The boom in China's sports industry presents huge potential for foreign investment, especially from the UK.

Speaking at the Telegraph Business of Sport conference in London, Liu Xiaoming, the ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the UK, said that sport has become one of the country's new economic highlights and a national strategy for business.

From sports events and venues to retail and sponsorship, China has major opportunities for collaboration said Liu.

"There's no doubt China is a big sports nation, but China is not yet a strong sports nation," he said. "There are challenges. But in the long run China's sports sector has a huge market to offer.

"Many compare China's sports industry to a huge gold mine.

"The sport sector is fast emerging as a new growth point. By 2020 the total output will exceed US$450 billion. All this indicates a growing demand for domestic and foreign investment. [China's] sport industry is booming.

"[There is] great potential for China and the UK to collaborate in many aspects of the sports industry."

When asked about China's potential of hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup, Liu added that it is a dream for the Asian superpower.

"Chinese people have three dreams for football," he said. "Dream one is to be a champion of Asian Games. They want to see the Chinese team perform better.

"Second dream is to host the World Cup. Maybe not 2030 but looking down the road we hope Chinese will host the World Cup.

"Third dream is to win the World Cup."

To discover more opportunities in China's sports, business and cultural events market visit Host City Asia in Beijing on 18 October.

After the film La La Land won six Oscars, seven Golden Globes and five BAFTAs you would have thought that Los Angeles is getting bored in 2017 celebrating the success of its city and famous residents.

Don’t believe that for one Hollywood minute. That’s because the US city is still in the running for perhaps the year’s biggest prize of all – the hosting rights to the 2024 Olympic Games.

The race to host the 2024 Games is down to two candidate cities and in September the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Lima, Peru, will decide whether it’s LA or Paris that gets the nomination.

With the 130^th IOC session fast approaching, the LA and Paris bid committees have been busy putting together the final touches of their showreel in order to garner votes for the 2024 election.

One major showcase for both bids was the 2017 SportAccord Convention (SAC) in Aarhus, Denmark in April.

Vive la difference

The French capital put forward its bid of being ‘the right city, with the right vision at the right moment’. It also promised international federations and the Olympic movement that it would host the “most spectacular Games ever”.

The Paris presentation revealed that 95% of venues were already existing or temporary and the city’s ultra-compact plan would ensure that 85% of venues will be within 30 minutes of the athletes’ village.

Strong stuff from the “City of Light”, which is hoping to mark 100 years since it last hosted the Olympics in 1924.

And during LA’s 15 minutes in the spotlight at SAC, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti told delegates: “It’s important we draw a distinction in our vision, because although many believe the two bids in this race are quite similar… they are, in fact, very different.”

Privately-financed bid

With the heart of the film industry within its boundaries, it comes as no surprise that the Californians presented a strong narrative. When Host City asked LA 2024 Candidature Committee chairman Casey Wasserman if the entertainment industry could be drawn on for a potential LA 2024 Games, he replied: “We are very proud of our storytelling community, that’s what Hollywood is all about. When people want to speak to the world they come to LA. We think our ability of leverage that and bring that to the Olympic Games will be tremendous.”

While LA will bring some razzmatazz to the Olympic Games, the city’s bid has another very big USP regarding the bid’s funding.

“We are a privately-financed bid,” Angela Ruggiero, chief strategy officer for the LA 2024 Candidature Committee, former ice hockey star and IOC executive board member told Host City.

“That’s very different from a government-financed project where you are sort of at the whim of the government. We’ve made that one of our key focal points as a bid is to have the lowest-risk approach with the most sound budget.”

LA will require federal support for security matters, but the operations and management overlay is financed through the individual projects. “That’s a distinguishing factor between the two bids and we wanted to highlight that because we do things differently in regards to hosting events,” added Ruggiero.

“We don’t have sports ministers for example. The way that we promote sport is through the private sector. Budgets can’t be slashed, therefore it’s a different kind of model.”

For venues, LA has adopted a low-risk approach of utlising the city’s extensive existing sports assets. This tactic has helped grow public support in the Olympic bid to 88%.

