[Source: SportAccord Convention] SportAccord Convention confirms registration is open for the sixteenth edition of the Convention set to take place in Bangkok, Thailand from 15-20 April 2018. A city destination brimming with opportunities, #SAC2018 will be held at the five-star Centara Grand & Bangkok Convention Centre at CentralWorld, a world-class conference complex in the heart of the capital.

The Official Signing Ceremony for #SAC2018 took place in the Host City Bangkok on 31 May 2017 and was attended by the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand, and the Minister of Tourism and Sports for Thailand, with well over 100 people in attendance from government, media and other organisations. Nis Hatt, Managing Director of SportAccord Convention said:

“SportAccord Convention is the biggest annual global gathering of the sporting community and is the only Convention worldwide with every International Federation present. Without doubt, the SportAccord Convention in Bangkok is going to present a myriad of opportunities for every organisation and delegate who attends. Hatt went on to say:

“The business of sport has grown enormously since the last Convention took place in the region and I would strongly recommend anyone who has a stake in sport, to take advantage of the unique networking opportunities SportAccord Convention offers and register for Bangkok.”

The multiplex venue provides a complete experience for delegates attending the Convention. Both the hotel and the convention centre connect seamlessly with CentralWorld, one of the largest lifestyle and shopping complexes in Southeast Asia. Organisations are encouraged to book their place early and take advantage of the early-bird rate of CHF1,500 (a discount of CHF1, 000 from the list price), available for a short period only.

The conference rooms and state-of-the-art exhibition hall offer outstanding facilities with natural day-lit rooms in a pillar-less environment. Exhibitor visibility will be second-to-none, and dedicated networking zones will help to showcase what organisations have to offer and how delegates connect.

The world’s premier annual event at the service of sport, SportAccord Convention is the place where sport meets whether it’s for International Federations, organising committees, cities and regions, marketing and sponsorship enterprises, legal teams, insurance companies, healthcare organisations, and many more. The Convention creates the occasion to build relationships, seed ideas and gain visibility on a world-stage, and many of these, play out as new business opportunities, or projects to further develop and support the sports movement.

As Deborah Jevans (CBE), former Tennis Player and the first woman to be appointed Director of Sport for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games (London 2012) told SportsPro during a podcast (08:05) at this year’s Convention in Aarhus, Denmark:

“SportAccord Convention is the place to be seen and is a really important event in the sporting calendar. The growth of sport has advanced as a business and is not just about the field of play. You don’t necessarily do a deal here but there is a lot of networking, a lot of conversations take place and relationships are created. Jevans went on to say, “Talking to companies during the Convention in Aarhus confirms this. SportAccord Convention provides the opportunity to meet any number of people from throughout the whole world.”

The Convention will include a 3-day exhibition as well as a full conference programme focused on sponsorship and marketing. Programme streams will include the Plenary, City Forum, LawAccord, MediaAccord and HealthAccord.  The Convention also offers numerous social events giving delegates the opportunity to network outside more formal settings, including the daily Exhibition Cocktails, Opening Ceremony and After Hours Bar, and its cultural programme will also take advantage of all that Bangkok has to offer.

[Source: SportAccord Convention] Francesco Ricci Bitti, President of ASOIF, announced today that he will stand down as President of SportAccord Convention, but will remain on the Executive Committee of the organisation representing the major stakeholder, ASOIF.

Following the situation in May 2015 when the previous President of SportAccord resigned, Ricci Bitti, together with Gian-Franco Kasper, the FIS President, ensured the continuity of both the Association and the Convention. Kasper became interim President of SportAccord Association and Ricci Bitti was elected President of SportAccord Convention in June 2015.

“Gian-Franco was able to accomplish the approval of new statutes for SportAccord Association that clarified the mission and governance rules and culminated in the election of Patrick Baumann as a new president for a four year term,” said Ricci Bitti. “My mission was to take care of the continuity of the Convention; mission that we believe has been accomplished with the very successful organisation of Lausanne 2016 and Aarhus 2017, in spite of very challenging conditions. The announcement of Bangkok 2018 and the interest received from many other potential candidates give us great confidence for the future years. SportAccord Association (newly renamed GAISF) and Convention are two different legal entities, but maximum integration is recommended – being the Convention the most relevant activity of the Association. It is just time to return to a common leadership for the two entities. For this reason I want to thank the board for accepting my proposal to be replaced by Patrick Baumann assuring him the support of ASOIF.”

