Sport’s long-term popularity will suffer badly if governments redirect funds away from its grassroots during the global credit crunch, International Olympic Committee (IOC) chiefs warned on Friday.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said top-tier events like the Olympic Games and soccer’s World Cup were not suffering too much from the worst economic downturn in almost 80 years, though sports at local level were struggling to cope.
“If the financial crisis continues any longer than we expect … the popularity of sport will be severely damaged in the long term as grassroots and local games find it harder to survive,” Rogge told reporters in Brussels.
“I think the main place for the crisis is at grassroots level, the small clubs, national federations, some national Olympic committees. They say it’s getting extremely difficult to find sponsorships.”
Rogge said ticket sales locally were “dropping every day”, adding he had received numerous communications from national associations whose clubs and organisations are struggling to pay bills.
“We are receiving the first sign of governments who are diminishing support to sports organisations because they have to bail out the banks, and governments are in need of money so the money goes to urgent issues and other industries and not to sport any more,” Rogge said.
INVESTMENT PLEA
Rogge and IOC European chief Patrick Hickey said they wanted more investment in sport but did not expect governments, notably in the 27-nation EU, to come forward with a stimulus plan in the near future.
“The problem is governments, particularly in the EU, do not have the legal competence to come forward with such a plan,” said Rogge. “Sport financing is a matter for sports organisations on a national local level.”
Hickey, however, did not rule out a request for financial help from Brussels should Ireland ratify the EU’s Lisbon reform treaty later this year which gives sport a legal basis within the bloc for the first time.
“I urge all sports fans in Ireland to vote ‘yes’,” Hickey said.
Ireland is expected to re-run a referendum this year after voters rejected the treaty, aimed at streamlining EU decision-making, in June and plunged the bloc into chaos.
The treaty needs to be ratified by all 27 countries. Ireland and Czech Republic, which is not holding a referendum on the issue, are the only two yet to give it the go ahead.
Rogge backed plans by UEFA president Michel Platini to curb the amount of money soccer clubs can spend on salaries and player transfers but said such measures were not needed on a global level in other sports.
“Michel Platini made the proposal for European soccer and I think it is a good thing for that game. But I don’t think the situation is the same in other team sports and certainly not in individual sports,” Rogge said.
source: uk.reuters.com
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