One asset, for example, is the LA Memorial Coliseum, which is planned to host the medal ceremonies and track-and-field events in 2024. On May 3 it was announced that the University of Southern California had secured approval from the Coliseum Commission to proceed with its $270 million privately funded upgrade of the LA Memorial Coliseum.

The elephant in the room at SAC

With two very strong and well-supported bids, one major city is going to miss out when the IOC makes its big decision in September. Or will it?

The IOC Session in Lima could in fact name the host city for both 2024 and 2028 – meaning both Paris and LA win the right to host a summer games. A working group composed of the IOC’s four vice presidents is currently evaluating this possibility.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC vice-president, told a select group of journalists at SAC: “Basically what we are doing is not talking about 2024, internally we are thinking of how we can be more flexible to have a selection system that better suits our interests and the interests of the Olympic movement. The ideas that we might have for 2024 and 2028 are serious ones, but there is a process and both cities know what the process is.”

Paris’ committee has said it only wants to host in 2024 while LA chairman Wasserman was also straight with his answer. He told Host City: “We are bidding for 2024. There should be no confusion about that. I applaud the IOC for their thinking because it’s strategic and timely, but it’s also hypothetical. We’re bidding for 2024. Hypotheticals are not interesting.”

Next on the agenda for the IOC and the LA and Paris committees is the 2024 candidate briefing for IOC members and Summer Olympic IFs in July.

Once that’s complete it will be back to the drawing board for both cities to put the finishing touches to their candidature bids.

Will LA’s bid script see that big Hollywood ending? We will wait and see in September.

The Commonwealth Games Federation has received expressions of interest in hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games from Australia, Canada, Malaysia and the United Kingdom.

The bidding process for 2022 was reopened after Durban was unable to fulfil financial obligations. Durban had been awarded the Games when it became the sole bidder after Edmonton pulled out.

But with four countries having expressed interest by the 28 April deadline, the CGF is now set to have a strong pool of cities bidding for the major multi-sport event.

“We are delighted with the level of initial interest expressed by nations across the Commonwealth and look forward to working with all parties as plans develop for a Games to be proud of in 2022,” David Grevemberg CBE, CEO of the CGF said in a statement.

“This is the first step in a collaborative process that will see a clear and detailed set of criteria applied to any Games hosting ambitions. The process has been streamlined to be as agile as possible given the time available and to minimise costs for potential hosts, whilst maintaining the transformative ambitions of the Commonwealth Sports Movement.

“An expert CGF Review Team will work with each country in the evaluation of proposals of potential host cities. This will include a rigorous on-the-ground feasibility assessment and dialogue regarding hosting capacity and capability, resourcing and legacy ambitions, before a recommendation is made to the CGF Executive Board for final review and decision. Based on the number of interested parties it is not expected that the process will finally conclude until early Autumn.”

It has not been specified at this stage in the process which cities are proposed to host the Games. Cities connected with possible bids include Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham in England; Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide in Australia; and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Victoria, Edmonton and Toronto.

The CGF has not ruled out the possibility of cities sharing hosting duties.

[Source: Tokyo 2020] The Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and the Rugby World Cup 2019 Organising Committee have signed a landmark collaboration agreement in which the two organisations will exchange knowledge and resources to maximise benefits and impacts for their respective events - two of the world’s biggest - being hosted by Japan over the next three years.

The organisers will share their experiences preparing for and managing major sporting events, including security measures, transport infrastructure, venue management, volunteer programmes, and anti-doping programmes.

A signing ceremony to mark the inauguration of the agreement was held on Wednesday (26 April), attended by Toshiro Muto, Tokyo 2020 Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Akira Shimazu, CEO, Rugby World Cup 2019 Organising Committee.

John Coates, vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and chairman of the IOC Coordination for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad Tokyo 2020 commented:

“The attention of the sporting world is already focused on Tokyo and Japan as they prepare to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup and Olympic Games in 2020. Just as there are many significant opportunities and benefits that will accrue to the host country from these events, there will be synergies and benefits, such as in the training of volunteers, from the two Organising Committees working closely together in the preparation years.”

