Lausanne, health Switzerland – Crisp fall weather on the shore of Lake Geneva, denture served as the perfect backdrop for this year City Events Conference, ampoule as cities met with International Sports Federations and sports event stakeholders on November 13th-15th, 2013. 

This year, over 250 participants from 24 countries gathered at the Beaulieu Congress Center, to discuss the future of sporting events. The theme, “Sporting Events in the Near Future,” lead to a diverse and interesting set of discussions; hitting on topics such as creating long-term value from your event, venue legacy, and tools and trends of tomorrow. The conference was marked by high quality debates, thanks to our highly esteemed speakers, excellent moderators, and an enthusiastic and engaged audience.

Four main themes were debated during 1 keynote session, 4 plenary sessions, and 4 breakout sessions:

• – Creating value for and from your event,
• – Legacy and innovative venue concepts: Optimising existing and refurbished venues + Utilising temporary venues and considering events without venues.
• – Sport event budget management: Operational budget management and effective procurement + Latest tools to measure event ROI.
• – New trends of tomorrow: Events of tomorrow + Tools of tomorrow.

The opening included great speeches by Leonz Eder, Vice-President FISU, Olivier Ferraton, CEO, GL events and Patricle Iseli, Head of Sports, City of Lausanne, who gave us an interesting point of view of the Olympic Capital and about sports events in the near future.

Another highlight of the opening session was a surprise appearance by the Winter Universiade flame, currently making its way across to Trentino.

City Events: Many Networking Opportunities

In addition to excellent speeches, and rousing debates, City Events is first and foremost an opportunity to meet and connect with individuals from the international sports business world. One of the highlights of the conference is the one-on-one meeting session, which allows cities to meet individually with sports federations, sports events organizers, and sponsors. This year, 35 cities were represented, from five continents, and 28 international sports federations were present. All in all, 147 one-on-one meetings were organized during the two-hour meeting session. This unique networking opportunity was followed by the FISU reception held at the Rolex Learning Center. 

This year’s City Events conference was the most successful conference to date, and we hope it will result in many great sporting events in the coming years. We are already looking forward to next year’s conference, where we hope to build on this year’s success to hold a bigger and better City Events 2014.

We look forward to welcoming you to the 5th City Events, which will be held on November 12th through the 14th, 2014.

The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) has announced that Karen Webb has joined the organisation as Director of Communications.

Karen has been working in global marketing, capsule corporate affairs and communications for 25 years and has had senior roles with the Sydney 2000 Organising Committee, salve the International Olympic Committee and with London’s Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Most recently, viagra through her own business and working on her ninth Olympic Games, Karen has been advising a number of international sports federations, UK Legacy charity, Sported, and companies including BT and Westfield. She also advised UK Sport and the Mayor of London’s Office on major events, international business engagement and legacy planning around the Games.

At the ICSS, Karen will work closely with the ICSS President and senior management team on the overarching communications strategy of the organisation and continue to build upon the ICSS’s ongoing activities, including the Save The Dream initiative and major ICSS events such as Securing Sport 2014. Karen will also advise on the further development of the ICSS’s comprehensive sports governing body and stakeholder engagement strategy.

Mohammed Hanzab, President of ICSS, said: “Karen has a wealth of experience, working with many international players in the business of sport.

“Karen joins at a very exciting time for the ICSS with many important events and initiatives set to be unveiled over the next few months. With security and integrity stories currently dominating the news agenda, I look forward to working with Karen to develop the next chapter of the ICSS story.”

Speaking of her appointment, Karen Webb said: “Working within the world of sport and major events is always exciting, but sport is increasingly facing complex challenges and issues around security and integrity; so the opportunity to learn from and work with experts in this area and with an organisation which has the integrity and safety of sport at its heart, is one I am very passionate about.

“The ICSS is a leading organisation and global hub of expertise in the field of sport security, safety and integrity. As part of my new role, I look forward to working closely with the ICSS President, the senior management team and our advisers to further develop a communications strategy that will showcase the ICSS’s ground-breaking and unique offer in world sport.”

