owned by the Government and City Hall. OPLC chair Baroness Ford, who masterminded the sale of the Government-funded Millennium Dome, believes that striking a stadium deal two years ahead of the Games is in the best interests' of taxpayers. Legacy options ranging from a retained 80,000 capacity to a 25,000-seat venue.

Although Lady Ford has already said she was reluctant to reduce the stadium in capacity after the Games, it is thought she is confident that there would sufficient interest to make an 25,000- seat athletics stadium viable by leasing to other tenants and holding one-off events. "This is a public asset and any use in legacy must show how the promises made in the Olympic bid can be kept and how the stadium can become a lively and valuable part of the Olympic park. We need to demonstrate value for money for the public purse. We aim to complete this process and reach a settled position by the end of this year."


hot shot:   yes! and two of them!

Rio has hired former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (who gained worldwide visibility in his management post 9/11), as a security advisor for the 2016 Olympic Games. Prior to 9/11, Giuliani had introduced a "zero-tolerance" policy towards crime in the city that helped transform the city's reputation from dangerous to safe city - but he did squeeze some of the creative life-blood out of the city and that 'sense of fun' has never been fully recovered. Nevertheless, he is onboard in Rio to help with day-to-day security with an eye to the 2010 World Military Games and the 2016 Olympic Games.  But he has a big  job on his hands!

Shortly after the announcement In Copenhagen of the successful Rio bid to host the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016, a wave of drug violence swept the city with at least 40 victims killed (see previous shortsandsports editions).

The former New York Mayor may be joined in Rio by former Prime Minister, Tony Blair who has been hired as a paid consultant by the organizers of the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro to give them advice on preparing for the Games.

and more hirings

London's 2012 success was in part due to Mike Lee who advised Rio on strategy and comms. As a previous adviser to 2012, Blair and his old team has come full circle.  The ex-PM was widely credited with London's success when he turned up on the eve of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Singapore in July 2005 and met with nearly 100 IOC members to persuade them to vote for the British capital ahead of the favourite Paris. It established a blue-print that Rio used for their own bid, during which Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva played a high-profile and vital role.

Since leaving office in June 2007, Blair has created a sports foundation, which aims to help youth in the North East of England - where his former constituency of Sedgefield is located. He has also been mentioned as potentially playing a leading role in England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup.

However, Brazil's best-known writer is making it clear he doesn't want Britain's former Prime Minister Tony Blair involved. Paulo Coelho has expressed outrage as proposals to hire Blair as an adviser for the games, citing his involvement in the Iraq War on Twitter. The writer - who was part of the winning Brazilian delegation - has sold 100 million books in 150 countries. But if a deal is struck, funds would come from private sources, and not government funds.

 

sidelines:  
shared agendas

The United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, and the President of the 64th UN General Assembly, Ali Abdussalam Treki, have called today on all UN Member States to observe the traditional Olympic Truce during the XXI Olympic Winter Games from 12 to 28 February and the X Winter Paralympic Games from 12 to 21 March 2010 in Vancouver.

In his message, Ban Ki-moon recalled that "at the Olympics and throughout the year, we rightly honour the outstanding achievements of the human body and the positive social values of competitive sport, including team spirit and fairness" before adding that "peace and stability are essential for people to reach their true potential. The Olympic Truce is based on that yearning, and on ideals shared by the UN and the Olympic Movement alike: global friendship, harmony, non-violence and non-discrimination".

For his part, the UN GA President noted that "the Olympic Movement aspires to contribute to a peaceful future for all humankind through the educational value of sport. The Games will bring together athletes from all parts of the world in the greatest of international sports events as a means to promote peace, mutual understanding and goodwill among nations and peoples - goals that are also part of the founding values of the United Nations", before underlining the mutual cooperation between the two organizations and their common projects.

Ban Ki-moon concluded his statement by "urging warring parties all over the world to lay down their weapons during the XXI Olympic Winter Games. Let us start with the Olympic Truce, and continue even after the games are played and the medals awarded". While Ali Abdussalam Treki called solemnly all Member States "to demonstrate their commitment to the Olympic Truce Games, and to undertake concrete actions at the local, national, regional and world levels to promote and strengthen a culture of peace and harmony based on the spirit of the Truce."

fashion icon.....  the New York state of mind

Thousands of participants are expected to "Run for Haiti" in Central Park this month
to benefit victims in the earthquake-ravaged country. Co-hosted by the New York Road Runners, the Mayor's Office and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, the four-mile horseshoe-shaped course will start and end between East 70th Street and 72nd Street in the park.. Registration fees run at $40 per person, and the NYRR hopes to raise $400,000 from the event. It will begin at 9am.

Children will also be able to run in their own race, and Haitian-themed entertainers and vendors will donate their services to the event. In addition, there will be a virtual race, in which participants can donate $30 to run or walk four miles on their own, and record their times on the NYRR Web site. The NYRR has contacted partner running organizations from other states, and expects many of those runners to come from outside New York.

All proceeds from the event will go to New York City's Haiti Relief Fund, administered by the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City. The Mayor's fund has already donated more than $1.2 million to the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, Partners in Health, UNICEF and the United Nations World Food Program to benefit Haiti.

and still in New York..... 


