Well it’s the 31st of December 2009 and ten years on since I was preparing for IT meltdowns and a hotel full of revellers as a General Manager back then. That was a great night and the last ten years have taken me in a direction I would never have dreamt of.
I have always loved sport and now I am really enjoying playing a small role in driving the sporting event scene in our great country. Gordon Brown coined the phrase “golden decade of sport” for the 10 years ahead and we can certainly look forward to a glittering array of sporting action and the opportunities this presents to inspire new champions and grow our businesses.
Three of the five mega events that dominate international sport are definitely coming to Britain – the Olympic & Paralympics Games in London 2012, followed swiftly by the Commonwealth Games coming to Glasgow in 2014 and the IRB Rugby World Cup in England a year later.
It would be amazing to see the full set here, with the FIFA Football World Cup and the World Athletics Championships potentially arriving on our doorstep? Hey, maybe even a SUPERBOWL in London at Wembley is not out of the question? WHY NOT?
Our bid for football’s World Cup in 2018 is certainly in with a chance and it would be a real honour to host. This would IGNITE the country like nothing else we have seen before – an amazing festival of football and entertainment for four sizzling weeks in the summer.
There have also been suggestions that London could bid for athletics’ premium event in 2015, though with Beijing in the running, it may well be sensible to wait for two more years till 2017.
But where the World Cup and athletics’ World Championships are still in the realm of ifs, buts and maybes, there is no such uncertainty surrounding London 2012 and Glasgow 2014. Even two-and-a-half years out, London has virtually guaranteed the Games will be a logistical and commercial success. The speed of the building work and the rapid development of the myriad of operational units along with the commercial program developed by Paul Deighton and the team at London 2012 has delighted the IOC.
After the brinkmanship of Athens in 2004, where the facilities were still being painted 24 hours before the opening ceremony, and the rigidity of the organisation for the Beijing Games, the pace and flexibility of London has come as a considerable relief to the IOC.
Indeed, Denis Oswald, the chairman of the IOC co-ordination commission which monitors London’s progress, recently awarded the preparations a mark of “9.75 out of 10 – because nobody’s perfect”.
Lord Coe is acutely aware however that the success of the Games will ultimately be judged on the performances of British athletes. Seb Coe said recently that: “No one is more conscious than I that the relative success and failure of the Games will be judged by many people by the number of great British moments in London.”
The good news is that, thanks in large part to National Lottery funding being targeted at Olympic sports, it would be a huge shock if Team GB did not do a great job and match their achievements in Beijing. It seems unlikely they will be able to improve on fourth place in the medals table, but their haul should be raised to keep them clear of Australia – WHY NOT? WE Love that!!
The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are coming along strongly as well, though like all major events there will be challenges. The recent report by Audit Scotland identified work on key venues as being months behind schedule, but the budget had increased from £373m to £454m. The national indoor sports arena and the velodrome are running 21 months behind schedule – they were due to be completed by March 2010, while the cycling course is now expected to be completed in 2012, almost three years late. A firm hand is needed on this project and I know John Scott and his team will do this well.
As I said recently at the Business Tourism Conference in Scotland, “This needs to be a Scottish Event through and through delivered by Scotland, its people and its businesses”. They could learn a great deal from Beijing on making sure talent and IP is developed and retained in the country rather than the circus rolling in and out of town in 2014.
I can’t wait for the next ten years – I'll be like a child again! The Champions League Final at Wembley in May 2011 followed by the Badminton World Championships in the summer and all the London 2012 test events – mouth watering indeed!
Hosting the World Cup would indeed be the shining glory of the next 10 years. There is no guarantee of success, however and we need everyone’s help in supporting our bid for England 2018.
Having just set up my own company called WHY NOT? It seems apt indeed to ask the question in such a decade of opportunity!
Happy New Year and Decade!
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