World Athletics Championships 2015 – London, a prospective bidder
Simon Morton, the head of the UK sport told the media that once the government would announce its Comprehensive Spending Review, he would be in a better position to decide about the fate of the World Athletics Championships 2015.
The huge financial crunch, fiscal deficit and lingering economic recessional phase has compelled the UK government to reconsider its spending patterns and to point out the sectors where financial cuts would help reducing the unnecessary expenditures; some
economic analysts are of the view that sports would be one of them. Overburdened with its budgetary deficits, the financing body of the government has suggested a cut of 30 to 40 percent upon the current spending.
If, as the reports suggest, the UK sports gets a budget with 30 to 40 percent cuts, organizing the world athletics championships would no more remain possible for them. While talking to the media, Morton stressed upon the fact that organizing the big event
was very important for them in strategic perspective. Expressing his thoughts, he was of the view that his team had been putting all of its efforts to highlight the importance of organizing the event before the concerned authorities; he raised the hopes that
if the finance committee would find the room for financial support, it would not step back from extending the help. According to the independent estimates, London would have to allocate a budget which would be ten times larger than what is required for organizing
the men’s and women’s hockey world cup 2014.
Despite of expressing the strong desire to bid for the 2015 event, Morton also acknowledged that things had to be analyzed from the economic perspective as well and everything was to be ultimately flown from the spending review. He was also of the view that
while allocating the essential resources, if the economic managers would take account of the possible money which could be raised by selling the tickets of the event and by persuading the sponsors.
The minister for sports, Hugh Robertson, while sharing his views with the media personnel said that with little funds available on government’s part, most probably it would not be able to allocate the necessary funds for bidding for the 2015 world championships.
An important aspect about the world athletics championships is that the event could be easily organized at the stadium which has been built for the 2012 London Olympics. However, what the finance committee looks more concerned about is not the place to organize
the event, it is about the expected gap of around 25 million pounds, which the committee thinks that it would have to pay from its own pocket and the sum would not be met by selling the tickets and by persuading the sponsors. Perhaps that is the main reason
amid which the UK sport itself is unable to come up with a final decision at its own.
Another important concern regarding hosting the event was pointed out by Morton when he said that even if the Comprehensive Spending Review would allow them to go for the event, the final decision would still lie with Osborne, which is undoubtedly the final
authority to decide on the fate of the event. He also commented upon the issue of the merger of the UK Sports with Sports England; he was of the view that the decision would not at all affect the capacity of London for continuously organizing large sports
event.
Responding to the question of a media correspondent, Morton further said that just because there was a merger going to take place did not mean that the sports would stop taking place in London. Revealing the policy of the UK sports he said that in order
to make the London Olympics 2012 a successful event, it was rather necessary to keep on organizing small events in the city, as this would keep the attention of the spectators from around the globe.
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