LA 2024 Vice Chair and four-time Olympic swimming champion Janet Evans attended Host City 2015 conference in Glasgow this week, marking the start of a busy period for the LA 2024 Candidature Committee which includes attending the IOC 2024 Candidate City workshops in Lausanne (November 19-20) and the European Olympic Committees (EOC) General Assembly in Prague (November 20-21).

The Host City 2015 conference, which took place in Glasgow on November 9-10, offered Evans, who is also LA 2024 Director of Athlete Relations, the chance to learn from the experiences of a range of leaders from across the Olympic Movement.

LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said: “We are delighted that Janet is attending the Host City conference in Glasgow with so many Olympic experts present. We are very much in our ‘looking, listening and learning’ phase and these types of events are an invaluable part of this process.

“We will also send a significant LA 2024 delegation to Lausanne for the IOC 2024 Candidate City workshops; which will provide the ideal opportunity to engage and interact with the IOC on the path ahead.

“The EOC General Assembly in Prague represents a further opportunity, after the ANOC General Assembly in Washington, D.C., to consult with the NOC family. Their athletes are at the very heart of the Olympic Movement and IOC President Thomas Bach’s visionary Olympic Agenda 2020. The NOCs have a critical role in preparing and supporting athletes, so it is vital that we consult with them whenever possible.”

HOST CITY 2015 Conference and Exhibition drew to a close in Glasgow on Tuesday following two days of open discussions exploring the challenges and benefits of bidding for and hosting major global events.

Now in its second year, Host City has firmly established itself as the leading EU-based meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events. Under the theme ‘Creative Innovation’ HOST CITY 2015 brought together a unique collection of city leaders and cross-sector rights holders, event owners, suppliers and world class-speakers in the business of major international events.

High on the agenda on the final day of the conference was the issue of sustainability and how a multi-city approach to hosting could allow events of the future to remain viable and grow by increasing their reach.

Speaking on the UEFA EURO 2020 Championships, Stewart Regan, Chief Executive of the Scottish Football Association, host of four matches within the tournament, said: “As you can imagine it’s a huge logistical exercise - trying to plan for one country and several stadia is a big exercise but imagine doing that across 13 countries. 

“Planning the security, planning the logistics of moving sponsors, fans, and broadcasters around Europe - it’s a massive exercise. But the benefits of involving 13 countries, including some of the smaller countries who couldn’t host an event on their own, outweigh the challenges that the logistics present.”

Hampden Park in Glasgow will stage three UEFA Euro 2020 group stage games and one last 16 match.

Paul Bristow, Director of European Sports Championships Management argued that a multi-city approach could have sustainability benefits for future events. 

“The key word here is sustainability. We have too many white elephants,” he said. 

“We can be smarter in the way that we use existing facilities but at the same time still use major events to promote investment in sustainable new facilities that cities need. And if we can combine existing facilities in cities that will work together in partnership then I think that is a sustainable model.”

Paul Dunphy, Major Events Consultant for SportBusiness Intelligence and former Manager Event Prospecting and Bidding at Auckland Tourism Events & Economic Development said: “I think it is a long-term innovative approach. We had the Cricket World Cup in New Zealand and Australia recently and when you’re a small nation with minimal resources you need to be innovative. The [2015] Cricket World Cup was a great example of how multi-city, multi-national events are the future.”

Also under discussion was the critical question of how transport and security strategies contribute to the success of bidding for and hosting major events, including creating positive post-event legacies for cities. Malcolm Tarbitt, Executive Director – Safety and Security for the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), said: “Major sporting events are short-term initiatives that have major long-term impact and they pose a tremendous challenge to host nations in terms of their image, sovereignty and integrity.

“In the past few years the cost of hosting major sporting events has increased astoundingly, including cost of security strategies and operations plans. The threat landscape is ever changing, ever evolving and the responsibility on bidding nations and organising committees is becoming ever greater to determine, manage and defend their security plans and budgets. To mitigate this you need to involve security upfront, as early as possible and apply a holistic and integrated approach to planning.”

Other leading speakers across the two-day conference included: Sir Craig Reedie CBE, Vice President, International Olympic Committee; Louise Martin CBE, President, Commonwealth Games Federation; David Grevemberg CBE, CEO, Commonwealth Games Federation; Brian Cookson OBE, President of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI); Sarah Lewis, Secretary General of the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the Association of International Winter Sports Federations; Alexander Koch, Corporate Communications Manager for FIFA; Hidetoshi Fujisawa, Executive Director of Communication and Engagement, Tokyo 2020; Simon Clegg CBE, former COO, Baku 2015 European Games; and Ali Russell, Director of Media and Strategic Partnerships, Formula E.

