It’s Games on as sport powerbrokers roll in for SportAccord on the Gold Coast
The people behind the world’s biggest sporting events are here and so is the opportunity for Queensland to win the ultimate gold medal, writes Jeremy Pierce.
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CALL them the Power Games. More than 1500 delegates from the most powerful governing bodies and lobby groups in world sport have arrived on the Gold Coast for the annual international SportAccord.
The world’s biggest sporting summit, SportAccord is a high-stakes game where seeds are sown and deals are done to secure hosting rights for some of the biggest sporting events on the planet.
As far as world sport goes, governing bodies don’t come any bigger than the International Olympic Committee.
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For those pushing for an Olympic bid, it is a priceless opportunity to showcase southeast Queensland in all its glory.
IOC president Thomas Bach (pictured right) touched down in Brisbane last night and is expected to meet with Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner and his predecessor Graham Quirk.
He will also meet Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk during his five-day stay in southeast Queensland. There is little doubt that a Brisbane Olympic bid will be front and centre of any discussions, while some SportAccord delegates yesterday visited venues used in the Commonwealth Games that could again play host to top-flight competition.
Conscious of avoiding a post-Commonwealth Games hangover, Queensland Tourism Minister Kate Jones travelled to last year’s SportAccord in Thailand.
It was worth the trip.
She credits last year’s SportAccord with helping to secure hosting rights to events worth an estimated $70 million to the Queensland economy.
Events have become big business for the Queensland government, which recognised the potential of the industry by merging Tourism Queensland with Events Queensland in 2012.
In the past four years, the value of events to the Queensland economy has swelled from $300 million to $780 million, with projections the figure will top $800 million this year.
Now, with SportAccord in our own back yard, there has never been a better chance to impress executives from some of the world’s biggest sporting organisations.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) will have a delegation present, pertinent since Ms Palaszczuk first canvassed an intent to lure the World Championships of Athletics to Queensland in the wash-up of last year’s Comm Games.
World swimming’s governing body FINA will also be in town and the world championships would be an attractive proposition for the Gold Coast, where a redeveloped aquatic centre starred during a week of sellout sessions in the Comm Games.
Other big-time players scheduled to appear at SportAccord include world soccer’s FIFA, cricket’s ICC and rugby’s IRB.
Tennis, basketball and the Commonwealth Games Federation will also be in attendance.
World cups are typically hosted by nations rather than individual cities or states, but the logic remains the same and showcasing the Gold Coast can only be good for Australia – and vice versa.
Speculation will go in to overdrive about which city or nation plans to bid for which event and those involved are wary of showing their hand to rivals too early.
Yesterday, it emerged that Suncorp Stadium boss Alan Graham hopes to bring an Ultimate Fighting Championship world title fight to Brisbane.
He knows he has a fight on his hands – pun intended – as other cities and countries will also want to lure what has grown in to arguably the world’s most popular combat sport.
But he also knows the consortium involved in bringing UFC events to Australia will be on the Gold Coast this week, just an hour down the M1.
It’s perfect timing in a competition so fierce that the slightest advantage could be the difference between winning and missing out.
In some cases, deals are sewn up in late night back room meetings, while on other occasions interested parties may do nothing more substantial than meet up for business drinks, with the real work to take place in the weeks or months ahead before politicians make excited announcements at hastily convened press conferences. However, SportAccord is not just an arms race for hosting bragging rights.
It’s also a gathering of sport’s sharpest minds, with forums and lectures on everything from performance-enhancing drugs and match-fixing, to the use of artificial intelligence in recovery for injured athletes. The host destination becomes a virtual sporting city for a week, playing host to trade shows, seminars, cocktail parties and even fun runs and sunrise beach yoga sessions.
It’s an event in its own right, expected to inject more than $6 million in to the local economy as the 1500-plus delegates eat, drink and shop their way around the Glitter Strip. Many of them will return for vacations, or recommend the city to their friends.
So no matter what happens over the next week, it’s already at least one big win for the Queensland economy.
WHO WILL BE ATTENDING SPORTACCORD
* International Olympic Committee (IOC)
* International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)
* International Federation of Association Football (FIFA)
* Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF)
* International Cricket Council (ICC)
* International Rugby Board (IRB)
* International Swimming Federation (FINA)
* International Basketball Federation (FIBA)
* International Tennis Federation (ITF)
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