Cost Decisive in Selection of Olympic Venue - An Excerpt

Cost Decisive in Selection of Olympic Venue

By Debbie Jamieson

The Associated Press

QUEENSTOWN, New Zealand — Campaigning among the four candidates for the 2016 Olympics is increasingly centering on one issue: cost.

Tokyo, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro and Chicago made cases for their financial viability amid the global economic recession as part of their presentations to members of the Oceania National Olympic Committees in Queenstown on Tuesday.

Chicago representatives spoke of the city being home to 40 multinational corporations.

The United States is the only country that doesn’t offer financial backing from the federal government for an Olympic bid, although the Chicago and Illinois governments have given guarantees.

IOC president Jacques Rogge attended the official opening of the meetings and reassured members of the strength of the Olympic movement and of the bids from candidate cities.

“The financial position of organizing committees is solid. There’s absolutely no concern to have,” he said. “We have also a very strong assurance from the level of candidate cities.”

Chicago is hosting an International Olympic Committee delegation on an inspection tour this week. The American city is the first stop for the IOC delegation and follows meetings this past week in Denver where each city had a 20-minute presentation.

“There is a real danger of a deep global recession during the timing of construction for the games,” Ichiro Kono, chairman and chief executive officer of Tokyo 2016, told members.

Kono said Tokyo had already secured $4 billion in funding, and the bid had full support from the upper and lower houses of the Japanese parliament.

Secretary General of the Rio 2016 bid Carlos Osorio said millions from the capital budget was already being spent on roads, an airport renovation and improving infrastructure across Brazil.

The Brazilian government had established a $700 million setup fund, an investment which made the bid’s financial model certain, he said, adding that the national economy was strong and could withstand the worldwide economic downturn with little impact.

“We are presenting a 100 percent secure solution for the games,” Osorio said. Trying to bring the Olympics to South America for the first time, Rio is highlighting the Pan American Games in 2007, as well as its status as host of the 2014 World Cup.

Rio has put out a budget of $14.4 billion that includes infrastructure costs the other cities have left out — the main reason the Brazilian city’s budget is higher than the other three bids.

Chicago and Madrid are lobbying strongly for the rights to host the games in a race that will be decided by a secret ballot of IOC members at Copenhagen in October.

Madrid mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon emphasized his city’s economic security and the fact it would cost only $317 million to transform concepts for new venues into reality. Madrid has described itself as the “safest choice” because it has 77 percent of venues ready or under construction.

The proposed budget is just under $5.6 billion, with Spanish government guarantees to cover any surplus costs.

Recognizing the changing times, all the cities pledged more compact games that will make extensive use of existing venues as one way of handling unexpected cost overruns. The era of using the Olympics to help rebuild a city could be over.

History has shown cities have very little ability to bring Olympic projects in at around budget. London’s budget for the 2012 Games, for example, has reached $16.5 billion, more than double when the original figures were released.

The Tokyo and Rio teams are offering the type of inducements that might be favorable to the small countries of the ONOC. Of the 17 member nations, Australia and New Zealand are the largest. The remainder are Pacific Island states.

Kono briefly outlined a plan to provide some flexibility within the traditional rate card system that would cut costs of sending a team to the games for some National Olympic Committees.

The Brazilian representatives committed to no bundling of ticket prices and fair travel grants based on full fare economy tickets for all participants.

Speaking after the formal presentations, Chicago representative Anita Defrantz said no specific inducements were made, although there would be some for smaller nations.

“We’ve seen these things a lot of the time. Often these things become less of an offer by the time you get to the games.

“We stay away from this sort of thing. We want to be sure we do what we say,” she said.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

India lobbies for support for 2020 Olympic bid

Wed-Apr 09, 2008

Beijing / Press Trust of India
India is lobbying hard among the top officials of the International Olympic Committee to drum up support for its plans to bid for the 2020 Games.

"We are lobbying with everybody here," said Suresh Kalmadi, Indian Olympic Association President, on the sidelines of the General Assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) here.

Kalmadi said he had broached the issue with International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge during his visit to India in 2007 and said the feedback was positive.

"Everybody is in a frame of mind to support India for the 2020 Games. There is a general mood of support for India among all the international federations," he said.