On this occasion, Patrick Baumann expressed: “I would like to thank Francesco Ricci Bitti for his confidence and his great commitment in this transition time and I look forward to the continuing success of GAISF and SportAccord Convention to the benefit of all member IFs and Associations.”

At this year’s Annual Event of the Association of Global Events Suppliers (AGES) in March 2017 in Basel, Daniel Cordey, Chairman of AGES moderated a panel discussion featuring: Gilbert Felli, IOC’s Senior Olympic Games Advisor; Masamitsu Isaka, Senior Director, Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (TOCOG); Paul Jouanneau, Director of Installation Centralised Services, Rio Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Rio2016); Jeff Keas, Senior Event Architect / Senior Principal at Populous; and Hans Verhoeven, CEO of MTD and deputy chairman of the Association of Global Event Suppliers (AGES).

AGES shared with Host City some of the panellists’ comments.

Daniel Cordey: What were your personal ups and downs as the Director of Centralised Services, including the overlay for the Rio 2016 Games?

Paul Jouanneau: To summarise my feelings, I would say I felt:

Despair to have so much do to do and so little time and few people when joining the organiser. This resulted in a huge learning curve.

Fear of failure due to the quantity of crucial decisions to be done in a such a short time, while staying optimistic.

Proud of the achievements, even though there is still a way to go to finalise all deals because of the finance gap.

Daniel Cordey: How can you describe your experiences as the senior IOC advisor for the Rio 2016 Games, or in other terms, what were your major challenges?

Gilbert Felli: The experience from Rio was that altogether there was a low understanding about the requirements for temporary infrastructure for an event such as the Olympic Games. However, the bigger challenge was the fact that we never had a finalised responsibility matrix between the different partners for the delivery of this temporary infrastructure. Not only was this matrix not clear on every subject but, many times, agreements that had been reached between parties were completely reversed a few weeks later. This gave an uncertainty for the Organising Committee and the delivery partners on what they had to deliver and who would finance it. This delayed decisions and put both the organisers (OCOG) budget and the operation plans at risk.

Daniel Cordey: You mentioned that the constant transfer of responsibilities between the stakeholders affected the delivery of the infrastructure. Can you specify?

Paul Jouanneau: Sure, as example: by the end of 2014, City Hall required Rio2016 to assume the execution of International Broadcast Centre’s HVAC and Energy and Electrical power and outlets. This scope was never forecast and no team available. The tender process restarted from scratch to comply with Rio2016 Governance.

At a certain point Maracana and Copacabana Clusters overlays were to be supplied trough City Hall and federal government respectively. The decision took close to six months, was negative and implied in a huge delay in project and construction.

Daniel Cordey: The use of temporary infrastructures is promoted through the IOC Agenda 2020 to reduce costs and to avoid so-called “white elephants”. Do host cities know how to deal with temporary infrastructures?

Gilbert Felli: Let me reassess that the IOC had always clearly stated, during the bid process or as soon as the Games were awarded, that venues with no legacies should be constructed in a temporary manner. However, this message was never clearly understood by all partners, both from the Olympic Family and the local organisers.

On the organisers’ side, there was always an optimistic view on possible future legacies of the venues. Agenda 2020 finally clarified the IOC position both within the Olympic Family and with the organisers. Following this clarification, the IOC will have to be more proactive in the future with assisting organisers in managing all the temporary infrastructure delivery process.

Daniel Cordey: You deplored the lack of inventory of certain overlay items and too little cooperation between the national and the international supply chain. What went wrong?

Paul Jouanneau: The cooperation between local and international supplier occurred but not on long-term perspective as it would be expected. Cooperation seemed to happened just by necessity. Somehow, the difficult economic and political situation contributed to that approach.

Daniel Cordey: From a global supplier’s point of view, how could the cooperation between local and global suppliers be triggered?

