The General Assembly of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) convened today at SportAccord in Gold Coast, Queensland (Australia), and elected Marisol Casado (International Triathlon Union), Ingmar De Vos (International Equestrian Federation) and Morinari Watanabe (International Gymnastics Federation) as Council members for a four-year term of office.

Casado (in photo) was re-elected for another term of office.

De Vos and Watanabe will replace José Perurena (International Canoe Federation), whose mandate had also come to an end, and former FIBA Secretary General Patrick Baumann who passed away last autumn. During a moment of silence, the General Assembly remembered Patrick Baumann and his outstanding contributions to sport and the Olympic Movement.

Marisol Casado was elected President of the ITU in 2008 and became an IOC Member in 2010. She is also a Council member of GAISF.

Ingmar De Vos was elected President of the FEI in 2014. An IOC Member since 2017, he is also a GAISF Council member and GAISF representative on the WADA Executive Committee.

Morinari Watanabe was elected President of the FIG in 2016. An IOC Member since 2018, he is also a member of the Tokyo 2020 Executive Board.

The future of global sport and the role of International Federations (IFs) were key topics on the agenda of the General Assembly.

ASOIF’s report on the “Future of Global Sport”, launched in February this year, received very positive reactions during the meeting. A number of member federations stated that the report recommendations had gained momentum within their organisations and will be discussed at their upcoming Executive Board meetings.

ASOIF President Francesco Ricci Bitti said: “The future of global sport, the role of IFs and their governance are all intertwined. By examining these three aspects at the same time, we aim to strengthen our member federations and help them tackle current and future challenges in a fast-evolving world. I am very glad to hear they have started to make use of the report findings in their daily work and implement some of the recommendations.”

On the topic of IF govenance,  ASOIF members agreed on the procedure of the third governance review, to be conducted between late 2019 and early 2020, with the declared objective to see at least 26 of the 28 full ASOIF members score 120 points (out of a maximum of 200 points). In order to support this process, the ASOIF Governance Support and Monitoring Unit (GSMU), established in late 2018, will continue to help IFs achieve progress in good governance.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Organising Committee shared their plan for their one-year-to-go celebrations on 24 July this year and reported that they had released lately their competition schedule (session by session) to the general public.

The recent launch of the ticketing sales website was hailed a success as well, with already more than two million ID registrations clocked by 31 March 2019. Tokyo 2020 also promised to collaborate closely with the IFs regarding the upcoming test events which will be important to fine-tune operations for Games time.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organising Committee presented their new Event Delivery Model to leverage IF expertise for an optimal and cost-efficient Games delivery. They have already started to work closely with the ASOIF Olympic and Multi-Sports Games Consultative Group (AOMSG) and the IOC Sports Department and will also closely consult with each IF on their expectations for the Games’ delivery throughout the preparations.

During the report from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ASOIF member federations were informed about the preparations for the Dakar 2022 Youth Olympic Games, strengthening the solidarity funding model for athletes, and the IOC’s Gender Equality Project. Based on the recommendations from the project, ASOIF has proposed to establish a new advisory group which will specifically focus on the topics of gender equality and diversity.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) updated the General Assembly about the latest status of the investigations related to Russia, ongoing governance reforms within the organisation as well as WADA’s work on a strong Compliance Monitoring Program and the 2021 Code and International Standards framework.

The General Assembly also approved the Olympic revenue distribution model for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

The SportAccord Daily features an interview with Amina Lanaya, the first women to hold the position of Director General of the International Cycling Union (UCI).

Here is what she has to say about the governing body’s focus on women’s cycling.

“The last year has been one of significant progress. The UCI’s Agenda 2022 – a roadmap for our Federation for 2019-22 – sets out a series of measures for women’s cycling and, more generally, for women’s place in the sport. I am thrilled that we have already implemented some major initiatives which will make a real difference in this domain.”

“The first I would mention is the adoption of a minimum salary for riders in UCI Women’s WorldTeams, the first division of women’s professional road teams which will be introduced in 2020. Men can already earn a living from riding, and our aim is to ensure that this is also the case for women. Establishing a minimum salary is a major step forward and will be accompanied by a series of other measures, such as better social security, to enable women to pursue their profession in better conditions.”