The Association of Global Event Suppliers (AGES) and SOS Global Express has signed a three year agreement for “Logistics and Transportation” under the AGES Industry Partnership Program. 

“SOS Global is honoured to team up with AGES as their Logistics Partner,” said Stephen O’Connell, Vice President of SOS Global.

“Since we started the company in 1986 we have consistently expanded our reach into Global Events and we believe this Partnership is a natural expansion that will benefit all involved.” 

With the expertise and support of SOS Global AGES will develop new standards, procedures and other tools to increase efficiency and reduce costs for event logistics.

“It is not just about reliability and costs. Through our partnership we want to explore and find smarter solutions for our industry”, said Daniel Cordey, chairman of AGES. 

The Industry Partnership Program is a program created by AGES for leading industrial companies who are directly connected with the business of its members and are willing to support the initiatives of AGES in specific thematic categories. Through knowledge transfer and active involvement by the partners, the IPP shall contribute to the elaboration of new standards and policies for the event suppliers industry. AGES and EY recently signed a partnership for the category “Assurance, Tax and Legal”. 

SOS Global Express has provided freight forwarding and logistics for global events from the 1987 NFL Super Bowl and 1988 Olympic Games to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games, Nanjing Youth Olympic Games and the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Canada. 

Daniel Cordey, who was an executive director of Nüssli Group from 1990 to 2014, is moderating the panel discussion on Innovations in Event Infrastructure at HOST CITY 2015, the leading EU-based meeting of cities and sports, business and cultural events, which takes place in Glasgow on 9th to 10th November.

Attending HOST CITY 2015 in Glasgow on 9th and 10th of November is an attractive opportunity for cities to get ahead in the competitive international market of hosting major events, according to keynote speaker Sir Craig Reedie, IOC Vice President.

“From my point of view of being involved in HOST CITY 2015, I am delighted that the event is coming to Glasgow, because Glasgow has shown that it is a sporting city with the way it has developed its facilities, the way it ran a major multi-sport event, the Commonwealth Games in 2014, and what it’s been doing since then – not least a couple of hugely successful Davis Cup tennis ties,” said Sir Craig Reedie.

“So if you look at the excitement that generates locally, and the promotion that it gives the city on a worldwide basis, then I think this indicates that the market out there is a buoyant one.

“Cities should be very well prepared to become involved and therefore they should be thinking ahead; they should be innovative – and with a bit of luck they will reap the benefits that Glasgow has.”

Under the theme of “Creative Innovation Connecting Cities with Sports, Business and Culture Events”, HOST CITY 2015 is an opportunity to meet, influence and network with a unique collection of city leaders and cross-sector rights holders and gain intelligence on the challenges and benefits of event bidding and hosting.

Sir Craig Reedie was deeply engaged in the IOC’s own “Olympic Agenda 2020” process of creative innovation, one of the primary aims of which was to make bidding for the Olympic Games more appealing to cities.

“We came up with a coordinated and sensible view of how we wanted to run the Games but also to promote the Olympic movement for the future. 

“There were some fairly dramatic discussions on the bidding process of the Games. We wanted to make it more inclusive, we wanted to make it more cooperative, we wanted to make it cheaper, we wanted to make it encouraging to more cities to become involved. 

“In the process of bidding for sporting events, it’s a competitive field. The Olympic Games are the greatest show on earth; it’s important that they maintain this status. It’s important that the athletes regard them as the greatest show on earth and something they really want to take part in. 

“So therefore a process of change is a perfectly reasonable thing to undertake.”

More than 200 delegates have already confirmed their attendance at Host City 2015. Read the agenda and Register at www.bidtowin-hostcity.net to get involved and get ahead.

Changes to the IOC’s bidding procedure have attracted a “very considerable field” of five candidate cities, all of which are expected to stay the course until the host city election in September 2017, IOC Vice President Sir Craig Reedie CBE told HOST CITY in an exclusive interview. 

“The change in the candidature rules, which came out of the whole reform process called Agenda 2020, seems to have attracted a very considerable field of really good cities,” he said. 