Hans Verhoeven: Local involvement is important to close international deals. The format for this can change per commodity supplier and per country. It can go from joint ventures with local companies or just supplying equipment to a local supplier or hiring a local representative and offer to set up a local company with local purchasing of equipment and hiring local employees. My experience is that the event supplier must always have a local component in their offer. The more local content in your offer, the more chance to close the deal.

Daniel Cordey: What would you wish the organiser to change or improve in the procurement process?

Hans Verhoeven: Procurement should start earlier (about two years ahead of the Games), the procurement process itself talking with the international event suppliers even earlier. Experienced overlay suppliers can provide valuable inputs to the Overlay team with workshops and other means. This helps them with the design and budget processes. Also, specialised suppliers can help the organiser with feasibility studies and value engineering. With clear and practice orientated information the procurement process and quality of tender documents can be improved. Another point would be to have contracts with a rate card to enable the process in closing early contracts at least one year in advance.

Daniel Cordey: You are often involved in the Venue Development and Planning process for Olympic Games. What do you focus on when consulting, or supervising local design companies, in particular when it comes to temporary infrastructure?

Jeff Keas: We get involved at different timelines in the life of a major event including the bid phase and after a city has won the rights to host a major event.  After a city has won, we work on both permanent facility design (masterplans, stadia, arenas, etc.) as well as temporary or overlay design. When working with an organising committee on the overlay design Populous looks at major events from what I would describe as a holistic approach – meaning strategy and program management, design, procurement, delivery/site management and operations. 

The overlay design is a reflection on the operations.  The design should reflect the procurement and delivery strategy.  And the overall program management strategy will impact the overlay process.

Many of our clients are new to major event planning and overlay so we inform them about overlay and the overall overlay process.  We advise on cost efficient methods but also look for opportunities to raise the level of design.  We focus on the experiential side while also looking for opportunities to generate revenue for our clients.

Daniel Cordey: You visited Rio as the responsible of procurement of the next Olympic Games. What were your key learnings with respect to the procurement of overlays when visiting the Rio 2016 Games?

Masamitsu Isaka: I learned a lot from Rio2016. I have visited Rio and by visiting the actual place of the Games, I have gained a lot of information such as the scale for the Games and had the opportunities to contact global companies.

Firstly, I learned the importance of speed and timing. Specifically, it is important to evaluate and make decisions at an appropriate timing in order to prevent costs rising. For that purpose, I also learned that it is important to exchange information with enterprises who have experiences and knowledge, like AGES members.

The second one is the balance of price and quality. The third one is the difficulty of handling after Games.

It is difficult to procure a large scale of commodities, but I learned that dealing with them after the Games is also difficult. Thus, we need to think about after the Games at the time of procurement. For that purpose, we would like to rent and lease as much as possible.

Finally, I learned about the importance of the proper use of turnkey and commodity base, with regard to the procurement method.

In Japan there are few transactions with international suppliers in terms of overlay, thus we need to deepen mutual understanding.

Daniel Cordey: How do you expect the global event suppliers to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Games?

Masamitsu Isaka: I believe that cooperation and input from global event suppliers with abundant experiences and knowledge is necessary for the success of the Games. Not only introducing past achievements, but to make suggestions on what AGES and its members can do for Tokyo 2020. Therefore, we invite you to deepen the understanding of our culture and customs and to offer competitive services, which we will truly need.

Tickets for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships are now on sale, with attendances of around 250,000 expected at venues in Glasgow and Scotland next year.

Fans can buy tickets for 84 sessions of sport starting at just £10 for adults and £5 for under 16s and over 60s.

Glasgow 2018, which brings together the existing European Championships for Aquatics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon along with a new Golf team championships, will be a new highlight on the global sporting calendar and the biggest sporting event hosted in Scotland since the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Commonwealth and European champion swimmer, Ross Murdoch, who has been named as the first Glasgow 2018 sporting ambassador, joined young people from across Scotland at a sporting street carnival in Glasgow’s Buchanan Street to celebrate tickets going on public sale.

He said: “I’ve got such great memories of competing in Glasgow – the fans really are something else and that really brings out the best in athletes. You always want to perform in front of passionate fans in packed venues and that is what you get when you compete in Glasgow. It is an unbelievable place to perform in.