Michael Jones, a committee member of Tulsa Olympics Exploratory Committee is gearing up to host an Olympic Games in 10 years.

He says with the help of surrounding communities Green Country has a good a chance just like any other big city.

He added: “The research proved that we could do it. We’d have to use the regional model that Atlanta utilized as opposed to this centralized model that London is utilizing.”

The committee was formed about three years ago, and will bid when U.S. Olympic officials give them the go.

Jones said: “We can build the infrastructure that we need now in order to make the bid later.”

The committee expects to place its bid in 2015.

Syria’s National Olympic Committee, General Mowaffak Joumaa has been refused a visa by British authorities denyng him the chance to attend the London 2012 Olympics, according to the BBC.

Mowaffak is regarded as a close friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been strongly criticised by the British government and other Western and Arab nations for a crackdown on an opposition movement seeking his overthrow.

The British Home Office (interior ministry) and Foreign Office declined to comment, saying they do not discuss individual cases.

Pressure has mounted over Joumaa’s attendance since Syrian opposition activists urged Britain to ban him.Syria was expected to send four or five officials to the Olympics, including Joumaa, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) official has said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said in March any of the country’s officials covered by a European Union travel ban would not be welcome. He also said there would be no ban against Syrian athletes taking part.

The Football Association (FA) have announced that they will back any credible challengers to Sepp Blatter’s re-election campaign to become FIFA president for a fourth term in June, senior FA figures have revealed.

The FA board is yet to take an official position on the vote as Blatter seeks a fourth term but members are said to feel it is time for a change.

One FA member claimed that they would even consider writing to Asian football chief Mohamed Bin Hammam to urge him to stand against Blatter, stating: “We would consider contacting him to offer our support. We think three terms is enough.”

An FA spokesman added: “The matter has not been discussed but will be considered by the FA board when nominations have closed and the FIFA congress agenda has been published.”

The FA reacted angrily to England’s treatment during their bid to host the 2018 World Cup, claiming promises were broken by a number of ExCo members. They also felt that they were strung along in the bidding process once FIFA revealed that they had intended to promote the game in new territories after awarding the 2018 and 2022 editions to Russia and Qatar respectively.

Bin Hammam is a former ally of the 75-year-old FIFA president, but the 61-year-old has hinted that he might stand against him after revealing some concerns regarding the way the organisation is run amidst corruption allegations.

In his most recent comments about the FIFA presidential elections, Bin Hammam said on his Facebook account that “competition is the best way to make the organisation vibrant and alive”.

Sepp Blatter announced last year that he would be running for a record fourth term and stated on Saturday, March 5: “We are now in an elected process and the race is open. I have received support from different national associations to stand again.

“If I win then OK, if lose I say ‘thank you’ then go away. You will have your new face and then we will see what will happen.”

The FIFA president went on to add that he was not happy with the way his organisation got its message across, saying: “I’m not happy with what we do, because we could communicate a bit better [than] what we are doing and then the perception would be different.

“I’m trying to bring some social and cultural impact. If there are some other candidates then we will face other candidates. That’s a democratic system.

“The world will not stop and football will not stop.”

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Sky Sports have extended their partnership with a new five-year broadcast deal which will also see Sky Sports become a top level RFU partner, with a range of partnership rights for the first time. 

The agreement strengthens one of the longest running broadcast partnerships in sport, taking it until the end of the 2019/20 season, and the relationship between the RFU and Sky Sports into its third decade.

As part of the deal, Sky Sports will show exclusively live coverage of England’s autumn QBE Internationals from Twickenham, QBE Internationals before the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and 2019, plus the annual England spring fixture

RFU Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer, Sophie Goldschmidt said, “We have a long term, trusted relationship with Sky Sports and are delighted that it is continuing. They have an acknowledged reputation as a premier worldwide broadcaster, who always look to take sport to new levels both editorially and in terms of innovation.