The UCI is introducing a new Junior Women category in cyclocross to develop the sport among young riders and encourage 17 to 18-year-olds at international level.

“In the same discipline we are pleased to have introduced equal prize money for men and women in the overall classifications (paid by the UCI) of the Telenet UCI Cyclo-Cross World Cup. This will be matched by equal prize money for each individual round of the UCI World Cup (paid by organisers) by 2022.”

“We have drawn up a Charter to promote gender equality in cycling. One of the first measures adopted is a policy of gender equity within the UCI administration, which will become an integral part of the staff rules. The objective is to guarantee equal, respectful and fair treatment for all, particularly regarding recruitment and salaries.”

“The UCI also wishes to see more women represented on its executive bodies and those of Continental Confederations and National Federations. We have started a revision of our Constitution in this sense, which will be submitted for approval by the voting delegates at our 2019 Congress.”

“The UCI is taking steps to obtain EDGE (Economic Dividends for Gender Equality) certification in 2020. This is a reference standard to evaluate the commitment of companies and organisations to professional gender equality. Obviously, as the UCI’s first woman Director General, this is something close to my heart!”

IOC President Thomas Bach believes an alternative organization could run the boxing competition at next year’s Tokyo Olympics if recognition is withdrawn from the sport’s amateur governing body AIBA.

The participation of boxers at next year’s Summer Games was cast into doubt last November after the IOC launched an inquiry into financial and governance issues at AIBA, which has been in turmoil for years.

Reuters reports:

“We want to have boxing as an Olympic sport and we want to have a boxing competition at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020,” International Olympic Committee President (IOC) Bach told the Australian Olympic Committee annual general meeting on Saturday.

“The question we are confronted with is, who will organize it? Will it be AIBA or will we have to find a different way?

“This depends on the results of an ongoing inquiry we have into AIBA which is looking at governance, finance, judging and refereeing — it is very, very serious.”

Bach expected the IOC inquiry to make its recommendations at an executive board meeting in Lausanne on May 22.

Boxing Australia Director Johan Linde, who quizzed Bach on the issue, told Reuters he thought it would be extremely difficult to organize the competition, especially qualification, in the 14 months before the Tokyo Games open.

Bach, though, was sanguine about the prospect.

“We want to do this because boxing is important Olympic sport, it is a universal sport, so we want to have boxing on the program,” he said.

“If the cases arises we would have to make an effort to have it and to have the qualification process.

“Organizing a sports event is not rocket science so I guess we will be able to manage it.”

Bach was also questioned about the imbalance between the three women’s boxing events at the last two Olympics and the 10 gold medals up for grabs for the men.

“At a time when we still on speaking terms with AIBA, we had more or less agreed that we will have gender equality in the Olympic competition in Tokyo,” he said.

“You can be assured that whoever organizes the Olympic competition, we will insist on this principle of gender equality for boxing.”

Introduced by the President of the AOC and IOC Member John Coates, President Bach praised Coates, who is also chair of the Tokyo 2020 Coordination Commission. He added, “I cannot remember any Organising Committee being this advanced at this stage of the preparation for the Olympic Games.”

The Arena Football League (AFL) and ESPN have announced a media rights agreement for all of the AFL’s 2019 regular-season games. Effective immediately, all regular-season games will be available on streaming service ESPN3 and the ESPN App. In addition, ArenaBowl XXXII will be televised on ESPN2.

The AFL season kicked off on April 26 and coverage began on ESPN3 started on May 3.

AFL games can be accessed through ESPN3 on computer, smartphones, tablets and other connected devices through the ESPN App. The network is currently available across the U.S. at no additional cost to fans who receive their high-speed Internet connection or video subscription from an affiliated service provider.

Scott Guglielmino, Senior Vice President, Programming and Acquisitions, ESPN, said: “We are delighted to be the national media home for Arena Football League – the leading professional indoor football league in the country. The AFL complements our commitment to serve fans with the best available football action year-round.”

AFL Commissioner Randall Boe said: “We are pleased for the AFL, its players, coaches and fans, to be able to announce that all of our games will be broadcast on ESPN. We are pleased and proud to be working with ESPN and think they will be a great partner to help us grow the AFL.”