“And that is what will make the Glasgow 2018 European Championships so special. The fans really get behind you and take you to the next level. I have no doubt that will be the case next year and that Glasgow 2018 will be one of the best sporting events ever staged in this country.”

Fans can buy tickets for 84 sessions of sport starting at £10 for adults and £5 for under-16s and over-60s. There are also a number of free events including the Cycling Road Race and Open Water Swimming, ensuring that as many people as possible have the opportunity to witness sporting history on their doorsteps.

Paul Bush OBE, Director of Events, said: “Scotland is the perfect stage for events and next summer the stage is set for 11 days of fantastic competition across six sports. The Glasgow 2018 European Championships will be an incredible event, building on the legacy created by the 2014 Commonwealth Games and The Ryder Cup, and giving everyone the chance to once again see world-class sport on their doorstep. Don’t miss your chance to be part of the action. Get your tickets now before it’s too late.”

The Glasgow 2018 European Championships is delivered in partnership with several leading European sports federations with support from the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council and will build on the legacy of events including the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2015 World Gymnastics Championships. The event is also backed by a number of partner local authorities from across Scotland.

Minister for Sport Aileen Campbell said: “We know the passion and support shown by fans in Scotland helped to make both the 2014 Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup a huge success and we want that replicated across the country next year.

“We are expecting a quarter of a million people to turn out and cheer on some of the world’s top sporting talent at events across Scotland and I encourage anyone who wants to be there and experience that famous Scottish welcome to get their tickets.

“2018 will be a hugely special year for Scotland, as it is also the year we celebrate the Year of Young People, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s one of your favourite sports or not – it’s all about getting involved, seeing what other sports are out there and being part of an event which will showcase Scotland to the world.”

Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “Glasgow is a sporting city like no other. We are known all across the world for our passionate fans and warm welcome and nowhere will that be more evident than at the Glasgow 2018 European Championships which will see Glasgow once again take centre stage.

“Glasgow 2018 will be a truly historic sporting moment as Europe’s very best athletes go for gold in our magnificent sporting arenas. With attendances of up to 250,000 expected across all six sports it will be an unmissable event, with fans encouraged to book early to avoid disappointment.”

More than 3,000 of the best athletes on the continent will compete at Glasgow 2018. The action will take place in 12 venues across Scotland including Glasgow’s iconic SSE Hydro (Gymnastics), Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool (Diving), Strathclyde Country Park (Rowing and Triathlon) in North Lanarkshire and the Gleneagles PGA Centenary Course (Golf) in Perth & Kinross.

A number of free events – including the Cycling Road Race through the streets of the city and beyond, Open Water Swimming at Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and Mountain Bike at Cathkin Braes – will also take place, giving as many people as possible the opportunity to witness sporting history on their doorsteps.

A vibrant cultural festival, with Glasgow’s George Square at its beating heart, will also run alongside the sporting action, bringing local communities across the country to life with a celebration of Scottish and Glaswegian culture. Themes from the national Year of Young People in 2018 will also run through the programme.

Glasgow 2018 will take Scotland’s sporting reputation to the next level and with a potential television audience of up to 1.03 billion across Europe set to watch the action, Glasgow and Scotland will again shine in the global spotlight with the event being covered by free-to-air broadcasters across the continent including the BBC.

Tickets for all events can be purchased from glasgow2018.com/tickets and will be sold on a first come first served basis, with fans encouraged to book early to avoid disappointment. Those lucky enough to secure a ticket will see athletes from 52 nations compete in a bid to be crowned European champion.

Sky Sports’ innovative coverage of The 145th Open at Royal Troon in July 2016 has earned them a BAFTA after being named best sports production during the awards ceremony in London.

The Sky Sports team won the award for best sports production for their enhanced coverage of the championships, including the thrilling climax when Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson were embroiled in a sensational final-day battle watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world.

The Open was named the winner ahead of BBC's coverage of the Rio Olympics and the Six Nations clash between England and Wales, while the Paralympics on Channel 4 was also nominated.

Paul Bush OBE, EventScotland director of events, said: “This is a tremendous accolade, not only for the team at Sky Sports but for golf in general to have beaten off competition from so many top-class sporting productions. It is also a triumph for the stunning Ayrshire coastline which provided the perfect backdrop for the high-class drama that unfolded on the course.