“We are looking forward to not only showcasing our England teams in the best possible way, but also to exploring opportunities to support the grassroots, so the whole game benefits further. The RFU is fortunate to have a group of modern, forward thinking, progressive partners and Sky clearly reflects these attributes as we look to the future.”

Sky Sports Managing Director, Barney Francis, added: “This new deal builds on our already successful partnership with the RFU. It offers our viewers even more live England rugby from the men’s, women’s and age grade game, and includes additional rights to enable us to support the game from the grassroots up to the elite level.

“At Sky Sports, we share the RFU’s aims to grow the sport before and after next year’s World Cup by investing across the game, and innovating with our coverage to reach new audiences.”

Super Rugby team Blues have appointed former Hamilton mayor Michael Redman as their new CEO replacing Andy Dalton. 

The Blues were forced to rethink their CEO position after Fairfax Media revealed Breakers boss Richard Clarke knocked back the job to remain with the three-time ANBL champion basketball franchise.

Redman has faced controversy in the past. As mayor and later CEO of the Hamilton City Council he was made a scapegoat for the $32 million blowout of the failed V8 Supercars street race. He was not helped by V8 promoters who went broke during the recession, owing local businesses and the city millions of dollars.

After the 56-page audit findings in 2011 were heavily critical of his role in the V8s saga, Redman was then forced to abruptly resign as head of Auckland council’s Tourism, Events and Economic Development agency – ATEED.

Despite those concerns, it is understood the 47-year-old was considered a standout candidate who also has a background in sports. He was a founder and director of the Breakers, but sold his interest in the club after being elected mayor of Hamilton. He also served seven years on the board of the Northern Districts Cricket Association, eventually becoming deputy chairman.

“The Blues are such an important part of this region’s identity and having moved into a new era with the private equity partnership, this is a fantastic opportunity to be part of the Blues future direction,” Redman said.

Blues chairman Tony Carter said Redman’s business leadership experience is one of the strengths he brings to the position.

“Michael’s leadership experience along with his marketing strength and ability to work constructively with a number of different stakeholders made him an ideal choice as CEO,” Carter said.

“He is an accomplished leader in both the private and public sectors and this will be highly valuable for the Blues in the development of our organisation.”

The city of Pozna? has chosen leading sports marketing agency Impact34, erectile part of Porta Communications Plc, buy to assist with the city’s bid for the 2018 Youth Olympics.

With offices in Istanbul and London Impact34 offers expert advice within the sports and entertainment industry. 

Pozna? was one of the host cities for the successful UEFA EURO 2012 and has hosted several major international events featuring Olympic discipline sports. These include the 2009 FISA World Rowing Championships and the ICF Canoe World Sprint Championships in 2010.

Previously Pozna? made a bid for the 2014 Youth Olympics, and narrowly lost out to Nanjing with an innovative bid that was widely praised by IOC members. Pozna? and the Polish Olympic Committee are determined to continue the sporting legacy and prove their commitment to the Olympic Movement with a second bid for the prestigious 2018 Youth Olympics.

Impact34 CEO, Bettina Kuperman commented; “We are delighted to have been chosen by Pozna? to help deliver their 2018 Youth Olympic bid to the IOC. We have seen the great development of the city in the last few years. The success from hosting major events such as the UEFA EURO 2012 has shown the world that Pozna? and Poland can stage and deliver world class major events. The city is committed to developing sport and hosting major international events. Pozna? offers great sporting and transport infrastructure and by hosting this great event Poland would also confirm its well deserved place in Olympic history.”

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has resolved found its Olympic team selection crisis by opting to send two doubles team to the London 2012.

The AITA will pair Leander Paes with Vishnu Vardhan and Mahesh Bhupathi with Rohan Bopanna. Bhupathi and Bopanna both “adamantly refused” to partner with 39-year-old Vardhan.

AITA President Anil Khanna said, “This decision is unfair to India No. 1 [Paes]. AITA holds Leander in very high esteem. We are confident that Leander won’t disappoint us as he has done yeoman’s service to the game.”

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