The Arena Football League (AFL) ha entered its 32nd season in 2019.

With the addition of two new teams in Atlantic City, N.J., and Columbus, Ohio, the league totals six teams, all of which will play 12 regular-season games in 2019. Other cities are Albany, Atlantic City, Columbus, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.

The XFL has announced multi-year agreements with ESPN and FOX Sports to televise XFL games starting with its inaugural 2020 season.

XFL games will air weekly on broadcast TV (ABC and FOX) complemented by games on cable (ESPN, ESPN2, FS1 and FS2). The XFL TV schedule allows for consistent appointment viewing each week with back-to-back games starting Saturday afternoons at 2 pm ET as well as two additional games on Sunday afternoons.

“We look forward to showcasing the XFL on ESPN and ABC, including the kickoff game and championship during the league’s inaugural season,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN Executive Vice President, Programming and Scheduling.

“Vince McMahon and Oliver Luck are two of the sports industry’s most creative and experienced leaders, and they have exciting plans for this league. We believe in their vision for the XFL, which will be a great addition to our year-round commitment to football.”

“We welcome the XFL to the FOX Sports Family and are pleased to expand our relationship with Vince McMahon,” said Eric Shanks, FOX Sports CEO & Executive Producer. “Football is in FOX Sports’ DNA and a key component of our programming strategy. Alongside Oliver Luck and his incredible team, we’re excited for the debut of the XFL on FOX Sports.”

“We are thrilled to partner with ESPN and FOX Sports, two innovative media companies with extensive experience in world-class football production that will undoubtedly help us reimagine football,” said Vince McMahon, XFL Founder & Chairman. “The XFL broadcast schedule provides us with incredible reach and makes it easy for fans to watch our games consistently every weekend.”

The agreements were negotiated by CAA Sports and Evolution Media Capital (EMC) on behalf of the XFL.

The XFL will kick off on Saturday, February 8, 2020 with teams in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, St. Louis, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Washington D.C. Additional XFL-themed programming and on-air talent will be announced in the future.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach has praised Southeast Queensland’s early planning for a potential bid for the 2032 Summer Games after meeting with the Mayor of Brisbane on Monday.

Reuters reports:

Queensland state capital Brisbane and nearby cities commissioned a feasibility study into hosting the Games but have yet to secure state and federal government support for a formal bid.

“I must say that we have been impressed to see how detailed the feasibility studies are already at this early stage and how well founded these studies are,” Bach, who is attending SportAccord in Gold Coast.

“Now it is up to the Australians to make their minds up, and to say whether they want to follow up on this project to host the Olympic Games.”

With Paris hosting the 2024 Games and Los Angeles winning 2028, the 2032 Games is expected to go to an Asia-Pacific bid.

The IOC has suggested North and South Korea, who are still technically at war, could stage a joint bid in 2032.

Bach met with Brisbane Mayor Adrian Schrinner, the Chairman of the Council of Mayors South East Queensland, which commissioned the feasibility study.

The study found the Southeast Queensland (SEQ) bid could host a successful Games but would require extensive transport upgrades.

Bach said the IOC would at least match its 2028 funding contribution of $1.8 billion to the winner of the 2032 Games, which was more than the feasibility study had accounted for.

“At least so far we have no indication that this will be less for 2032,” he said.

“I think this figure was new to the mayors and I could see them starting calculating in their heads and what this means for their feasibility study and for their budget.”

Schrinner said he did not believe a decision on a formal bid would need to be made until 2020.

“The next step is getting the state and federal governments involved, we have been working closely with them already,” he said.

The SEQ bid includes venue hubs in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast, which successfully hosted the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate said his city would be happy to make its facilities available for the SEQ bid but was reluctant to contribute funding.

“I said that we won’t be adding any dollars towards the funding part because we did a lot of our heavy lifting during the Commonwealth Games as far as our funding and budget’s concerned,” he said.

“It’s time that Gold Coast takes a break and let Brisbane write the checks.”

Bach was expected to meet Queensland State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tuesday.

Australia last hosted an Olympics in Sydney in 2000.

 

European Tour Commissioner Keith Pelley says the tour will play again in Saudi Arabia in 2020 and is “perplexed” at the criticism received for staging a tournament there for the first time in January.