“I’m especially delighted for our golf events executive Katy Mathieson, who was part of the Sky Sports team producing coverage from Royal Troon before joining EventScotland last year. We have a great relationship with Sky Sports through the world-class portfolio of golf events taking place in Scotland and we look forward to working with them on many more in the coming years.”

The EventScotland team work across Scotland’s extensive golf portfolio, which includes the men’s and ladies Scottish Opens at Dundonald Links in Ayrshire and the RICOH Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns in Fife among others this summer. The Open also returns to Scotland in 2018 at Carnoustie.

Royal Windsor Horse Show organiser HPower Group called upon multiple Arena UK & Europe divisions to deliver 5,000m² of temporary structures complete with full interior fit-out, 3,689 seats throughout three Castle Arena tiered grandstands and event catering equipment.

Spurred on with the success of last year’s expansive additions to the equestrian show’s temporary infrastructure in honour of The Queen’s 90th Birthday BAFTA award-winning celebrations, HPower Group once again entrusted Arena Seating and Arena Structures to deliver and maintain the same level of high-quality hospitality and finish this year.

At the south end of the Castle Arena, two Members Enclosure viewing areas were installed by Arena Structures utilising the curved Arcus roofs to offer 250m² of premium sightlines. Situated behind, a multi-deck temporary Members Restaurant, provided 600m² of contemporary dining and hospitality restaurants and lounges.

Throughout the Royal site, an additional 800m² of Arcus structures played host to the Windsor Enclosure Bistro, Reception Structure, and the Royal Entrance Structure. Peaked roofed Aluhall temporary structures were home to the Stirrup Cup Kitchen, the Riders Lounge and the Members Kitchen.

Arena Seating’s project director Bradley Merchant and his 25-strong team installed three temporary covered grandstands offering unrivalled spectator views of equestrian entertainment in the main Castle Arena. The East Stand, under a 95m Arcus roof, comprised of 645 tiered dark blue clearview™ seats, 200 black VIP clearview™ seats, an integrated Royal Box accommodating 32 gold chairs for Her Majesty The Queen and dignitaries, as well as individual Stirrup Cup private boxes for invited guests. This year, the East Stand also incorporated tiered decks for VIP alfresco dining within the grandstand, to the left of the Queen’s Box and Royal Enclosure.

The West Stand consisted of 2,016 tiered tip-up seats offering spectator views of the equestrian action whilst the North Stand, also under an 35m Arcus roof, provided an additional 828 tiered seats with 45 wheelchair spaces and 45 helper spaces on Arena Deck, plus built-in commentary boxes and media desks. Arena Seating ensured event accessibility with ramps and staircases from the public car parks to pavement level and constructed four camera towers for elevated Castle Arena views for BBC live broadcasting coverage.

Merchant said: “It was key this year for HPower Group to keep building on the precedence set at last year’s royal celebrations, so it was our pleasure to work with the organisers once again, ensuring the high-profile show excels its reputation of consistently delivering world-class sporting event environments at the highest level.”

Nick Brooks-Ward, projector director, added: “We have worked with the Arena Group for many years, we use them because we can be assured that they will provide the high levels of service and quality of product that we expect for an event as prestigious as Royal Windsor Horse Show.”

ICSS INSIGHT CEO Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros delivered a keynote address at the World Football Forum and highlighted the vital role that integrity and good governance can play in helping organisations across China and the wider football world achieve long-term and sustainable economic growth. 

Speaking during the World Football Forum – which took place in Changsha, China – Medeiros shared his 25 years’ of experience and expertise as a sports lawyer and senior executive within European and world football with senior leaders and investors from the Chinese and global football marketplace. 

Medeiros said: “Football, in China and around the world, has experienced unprecedented growth and commercial success over recent years. Clubs and leagues have become global brands; competitions are now broadcasted around the world, international recruitment and players’ transfers have increased exponentially.

“Whilst this incredible success should be celebrated and applauded, history has shown that there can be a dark side to the beautiful game. Developing and enforcing strong integrity policies is vital for the future of football in China and worldwide, to ensure its long-term development, commercial success and people’s trust and passion.”