“The big addition has been the invitation phase before a National Olympic Committee decides finally to put a city into the candidature role.”

This new invitation phase ended on 15 September. “For several months before that, cities that were thinking of bidding for the Games, and the National Olympic Committees, came to meet the relevant people in the Olympic Games department and the candidate cities department of the IOC to sit down and work out exactly how the Games would fit into their city; how it would provide legacy; how it would be sustainable; how it would fit into city plans.

“That’s a complete change from the previous process, where the IOC had a very detailed list of requirements and cities bid against that list. 

“So there is a major change there and I understand that it has been welcomed by the cities,” said Sir Craig Reedie, who is delivering a keynote speech at HOST CITY 2015, which takes place in Glasgow on 9th and 10th November under the theme of “Creative Innovation Connecting Cities with Sports, Business and Culture Events.”

The five bidding cities – Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome – have all progressed to the candidature phase, rather than going through the previous applicant city phase, and will now submit their candidature files in three sections. 

“So rather than one huge bid book being required at a set date, it’s divided into three sections. There are workshops planned; there are assistances planned to the cities throughout.”

In the previous round of bids for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, three cities pulled out of bidding during the applicant phase while Olso withdrew in the candidature phase. 

The IOC’s new and more consultative adopted now means that such a fallout is unlikely to happen, Sir Craig Reedie said. 

“It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that a city could come back and say we’re not taking it any further – I think that’s unlikely in the sense that a lot of work will have gone into this, a lot of discussions have gone on through the invitation phase. And since it’s going on through a stage by stage basis I think it’s highly unlikely that people will withdraw. 

“The end result of that is that we will have five cities presenting to the Session on the ultimate decision to be taken in Lima in Peru in 2017.”

Asked if it was a relief when Los Angeles stepped forward to take the place of Boston’s abandoned bid, Sir Craig Reedie said: “Yes, I think the USOC have all but admitted that their process might not have worked in the selection of Boston.

“But, with Boston’s withdrawal, they were fortunate in many ways that the Los Angeles people were so able to come to the party very quickly and in a relatively tight timeframe.

“Los Angeles has an Olympic record – if they win they will be like London, hosting the third time. The city has changed dramatically over the last few years and I am sure they will come forward with a very good bid.”

The IOC is very pleased to have five cities bidding, Reedie said. “It’s an interesting mix. Paris is looking to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Games in Paris and has clear bidding experience. 

“Rome hosted outstanding Games in 1960 and there seems to be considerable enthusiasm in Italy and in Rome behind the Rome bid, so they are impressive.

“Budapest has come quite late to the party but again a splendid city and Hungary has a terrific Olympic record. 

“It’s interesting that when the German Olympic Committee decided to choose Hamburg as opposed to Berlin, who I suppose before that decision would have been seen to be favourite, immediately there was strong support from Berlin for the Hamburg choice. So again there seems to be a great deal of unity there. 

“So it’s a really good field.”

As IOC’s Coordination Commission for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games concluded on Thursday, the International Ski Federation (FIS) secretary general Sarah Lewis told HOST CITY that progress is impressive, expressing confidence that venues will be ready in time for test events in 2016. 

"The Alpine Skiing downhill course at Jeongsong and Freestyle and Snowboard cross and slopestyle courses are really starting to taking shape now and the progress with their construction over the past three months is impressive,” Sarah Lewis, FIS Secretary General told HOST CITY, speaking from PyeongChang.

“We're confident that the FIS World Cup competitions in February 2016 will prove to be an important milestone in the preparations for the Games and generate true excitement in PyeongChang and Korea when the world's best athletes are competing."

Sarah Lewis, who is also Secretary General of the Association of Winter Olympic International Federations, is to speak at HOST CITY 2015 on “The Changing Face of Sports Organisations”.

The IOC’s Coordination Commission Chair Gunilla Lindberg also hailed the good progress.

“The preparations for the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 are developing well. Support from all the local partners continues to be strong, with the national and regional governments both present during our meetings. We were also delighted to have with us representatives of the seven International Federations on the 2018 programme, who brought their sport-specific expertise to the discussions. 

“This was helpful for PyeongChang 2018, as it has now entered the delivery phase of preparations and is working on the detailed services for the athletes and technicians. This will be particularly important for the first sports events early next year, which include important dates on the international calendar, namely an FIS Alpine World Cup, an FIS Freestyle Skiing and Snowboard World Cup, and an IBSF/FIL pre-homologation event.”