Kalmadi, who met the International Association of Athletic Federations President Lamine Diaq on Wednesday morning, said he would again raise the issue with Rogge during his stay Beijing.

"I have spoken to him earlier and I will speak with him here also," Kalmadi said.

Kalmadi was hopeful that after the London Games in 2012, the next Olympics might go to the Americas and it would again be the turn of Asia in 2020.

"We feel confident of hosting it in 2020," said the IOA chief.

Kalmadi said India had abandoned its plan to bid for the 2016 Games as it was "too early, especially with the 2010 Commonwealth Games there. So, 2020 is the year we are trying for," he explained.

Before finalising the bid, Kalmadi said he would talk to new Sports Minister M S Gill.

"We will make a formal announcement soon in this regard," Kalmadi added.

Associated Press : A look at economic developments around the world

A look at economic developments around the world

By The Associated Press – 8 hours ago

A look at economic developments and stock-market activity around the world Friday:

___

TOKYO — Japan's contracting economy is facing a slew of bad news as government figures showed that industrial production plunged by its biggest margin on record in November, the nation's jobless rate jumped and household spending fell. Manufacturing output tumbled 8.1 percent from October, the largest drop since Tokyo began measuring such data in 1953, as Japan's automakers and others slashed production to cope with slowing global demand. The unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in November from 3.7 percent in October — still below the 4.2 percent reached in August. Consumers are also holding back. Retail sales fell 0.9 percent in November from last year, the third straight monthly decline. And average monthly household spending dipped 0.5 percent from a year earlier — the ninth decline in a row. Meanwhile, the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average increased 140.02 yen, or 1.63 percent, to 8,739.52. The broader Topix index edged up 1.26 percent to 846.58. Trading volume was thin as foreign investors were absent from the market due to Christmas holidays.

___

MOSCOW — Russia's ruble fell to a three-year low against the dollar after the Central Bank allowed the third sharp drop in the currency within five days as the government continues to feel the heat of the global meltdown. The ruble lost 1.4 percent on the MICEX main foreign currency exchange by 2 p.m. Moscow time (1000 GMT) to reach 34.3 against the euro-dollar basket. It sank to 29 against the dollar — a level that hasn't been seen since 2005 — and 40.8 against the euro — an all-time low. The Central Bank set the official exchange rates for the dollar and euro in line with trading quotes. The depreciation was the 11th since Nov. 11, when the supervised slide began.

___

BEIJING — The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged down 0.9 point, or just 0.05 percent, to 1,851.52. The Shenzhen Composite Index of China's second, smaller market fell 0.6 percent to 569.38. The Shanghai index gave up 8.3 percent for the week as investors reckoned with a slew of bad economic news and expectations for lower earnings in the current and next quarters. Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan's benchmark also gained. South Korea's Kospi fell 0.9 percent to 1,117.86, while India's main stock index traded lower.

___

SINGAPORE — Manufacturing and tourism in the city-state fell in November from a year earlier, more evidence the economy likely extended a recession in the fourth quarter. Industrial production dropped 7.5 percent in November following a 12 percent plunge in October. Electronics, which account for 30 percent of industrial production, fell 19 percent. Also, tourist arrivals to Singapore dropped to 760,000, or 9.7 percent, last month. The Singapore Tourism Board said it now expects to fall short of its 2008 goals of 10.8 million visitors and tourism revenue of 15.5 Singapore dollars ($10.7 billion).

___

BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand's prime minister said the government wants to spend 300 billion baht ($8.7 billion) next year to jumpstart the country's ailing economy. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the economic stimulus package would include increased lending from government banks for agriculture projects and direct lending to local governments for infrastructure projects. The plan must first be approved by Parliament, where the PM's coalition has a slim majority.

___

QUITO, Ecuador — Fresh from a $30.6 million default, Ecuador's government issued $700 million in new bonds to help finance next year's budget, local media reported Thursday. The Ecuadorean Social Security Institute bought all the new bonds, in line with regulations that require it to invest half its funds in government debt, according to the Guayaquil newspapers El Universo and Expreso.

Hong Kong and Australian markets were closed, as were those in Britain, Germany and France.