Bill Beaumont, Chairman of World Rugby commented: “World Rugby welcomes this landmark agreement, which will further boost preparations for two very special major sporting and cultural events. There are many synergies between the hosting of these two events, from technology to venues, and from security arrangements to volunteer training. We look forward to working with all parties to deliver on this opportunity. Rugby is a sport where a strong common vision, shared values and teamwork underpin success and I am sure that this agreement will be great for Rugby World Cup, great for the Olympic Games and great for the people of Japan.”

The organisers expect the agreement between Rugby World Cup 2019 and Tokyo 2020 to maximise the combined legacy of the events for Japan, for the Asian region and for international sport. Improved sporting facilities, as well as enhanced security systems, transport infrastructure and what is hoped will be an emerging volunteer culture will continue to benefit Japanese society long after the two events are over. The events will also aim to renew Japan’s international reputation as an experienced sporting event host.

Ben Avison (BA): It has been said that cities are becoming less interested in hosting major multi-sports events than smaller championships. Do you think that’s true of your events? How keen do you think cities are on hosting your own events?

Jeongkang Seo (JS): Smarter cities carefully assess the return on investment and may find it not very attractive to host mega events which require huge investment if there is no matching benefit. Taekwondo is a relatively cost-effective sport which does not require any huge investment but is capable of bringing competitive values and leaving strong legacy, so we are finding more cities showing interests in hosting our events based on our measurable value proposition.

Shiny Fang (SF): In our case cities are quite keen – it’s all about the anticipation and expectation of the cities. Before they bid for competitions they want to know what would happen and what are the opportunities. We have many cities bidding for our competitions, but we try to divide different levels of competition. When we choose cities, the world championships go to bigger cities and smaller events go to some smaller cities which are more suitable hosts in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

BA: The World Taekwondo Championships this year is in Muju, the home of taekwondo. How important is it to take your sport to new regions as well?

JS: Hosting events is a very effective way of developing a sport in a country or a region. It creates new national heroes who inspire spectators and TV audiences to take up the sport. Five medals were taken by African nations at the Rio 2016 Games and taekwondo is now increasingly popular there. So, it is undeniable that it is stable to go to the region where taekwondo is already developed and popular, but equally it is critical to find the less-developed place for the purpose of sport development.

BA: People talk a lot about the importance of readiness for events – we hear examples of cities that are only just ready in time and in the worst case scenario it become apparent they are not going to be ready. How important is this for you and how does it impact your choice of host city?

SF: In our discussions, we always talk about the working relationship and how closely the city and federation can work together to host the event. Even though we are aspiring to the highest standards you still have to rely on local partnerships; sometimes they will wait until the last moment and they will say they are ready when actually they are still not ready. It’s a constant struggle but it’s not impossible to find solutions.

Good project planning is essential for anyone, including the IOC, the IFs and not only in sport but in industry. Therefore when we choose a working partner it’s important to examine how precise they can be and how confident you can be in your expectations of the plan together.

JS: If a city has clear objectives and has willingness to collaborate with the right holders as partner, I think it will be able to prepare events quickly and to a high standard. We are also providing the host cities with support program called STEP (Support taekwondo event program) to ensure the host cities clearly understand operational requirements for hosting our event in every stage in the lead up to actual organization. So, I would say that close collaboration and partnership are more important than readiness.

BA: You mentioned the importance of partnerships there – how important is the alignment between city and national governments?

SF: I think it’s super important. Especially when bigger sized competitions and the national federations have limited resources. It is a significant commitment from the federations, so they need to have the support of the local authority government or central government. It is very important. Our new bidding procedure enables us to award a competition to a city instead of a national federation – of course they will be involved in any case but mainly on the technical side. At the end of the day a competition is not only a competition, it’s an event, so you need effort and input from all sides.

JS: Strong and sustainable partnership among themselves will ensure smooth preparations and everlasting legacies. For example, the City of Manchester built such a strong relationship with the national taekwondo organization, matching their long-term strategies. The city helped build the national training center and the national federation is teaching self-respect and self-discipline to young kids in the city. Also partnering with UK sport, they presented three events in three years, a plan that perfectly matched our long term strategy as well. We are encouraging this know-how with other potential cities at our annual Partnership Workshop program.