During the keynote speech, he highlighted China’s vision to develop 50,000 youth academies by 2025 as one example of the exciting ambition to grow football in the country, as well as encouraging clubs, leagues, sponsors, as well as other organisations working within Chinese football, to join forces to ensure the highest standards and best practice is followed within their integrity, good governance and compliance regulation frameworks.

As a former CEO of the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL), Medeiros also proposed a 7-point “Game Plan” for the future of world football. These recommendations included:

1. Reform football’s governance, at a national and international level, with implementation of the highest standards in terms of democracy, transparency, accountability and meaningful stakeholder representation.
2. Implement club licensing systems throughout all professional competitions, at national and international level, including appropriate sporting, legal, infrastructural and financial requirements.
3. Implement best practice for youth development of young players, covering holistically all areas of the process, including recruitment, training, education and protection of minors.
4. Carry out a comprehensive regulatory reform on club ownership, as a matter of priority, with introduction of effective due diligence and independent supervision.
5. Establish a ‘clearing house’ system, both at national and international level, to ensure effective financial integrity of sport/related financial transactions, such as players' transfers fees and agents commissions.
6. Regulate and discipline the sports betting market and enhance international cooperation mechanisms, to effectively prevent and combat illegal betting and ensure the necessary protection of consumers (in particular, minors), the integrity of sporting competitions and football’s own economic viability.
7. Support the mission of SIGA (Sport Integrity Global Alliance) and its reform agenda, including the implementation of its core principles and universal standards on good governance, financial integrity and sports betting integrity.

He added: “The threats to the integrity of sport are big, global and increasingly sophisticated. At the ICSS, we are committed to safeguarding sport and sharing our knowledge and expertise with organisations around the world. Only through a global, holistic and multi-stakeholder approach can the sporting industry safeguard its reputation and in positive role in today’s society and economy.”

Tickets for the Glasgow 2018 European Championships – a brand new event on the global sporting calendar – will go on sale to the general public from Wednesday, June 14.

The on-sale date for the 84 sporting sessions across 12 venues was revealed via an interactive light show projected onto the SEC Armadillo in Glasgow. The event will be inclusive and accessible, with tickets starting from just £10, and under-16s attending the cheapest sessions for just £5.

Fans who want to secure tickets to their preferred sports before the general sale date are urged to sign up for priority ticket access via the Glasgow 2018 website at www.glasgow2018.com/join-in-form while they still can.

A comprehensive online ticketing and destination marketing guide has also been released by Glasgow 2018 giving people the chance to identify which of the sessions they wish to see, with added information on dates and timings and venues across Scotland.

Glasgow 2018 is part of a brand new multi-sport event running between August 2-12 2018 which will combine the existing European Championships for Aquatics, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing and Triathlon – plus a brand new Golf Team Championships – to create 11 days of exhilarating sporting action. At the same time Berlin will host the European Athletics Championships completing the line-up for the first edition of the European Championships.

More than 3,000 of the best athletes on the continent will compete in Glasgow and Scotland during the Championships and attendances across all sports are expected to be in the region of 250,000. It will be the biggest sporting event held in Scotland since the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The sporting action will take place across 12 venues in Glasgow and Scotland including Glasgow’s SSE Hydro (Gymnastics), Edinburgh’s Royal Commonwealth Pool (Diving), Strathclyde Country Park (Rowing and Triathlon) in North Lanarkshire and Gleneagles PGA Centenary Course (Golf) in Perth & Kinross.  

A number of free events – including the Cycling Road Race through the streets of the city and beyond, Open Water Swimming at Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and Mountain Bike at Cathkin Braes – will also take place, giving as many people as possible the opportunity to witness sporting history on their doorsteps.

A vibrant cultural programme, with Glasgow’s George Square at its beating heart, will also run alongside the sporting action, bringing local communities across the country to life with a celebration of Scottish and Glaswegian culture. Themes from the national Year of Young People in 2018 will also run through the programme.

Glasgow 2018 Championships director Colin Hartley said: “The moment is coming. The European Championships promises to be one of the most memorable sporting and cultural events this country has ever experienced and we want as many people as possible to come to Glasgow and Scotland to join us on this historic journey.

“Our fair and competitive pricing structure, combined with a number of high-profile free events and an exciting cultural programme, will ensure that everyone feels part of this momentous occasion and can enjoy the sport and culture and also sample our fantastic tourism offer.