Mickey Mantle's Restaurant and Sports Bar in New York has just extended its lease for another 10 years and the current owner/chef Christopher Villano is giving the place a makeover. And not dissimilar to the Empire State Building the restaurant will reflect sporting seasons and highlights by rotating a selection of color-coordinated retractable awnings for the outdoor seating areas.

home and away:  

bringing it home to Vancouver

Procter & Gamble, along with the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC), will welcome U.S. Olympic athletes and their families in Vancouver, Canada, to the P&G Family Home by providing 'family members with a place to come together, watch the Olympic Winter Games, meet other Team USA families, and spend time with loved ones before and after competition.

More than 300 athletes and coaches will be on the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team'. And unlike previous years, this time it will include a 24/7 coverage of the Games.

P&G's Olympic sponsorship of Team USA includes the 2010 U.S. Olympic Team and the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team.

sport culture: capturing history

   Invictus may not be a great movie but it does share a very powerful message: Sport can unify a community as well as a nation.

In the nineteen-nineties Nelson Mandela seized the opportunity to unify black and white South Africa through the 'power' of sport. At the time, little did he realize just how influential sport could be!

After attending a game of the Springboks, the country's rugby union team, it became clear that sport was a voice for the disunited as well as the united; and as blacks in the stadium cheered against their home squad, Mandela recognized while that sport was not a level playing in South Africa it had the potential to be a united force.

While the Springboks represented prejudice and apartheid, South Africa's unification seemed like a lost cause. Mandela chose the 1995 Rugby World Cup as his vehicle to bring together a divided nation and Invictus tells the story of the role of sport as a 'role model'.

In one year Mandela not only convinced the South African Rugby Board to keep the Springbok team, name and colours; he also meet with the Springboks' captain. And although Mandela never articulated the true substance of the meeting to François Pienaar (Matt Damon), Pienaar understood its meaning: to challenge the Springboks to gain the support of black South Africans and win the upcoming World Cup.

Mandela also shared with Pienaar a poem, Invictus, that had been his inspiration during his time in prison, helping him to "stand when all he wanted to do was lie down".

The Springboks team captain,and his team - all white with one exception - Chester Williams - were persuaded by Mandela to endeavour to represent a post-apartheid South Africa; and in so doing they took the championship in the most unexpected, and yet heroic fashion, winning 15-12 in the final against the expected firm favorites, the All Blacks.

Supported by a crowd of 62,000, Morgan Freeman plays a convincing Mandela. And while many of his scenes are inspirational and in the spirit of organizations such as FIFA and the IOC; the rugby action is often unconvincing and the movie would have been better served by actual footage.

Despite its shortcomings, Invictus is a worthy illustration of how sports unifies the world and that message is worth its weight in gold medals.

starting blocks:   Turkish aspirations

The Turkish Government has announced plans for a €27 billion (£23 billion) infrastructure upgrade, as the country steps up its attempt to stage the Euro 2016 football tournament. The six-year programme will cover transportation (including railways and airports), telecommunications, hotels, health and education.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan also announced that his Government had signed financial guarantees totalling €920 million (£798 million) for the construction and/or improvement of stadia in the eight host cities proposed under the Turkish bid

Success would see new 6 new stadia in Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, Konya, Eskisehir and Antalya; and a major upgrade of Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium, Galatasaray SK's Türk Telekom Arena and the Kayseri Kadir Has Stadium.

The Turkish bid will be widely seen, in part, as an important staging-post in efforts to bring the Olympic Games to Istanbul. The city has already made four unsuccessful bids in recent times and is widely expected to try again for the 2020 Games.

Euro 2016 will for the first time feature 24 teams.

The winner of the contest will follow Poland and Ukraine, who are jointly hosting Euro 2012.

life after -   enhanced security

Security plays an every increasing role in the hosting of major sporting events as the largest security operation in Canada's history - a 16,500 strong force 'protect' this year's Games.

Air space over Vancouver and Whistler Mountain has been largely closed, about 900 surveillance cameras have been erected around Olympic venues as part of the land, sea and air operation, and about 5,200 Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 4,500 members of the Canadian Forces, 1,800 regional police officers, and 5,000 private security officials will be deployed.

  Skies over the Olympic venues will also be closed to all traffic except scheduled flights, and security force aircraft and marine patrol vessels will provide waterside security in Vancouver; while soldiers on skis, snowshoes, in snowmobiles and Swedish-designed snowmobile vehicles will be deployed around Whistler.

Spectators should expect the following:
- airport-like controls at venues; travel light and arrive early.
- if purchasing tickets should arrive up to four hours early for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, three hours early for the mountain events, and two hours early for events in Vancouver.
- only those with a bag smaller than 15 cm x 15 cm x 30 cm, or no bag at all, will be directed to an express lane.

Organizers have however relaxed one thing. The fencing around the main Vancouver stadium prevented visitors from photographing the Olympic flame and its structure … so they VANOC sliced a gap in the fencing to allow cameras to be poked through.

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