BA: In an age where events are mainly experienced remotely via TV and digital, does it make a difference where an event is hosted?

SF: I would say yes, because you have a better atmosphere inside a competition than outside that can seriously affect the whole production. If you want to show the best images that sum up the drama and excitement of your competition, you have show how excited people are on site watching.

JS: These days, there are several different ways to consume sports, so it is of course important to produce high quality production and utilise social media to effectively deliver the footage to the audience at home but it is equally important to create great atmosphere onsite as it improves the experience for those watching from their homes. Spectators have a vital role to play in contributing to the success of the event, transmitting vivid impression of the sport from venue.

BA: Is it possible to evaluate all factors in a bidding procedure – for example the venues, broadcast infrastructure and local culture? How do you select your cities bearing all these things in mind?

JS: Hosting an event is a partnership between an IF and a city and it should be a collaborative process. Both parties have to benefit from the partnership and as an IF we must not be too prescriptive. We ask questions in the bid file where they need to answer: What’s the purpose of bidding? What’s the legacy you want to leave? What’s your capacity for producing all these requirements? By answering the questions the bidders already have in their mind if the event is suitable for them or not and at the same time we are able to evaluate the capacities and suitability of the cities who want to organize our events.

BA: Another approach might be to have a range of events that are suitable for different types of cities. In the case of the UIPM I know you have the Laser-Run that be held in different venues…

SF: Sure. In certain competitions you always have set criteria. Within those criteria you can always enlarge the number of spectators, so you can award the event based on the final bidders. The criteria are clear; you always have to have a basic host standard which you cannot compromise.

For IFs, to be very practical, we are looking for cities to have the ability to host the competition – that’s goal number one. Only when you have a place where you know things will happen according to your requirements are you safe. We are not in a bad situation for bidding cities but the commercial valuation of our sport is not simple. For sponsorship and partnerships it’s not easy for any sport.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has admitted the Olympic Games bidding process is an issue that “cannot be ignored”, despite the strong support of broadcasters, sponsors and rights holders.

After the withdrawal of Budapest, Hamburg and Rome, just two candidate cities – Los Angeles and Paris – are left in the race to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. And now Stockholm has announced it will not bid for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

Bach said the Olympic Games are being used for political aims in some countries.

“What we have seen is a change in the decision-making procedures in different countries – particularly in Europe but also elsewhere,” he told delegates at the General Assembly of the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) in Uruguay.

“I do not need to go into detail about how the Olympic Games is used for political purposes by groups in some countries.

"We have to understand that our candidature procedure is giving arguments for this as it is too expensive and too complicated. “

Budapest and Hamburg both withdrew from bidding for 2024 after holding referendums.

Similarly, the 2022 Winter Games bidding procedure was reduced to two contenders – Beijing and Almaty – after the withdrawal of the European cities of Stockholm, Lviv, Krakow and Oslo.

And shortly after Bach’s comments, it emerged that Stockholm is now withdrawing from bidding for the 2026 Games due to a lack of cross-party support and clarity around finances.

Stockholm Mayor Karin Wanngard said in a statement: "We Social Democrats have always thought that the Olympic Games are important for Stockholm's growth and development… Unfortunately, we are alone to have this position about the Olympic Games."

Speaking in Uruguay, Bach said “The good old times are over with regard to candidature procedure.

“Today hardly any Mayor or political authority can go to their population and say, ‘Let’s try again, and maybe we will win’ after spending millions on an unsuccessful bid.

“Maybe it will change back in five or 10 years, but it is not possible today.”

Bach stressed that, despite the apparent lack of enthusiasm from host cities for hosting the games, the Olympic Games remains commercially secure with long term agreements with sponsors and broadcasters in place.

"We have contracts on the TV side until 2032 and we have TOP sponsors on board until 2028 and there are more in the pipeline."

He also said relationships with rights holders was stronger than ever.

Such is the level of concern about the prospects for future Olympic bids that a working group comprising four IOC vice presidents is currently assessing the possibility of awarding the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympic Games simultaneously to Los Angeles and Paris.

