Simon Morton from UK Sport kicked off proceedings at the Shannon Airport Sport Tourism European Summit this morning. Here are ten lessons on how the UK has set about becoming the powerhouse of international sports event hosting.
1. Everything starts somewhere
In Atlanta 1996 Team GB as it would later become known finished 36th in the medal table and won only one Gold via Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent.
Within two years London was stripped of the hosting of the 2005 IAAF World Athletics Championships after the collapse of Government funding for a national stadium at Pickett’s Lock.
2. Get sorted, know your mission
Clearly something had to change and UK Sport was charged with developing a mission to ‘inspire the nation through sport’.
3. The old 1-2
UK Sport’s plan to deliver is based on two actionable and measurable objectives. The first is to win more medals, the second to win the right to host great events.
4. Show us the money
The Government recognised that success could only be achieved through investment. The current four year budget for UK Sport to fund performance stands at around £530 Million (€730 Million).
5. Figure out smart ways of raising that money
UK Sport is one of 12 UK National Lottery Distributing Bodies. It makes it responsible for investing large sums but doing so wisely and getting results.
6. Think like a Venture Capitalist
You have to be strategic. UK Sport have a rolling 10 year list of target events. They run an economic sense check over all of them every six months.
The organisation has a £5 million per annum budget to generate £15 million per annum value from regular events. The bigger ones have to be run through stringent business case analysis before more money is sought to pursue.
Due diligence is run over plans just like a venture capital investment.
7. Sport is morphing
Events exist now that couldn’t have been imagined five years ago. Multi sport games, gatherings of Championships in a single city, Extreme Sports, Masters Events and Women’s events are just some of those that are mushrooming. You have to know the market in order to become a really knowledgable bidder.
8. Home Advantage has Double Advantage.
Their is a 25% lift in performance attributable to home advantage in major Championships. Britain is hosting 30+ major events in the 15 months leading to Rio, from which 95 straight qualification places will be gained.
Join us over the coming days as we bring you similar highlights from a stellar cast of experts at the 2nd Shannon Airport Sport Tourism Summit.