She also stressed that PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee (POCOG) must maintain its good progress as these test events loom.

“The venues continue to progress rapidly. We visited Jeongseon and the Alpensia Sliding Centre, and got a really good impression of what the athletes will experience come Games time. I am confident that they will be very pleased. 

“The competition sites remain on schedule for the Games, but the organisers need to maintain their focus, as some delivery dates are very close to the start of the test events. It is important that PyeongChang 2018 delivers these events successfully and, in particular, the first events next February, in order to create a solid basis for its planning and preparations for the Games. 

“This will also be a great opportunity for Koreans to experience elite winter sport and get engaged in the Games, as some of the world’s best athletes in those sports will be present in order to get a feeling for the 2018 Olympic venues.”

The next IOC Coordination Commission visit will be in March 2016.

PyeongChang 2018 Organising Committee President Yang-ho Cho said, “It has been a very productive three days. I feel that we are moving in the right direction to stage great Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

“With the feedback and support of the Coordination Commission, we have made a number of important and critical decisions. As we move further ahead into the operational phase of the Games, I would like to thank the national and International Federations for their guidance and support. Their expertise and Games experience have been instrumental to guiding POCOG.”

Eurosport has secured the renewal of the exclusive digital and TV rights for the Australian Open, ensuring the Australian Open remains on Eurosport across more than 50 European markets until 2021.

The renewed partnership with Tennis Australia, which begins from 2017, also includes new additional exclusive live rights to two Australian Open warm-up ATP tournaments, the World Tennis Challenge along with rights to the Hopman Cup. 

”The Australian Open is much more than just the first Grand Slam of the year,” Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley said. 

“It marks the start of the global annual sporting calendar through four weeks of world class events during Australia’s summer of tennis. As such, we are delighted to have taken our relationship with Eurosport and the Discovery Group to a new level.”

“Fans will now be able to follow in one place the exciting journey we take every year – from Brisbane and Perth, Sydney to Adelaide and culminating in Melbourne at the Australian Open. 

Eurosport will broadcast 300 hours of live coverage on Eurosport’s TV channels and, for the first time, live online coverage of available matches from each event as produced by Tennis Australia.

“As viewing habits consolidate through multiple screens, compelling engagement through online platforms is at the heart of this new deal,” said Tilley.

“We’ll deliver fans more and better content than ever before, both on and off the court, when and where they want it.” 

All Australian Open matches in 2016 will be available live on Eurosport Player, the online broadcast platform that achieved record-breaking viewing figures for the French Open and the US Open.

Peter Hutton, Chief Executive Officer, Eurosport said: “The Australian Open is a lynchpin in Eurosport’s extensive portfolio of leading tennis properties and has been so for over 20 years. 

“Eurosport is dedicated to securing exclusive must-have sports and also building and amplifying key existing partnerships, as we are doing with Tennis Australia by securing additional live rights that give the channel a whole month of exclusive top class tennis. 

“This helps Eurosport tell a compelling story and, along with planned enhancements in our on-site production, will result in an exciting viewing experience for tennis fans across the continent.”

Eurosport has secured the broadcasting rights to Formula E in Germany, adding to its deals with seven other EU countries, while the UK rights have been awarded to ITV for the second season.

Eurosport now holds the exclusive TV and digital rights to the FIA Formula E Championship for the next two seasons in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland, as well as Iceland on a non-exclusive basis.

“Following the success of the inaugural season we want to ensure audiences can continue to watch and engage with the series,” said Ali Russell, Director of Media and Strategic Partnerships. 

“This latest agreement reinforces our outreach across key target markets in Europe alongside other existing deals.”

Under the deal, all 11 rounds of the 2015-2016 FIA Formula E Championship will be televised live and free-to-air on Eurosport in Germany.

The win adds a fast-growing event property to Eurosport’s growing portfolio. 

“Motorsport is one of Eurosport’s pillars, with the channel broadcasting major events including MotoGP, FIA WTCC, Le Mans 24 Hours and the World Superbike Championship,” said Peter Hutton, Chief Executive Officer, Eurosport. 

“Securing the rights to Formula E further bolsters the channel’s portfolio with a unique brand of racing. It supports our strategy to bring must-have content to local viewers whilst reaching a wider audience.”

In the UK, Formula E has extended its live and free-to-air broadcast deal with ITV.