“Of course our crowds are internationally renowned as some of the most passionate and welcoming in the world and I have no doubts that the Glasgow 2018 European Championships will serve to strengthen that reputation to a global audience.

“We aim to put on a truly remarkable sporting event and, along with the athletes and the sports themselves, the fans will play an important role in ensuring the first ever European Championships is a success.”

International broadcasters came together this week to meet with Eurovision Production Coordination (EPC), host cities Berlin and Glasgow, and the seven participating European Sports Federations for a world broadcaster briefing ahead of the inaugural multisport European Championships in August 2018.

The working session, complemented by site visits at some of the main event venues, is a major milestone in developing up to 300 hours of programming delivered to a potential worldwide audience of more than one billion people.

The European Championships is a major new multisport event taking place every four years, supported by Europe’s free-to-air broadcasters, which aggregates the existing senior continental championships of Athletics (European Athletics), Aquatics (LEN), Cycling (UEC), Gymnastics (UEG), Rowing (FISA), Triathlon (ETU), with a new Golf Team Championships (ET & LET) – all unified under a common brand.

EPC introduced its international signal production plans and gave an overview of the content, venue and network services to be offered to rights-holding broadcasters, including integrated digital solutions to support first- and second-screen programming.

With the meeting in Glasgow, the participating broadcasters visited some of the key venues including Glasgow's Tollcross International Swimming Centre (Aquatics), Emirates Arena (Track Cycling at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome), and SSE Hydro (Gymnastics), as well as Strathclyde Country Park in North Lanarkshire (Rowing and Triathlon).

In Berlin, the Olympic Stadium will be the venue for the European Athletics Championships with the road races and race walking events held throughout the city.

The venue tour also covered George Square and Glasgow Green, along with a visit to BBC Scotland’s facilities, where Eurovision Production Coordination will set up the Broadcast Operation Centre (BOC) during the event. A similar facility, the International Broadcaster Centre (IBC) will be in Berlin, next to the Olympic Stadium.

The three-day meeting also offered an opportunity for broadcasters to meet with the Glasgow and Berlin local organising committees and Federation representatives.

“As the Broadcast Partner and Host Broadcaster for the upcoming European Championships, we are pleased to see such strong interest coming from the broadcasting community for this milestone event,” said Stefan Kuerten, Director of EBU Sport. “We've received positive feedback from rights-holding broadcasters and will continue working with all parties to provide the overall production and technical solutions for broadcasters to showcase engaging content for audiences.”

Earlier this year, the seven European Federations, Host Cities Glasgow and Berlin, and the EBU agreed on a sports competition schedule that will run from Thursday, August 2 to Sunday, August 12 2018 with a compelling 10 days of television coverage starting Friday, August 3.

Newly-elected Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) president, Neven Ilic, and the PASO executive committee have completed three days of planning meetings with the Lima 2019 Organising Committee.

During the visit, Ilic and the committee met with key members of the Lima 2019 Organising Committee, including its president, Carlos Neuhaus. The delegation also toured event sites and venues.

The working groups in Lima follow Ilic’s visit to the capital last week where he met with Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and was reassured of Peru’s commitment to successfully delivering the Pan American Games in 2019.

Neuhaus said: “We were delighted to welcome back President Ilic and his team so soon after his initial visit and we have completed three days of very fruitful meetings.

"The knowledge and experience that Mr Ilic and his team possess on the Pan American Games is second to none and it was invaluable to be able to update them on our progress and in return receive their feedback and advice. There is a real sense of energy and urgency from both sides as we begin to accelerate our Pan-American Games' preparations.”

Ilic added: “It was a pleasure to return to Lima following my meetings with President Kuczynski and President Neuhaus last week. Both have demonstrated their full commitment to delivering a successful event and I am convinced that Lima 2019 will be a memorable Pan American Games – but we must make the most of all the time we have left.

"That is why, I immediately returned with my PASO Executive Committee so we could meet with Mr Neuhaus and his team to get an update on the progress being made and strengthen our plan of action for the coming months. Our aim is to improve the coordination between both organisations so that PASO can take a more active role in the delivery of the Games.”