Following the murder of American-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Embassy in Turkey in October, and the country’s human rights record in general, some thought it inappropriate the European Tour staged a new tournament in the Middle East nation four months later.

“It was the right decision for our tour,” Pelley said in an interview with Reuters, whose report continues:

“We will be back in Saudi and we’ll continue to grow that event. We believe our role will help the evolution of the country.”

Pelley’s comments came as the European Tour seeks to find its footing in the brave new world of golf, in which the U.S.-based PGA Tour is playing a new schedule this year that has reverberated across the professional game.

Though the European Tour visits pretty much every corner of the globe apart from the Americas, it remains very much in the shadow of its behemoth U.S. counterpart, where most of the top Europeans play the majority of their golf from February through June, and in August.

While deep-pocketed corporations almost line up to sponsor PGA Tour events, the European Tour has to work harder to provide lucrative playing opportunities for its members.

Former PGA Tour winner Brandel Chamblee, now a Golf Channel analyst, was among the most outspoken critics of playing in Saudi Arabia.

“By participating, the players, they are a ventriloquist for this abhorrent regime,” he said.

That criticism notwithstanding, the tournament went ahead with a $3.5 million purse as well as large appearance fees that lured the likes of top Americans Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, Englishman Justin Rose and Spaniard Sergio Garcia.

It was won by Johnson, the current world number one, in front of sparse crowds.

Pelley, the European Tour chief since 2015, says he has no qualms in stating that the Saudi International will be on the schedule again next year.

He cited Cristiano Ronaldo and Mariah Carey as examples of celebrities who have visited the country since Khashoggi’s murder.

“After the incident (murder), many blue-chip businesses and many governments continued to do business in Saudi, (and the) entertainment business is still flourishing,” said Pelley.

“There was Italian Super Cup with AC Milan and Juventus (in January) and Ronaldo scored the winning goal and celebrated, and we tried to find any kind of criticism for Ronaldo, yet our players were criticized. Why was golf singled out? I was perplexed why we were.

“I went over there first and listened to his Excellency (Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman) at a sports conference, talk about how … the country wanted to change, needed to change, wanted to use sports as a catalyst, was committed to golf.”

Pelley also pointed out that American singer Carey staged a concert in Saudi Arabia the week of the golf tournament.

Asked whether any country’s human rights record would preclude a visit from the European Tour, Pelley did not directly answer the question, saying the safety of players and tour staff was the first factor considered.

“We would look at where they would be playing. After that you would evaluate and go through a bunch of different things,” he said.

USA Basketball has announced a multiyear partnership with Red Bull North America to build an elite pathway for men’s and women’s players who have a goal of competing at the highest levels of 3×3 basketball.

3×3 basketball will be featured at the Olympics for the first time in event history at the 2020 Olympics in Japan.

Red Bull will host 23 qualifying tournaments across the country under the newly created Red Bull 3X series to identify the eight athletes who could potentially represent USA Basketball at the 2020 Olympics.

The winning teams at these qualifiers will compete to accumulate enough individual FIBA points with the goal of moving on to the Red Bull USA Basketball 3X Regionals in the Fall of 2019, and then to the Red Bull USA Basketball 3X Nationals in March 2020, which will be used to select the USA men’s and women’s 3×3 national teams.

“I think there’s a lot of excitement because it creates an opportunity for an athlete that may not have been thinking that this is a pathway for them,” said Jim Tooley, CEO of USA Basketball. “It opens up a door to a whole new generation of players that have an opportunity to wear U.S.A. across their chest and be a part of the Olympic games.”

Red Bull Media House, an award-winning media company, will create original storytelling with USA Basketball to shine a light on the 3×3 game, qualifiers and players, and celebrate the journey as the sport makes its debut at the Olympics.

“Storytelling is a big part of this process,” Tooley said. “I think it’s important to make the public aware of this, more importantly the players, so that we can have a larger pool in helping us qualify for the Olympics. The qualifiers and the platform that Red Bull is providing here just amplifies the opportunity for each of these players and I think there’ll be some amazing stories that come out of this whole journey.”

The first-ever Red Bull 3X qualifier will take place in Detroit, Michigan on June 22, 2019.