"We are delighted to renew our Formula E deal for next year,” said Niall Sloane, Director of Sport at ITV. 

“The sport is building significantly on a thrilling first year and we look forward to bringing this fresh, innovative and futuristic series to our viewers on ITV and ITV4."

The second Formula E season kicks off in Beijing on 24 October.

The International Olympic Committee has welcomed an “outstanding” pool of candidate cities bidding for the 2024 Games. 

Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome all submitted applications to host the 2024 Olympic Games before the IOC’s deadline of midnight on Tuesday. 

“We are welcoming five outstanding and highly qualified Candidate Cities,” said IOC President Thomas Bach.

With four major European cities and the biggest city in North America in the running, the profile of the cities is a marked change from recent Olympic Games bidding, which has been dominated by, and awarded to, cities from outside these regions. 

The most recent IOC bidding process, for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, began with six applicant cities but only Beijing and Almaty proceeded to the candidature stage. 

Since then, the bidding procedure has been changed with the implementation of Olympic Agenda 2020, the programme of reform introduced by IOC president Thomas Bach.

One of the changes brought in is the removal of the “applicant phase” – so the five cities that have applied to host the Games are immediately considered to be candidates, after an “invitation phase” that has been taking place in recent months. 

“Olympic Agenda 2020 has shaped the Candidature Process more as an invitation and the cities have responded by engaging with the IOC through dialogue and cooperation,” said Bach. 

The removal of the applicant phase means that the five bidding cities will remain in the race until the host city election until 2017. 

The central focus of Agenda 2020 is reducing the financial burden of hosting the Olympic Games and making sure that hosting the event fits with the city development plans. 

“In the new invitation process the IOC learnt that all the candidates are embracing Olympic Agenda 2020 from their respective vision for the future of their city,” said Bach. 

“Sustainability and legacy are the cornerstones of each candidature.”

A number of other cities and regions had been discussing the possibility of bidding for the 2024 Games.

A possible bid from Toronto, which hosted a successful Pan American Games earlier this year, was said to be on the cards but ruled out at the last minute. 

Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Toronto mayor John Tory said that an Olympic bid would form part of the city’s future plans. 

"I can't look people in the eye at this point in our city's development and tell them that an Olympic bid is the best use of our time, our energy or our investment," he said. 

"But now I can look in the eyes of my colleagues at other levels of government and say this, together we should be making the investment talked about in the context of the Olympics."

Commitments to good governance, transparency and ethics were also key features of Agenda 2020 and the IOC has published all the documents related to the candidature, including online for the first time at this stage in the process. 

Changes to the host city contract include: reference to sexual orientation in the non-discrimination clause; the freedom of media to report on the Games; and a stipulation for organisers to comply with applicable local, regional and national legislation and international agreements “with regard to planning, construction, protection of the environment, health and safety, labour and anti-corruption laws”.

The IOC has also reduced the cost of bidding, with candidate cities expected to make just three presentations instead of nine, with the travel cost for these presentations and the cost of visiting IOC evaluation commissions to be covered by the IOC. 

The IOC has also committed to contributing USD 1.7 billion in cash and services to the organising committee for the 2024 Olympic Games.

The host city of the 2024 Olympic Games will be elected by all IOC members at the 130th IOC Session in Lima, Peru in 2017.

The investigation into corruption and misconduct in and around FIFA is expanding, with further arrests on the cards, the US and Swiss Attorney Generals handling the case indicated today. 

Speaking to press in Zurich, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said “individuals and entities” could be set to be charged simultaneously in a new phase of investigation. 

“We tend to proceed against individuals brought under one indictment together,” she said. 

The investigation, which has so far been conducted as a coordinated effort between US and Swiss authorities, is likely to expand into other nations. 

“If some ExCo members are not living in Switzerland this could make other jurisdictions think about how they could help,” said Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.

“We feel that we have received cooperation and collaboration from many parties... There is always the possibility that people have more information to provide,” said Lynch. 

Lauber and Lynch did not reveal the subject of new enquiries.

“I’m not going to comment on which individuals or entities will be the subject of the next round of charges… and I am not able to give you information about Mr Blatter’s travel plans,” said Lynch.  

She added that FIFA and its members face a choice between corruption and integrity as it seeks to reform. 

“FIFA are considering issues of reform and improving the sport,” she said. 

“They have a lot to consider... Individuals have a choice between the old way of corruption or moving towards integrity of the sport.”