The host city election for 2024 – and potentially 2028 – takes place in Lima in September.

The UK Government has asked cities interested in hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games to develop and submit plans for staging the event, with multi-city proposals to be considered.

It says applications will be assessed in a “fair and transparent competition process”, with factors to be assessed including: “the economic benefits the Games could deliver to the UK – and to the host city or cities – through international trade, investment and tourism opportunities, and how potential host cities could benefit as well as the necessary infrastructure and major event delivery experience that potential host cities have.”

Applications from individual cities will also be assessed to ensure they offer “value for money”. Liverpool has already announced a bid for the Games. 

This bid coordination by the UK government is a new approach. For previous Commonwealth Games, bids from British cities have been led from within England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and their Commonwealth Games Associations.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport says it will “work with interested cities and the relevant Commonwealth Games Associations on a detailed assessment of whether Britain can step in to host the event in 2022”.

“Hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2022 could give us an opportunity to step up and show the very best of Global Britain as an outward-looking nation that is confident on the world stage. So it’s only right that we look into the potential for hosting one of the world’s biggest sporting events on home soil,” said Culture Secretary Karen Bradley.

“Britain has a wealth of expertise in staging major sports events, inspiring people to get involved in sport and helping to grow our economy. The British people embrace these events and always give a warm welcome to the world. I would urge cities to consider if they have the desire and capability to stage the Games in 2022 as they could bring benefits not just to their city but across the country.”

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) reopened the bidding procedure after confirming that Durban would no longer be hosting the Games. The CGF has invited cities to express interest by 28 April and has said it hopes to determine a new host city in 2017.

UK Sports Minister Tracey Crouch has written to the CGF to confirm the UK’s interest as a potential host in 2022.

“The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games showed the appetite and enthusiasm that the British people have for supporting major sporting events,” she said.

“Now that the Commonwealth Games Federation need to find a new host for 2022, we want to hear from cities interested in repeating the triumphs of London, Glasgow and Manchester before it in 2002. We will then weigh up whether the UK should step in to host, looking at the opportunities to promote Global Britain and deliver a lasting legacy at good value for taxpayers.”

The UK government statement said it will decide whether or not to put in a formal bid by the end of the year.

Interested cities who require further information should email: CG2022@culture.gov.uk

Following the decision to strip Durban of the 2022 games, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has revealed that it wants to name a replacement host city by the end of this year.

After being awarded the 2022 games in September 2015, it was decided in March this year that the South African city would not meet key criteria set out in the CGF bidding process.

Since that decision was made as many as nine candidate cities had expressed “some informal interest” after the CGF again opened up the bidding process.

Speaking to a select group of journalists at SportAccord Convention, CGF CEO David Grevemberg said that prospective host cities have until April 28 to submit interest in replacing Durban. Once that deadline has passed the CGF will begin evaluating each bid book.

“Nine cities have expressed some informal interest,” said Grevemberg. “We are now looking to make that process more formal.

“We have put out a clear call for interests by April 28. Then we will evaluate those submissions and go through a process. We are purposely agile because we need to move this as fast and furious as possible but we also need to have a timeline.

“Let’s see how many cities come forward. We don’t want cities to waste money through a laborious bid process. We want to be very streamlined in this approach and leverage as much value as we can for the new prospective hosts and federations.”

English cities Birmingham, Liverpool, London and Manchester have reportedly expressed interest in 2022 as well as speculation that Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur and cities in Canada could pose rival bids. Even a number of Australian cities could target 2022 despite the Gold Coast winning the rights to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Despite this, Grevemberg says that every bid will be assessed. He added: “There are no bids off the table right now, but we have to look at what’s the best interests for the movement, what are our real options and we just need to go through the process right now.

“I don’t want to be too speculative on any particular cities or decision because we have enough agility. The notion of extraordinary circumstances requires extraordinary process. We will continue to be vigilant and sticking to our principles on this process.

“We don’t take the expressions of interests for granted at all and we recognise we need to evaluate a partner and not just be an auditor in the process.”

The International Association of Event Hosts (IAEH) came together from across the globe for the annual IAEH Forum at SportAccord Convention in Aarhus, Denmark yesterday to discuss and vote on the structure of the organisation.

Representatives from 24 of the 34 member organisations voted on the incorporation of the IAEH as a charity under English law, overseen by the Charities Commission in England. The establishment of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation was unanimously approved.

IAEH founding members Iain Edmondson from London & Partners and Devorah Blumberg from New Zealand Major Events said that the vote is a milestone in the association’s development. 

Edmondson said: "The agreement from members to incorporate the IAEH is a huge step forward for us as an association. It signals that we are globally aligned in our thinking as event hosts. The formalisation of the association provides a platform for growth as the global network for sharing our knowledge".

Blumberg went on to say: "The incorporation of the association will also provide members with an international shared voice for hosts of major events. We invite cities, regions and countries that aren't already involved in the network to join now and enjoy the benefits of working with peers on a global scale.

The membership discussed nine priority areas for knowledge sharing and the calendar of meetings for the period ahead. Of the priority areas for discussion the group identified a clear front runner of interest to event hosts - measuring economic and social benefits. Other subjects which were front of mind for members included attracting visiting tourists and alternative sources of funding. Members will discuss these priority areas in greater depth as part of the IAEH work programme.

Throughout 2017 IAEH members will have four more opportunities to meet ahead of the Annual Forum in 2018 which is usually timed with SportAccord Convention. IAEH members also met at Host City 2016 in Glasgow. Members see these meetings as valuable opportunities for sharing experiences from hosting major events with a focus on overcoming challenges and measuring success.

Events have the power to inspire and change people’s lives in a number of different ways. They can generate economic growth, international and domestic profile as well as a wide range of social and cultural benefits for their hosts, both through their immediate impact and through any subsequent legacy or long term development.

Measuring and reporting the impact of an event are fundamental when evaluating the success of an event, and is vital for any future planning.

Recognising the importance for the need for a good evaluation tool for the UK events industry, partner organisations worked together to develop eventIMPACTS.

Launched in 2010, the online toolkit comprises of key guidance and good practice principles to help event organisers improve their evaluation of the outcomes – attendance, economic, environmental, social and media impacts - associated with staging sporting and cultural events. It caters for events of all sizes and categorises impacts into groups based on their potential complexity and cost to measure.

eventIMPACTS was created out of the belief that no event should be staged without an accompanying commitment to measure its success against the objectives initially set and since its launch it has proven itself to be a leading resource for the events industry. Through the use of the tool, consistent evaluation methods, measures and impact assessments provide the ability to model event outcomes and make better forecasts, which in turn improve the industry.

However, just like events must evolve and respond to customers’ needs and changes in technology, so too must the way they evaluate them. Recognising this need, eventIMPACTS has further been developed and now includes updated guidelines relating to social and media impacts. The new guidelines now allow organisers to measure how events positively impact peoples’ behaviour and quantify exposure across a range of media platforms.

These additional resources will allow event organisers to measure social impacts in areas of satisfaction, identity and image, participation and volunteering and skills. Advice on how to measure the media impacts has been extended to include volume of coverage, engagement and tone and value.

These improvements mean organisers across the UK are now better equipped to calculate the overall impact of their events and we know they agree. A survey on the new resources has revealed overwhelmingly positive feedback from the events industry. In particular, it was widely agreed that eventIMPACTS provides a clear structure for assessing the benefits from events.

The co-founder of FOCUS Wales Festival, Neal Thompson, said “eventIMPACTS is now easier to use and reveals much more information on the actual overall contribution our events make. It is such an important resource for highlighting how integral events are, both to the economy and society itself in the UK as a whole.”

The positive response from the industry shows the toolkit fulfils a need in the market and is helping ensure event organisers can see if they achieve the level of impact they desire from their event. 

Just as advances in technology will continue to impact on event delivery, so too will it impact what we measure. Going forward, eventIMPACTS will continue to evolve with the changes within the industry, technology and society, to ensure it continues to be a tool that allows best practice.

To see the toolkit and find out more, visit www.eventimpacts.com