★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ ASOIF GENERAL ASSEMBLY ≡
The annual meeting of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) in Lausanne (SUI) brought together all of the federations which will be involved in the sports operations for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Presentations by the upcoming organizing committees is always a key feature and the LA28 organizing committee was represented by two-person team of Chief Sport and Games Delivery Officer Shana Ferguson and Vice President of Sport Niccolo Campriani (ITA).
The energetic presentation over a half-hour recited some of the well-known aspects of the Games, but also expanded some details:
● Olympic competitions are slated for an announced total of 49 venues, and 77% of all sessions will be held in existing, permanent sites.
● As had been expected – but not previously announced – the UCLA Olympic Village will not be the only one, and will primarily serve the sports and venues within a 50 km (31 miles) radius.
● There will be three satellite villages to support the venues outside of that radius; based on the map shown in the presentation, these will serve surfing at Trestles, close to the San Diego County line, Anaheim, close to the Honda Center for volleyball, and Pomona for the L.A. County Fairgrounds, where cricket is to be played.
● Six cities, all outside of Southern California, are expected to be used for football preliminary matches.
● The LA28 competition schedule by session – not with times yet – is to be submitted for approval to the International Olympic Committee by 23 June, and published in July.
Ferguson explained that the long-used concept of using “event delivery partners” – outside companies to operate specific sports or venues is being actively worked on now at LA28.
This idea has been around forever; even at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, the organizing committee has similar agreements with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the demonstration baseball competition and with Santa Anita Park for equestrian.
But there can be problems. Tokyo 2020 used this concept widely and it ended up in a huge scandal as bids for the operation of test events (followed by venue management contracts for the Games) were essentially directed to specific firms. Multiple criminal convictions were obtained.
For Paris 2024, this concept was also used, in a more limited way, with some great successes, and some less, especially due to the complexity of contract negotiations and change orders.
Ferguson explained that any decision to use an “event delivery partner” will depend on consideration of four issues, with at least one needed to indicate a possible partnership:
● Reducing costs due to unique experience or increasing revenues from specific sales expertise or audience databases.
● Reducing complexity due to the partner’s capabilities.
● Reducing risk – financial and operating – due to the partner’s experience in similar events.
● Enhanced product, by helping to “ensure the participation of the best athletes” and can provide world-class service levels for operations and presentation.
Given these requirements, only very select partners make sense, and Ferguson displayed a slide with some illustrative candidates (not signed as yet):
● Baseball: Major League Baseball, to drive player participation, and the Dodgers, for sport presentation.
● Flag Football: National Football League to drive awareness and revenue.
● Football: Major League Soccer, to better work with MLS stadium owners and operators and reduce operating complexities.
● Surfing: World Surf League, which already stages events at the Trestles and knows the venue well.
Another possibility is the Tiger Woods Foundation to be the event organizer for golf at Riviera Country Club, since it already runs the annual Genesis Open at that venue, and can sell to its existing customer base.
Comments in the room centered on the importance to the federations of maintaining control of their sports, whether working with LA28 directly or a delivery partner, as the IFs are responsible to the IOC to put on the competitions at the Olympic Games. Said ASOIF President Ingmar de Vos (BEL), head of the International Equestrian Federation:
“We basically support the approach of Los Angeles, because every event in the Olympic Games, every venue, is different. You have existing venues that already have a long tradition of delivering that specific sport, or discipline, and you have events or sports that are not as traditional in a country, or that are organized in temporary venues.
“So I think it is very important so that instead of focusing on one specific event delivery model, that it’s much better and much more efficient – and also much more cost efficient – to be flexible and to have a kind of a hybrid system.
“With regard to these ‘event delivery partners,’ there is one very important principle that has been recognized again today, by the IOC but also by the organizing committee of the different Games, is that the international federation is still the one point of access. The international federation has to give an approval for whatever event model is used in their venues.”
Also of interest was the evolving use – or not – of test events. Instead of a lengthy schedule of test events for each sport, the Paris 2024 concept of targeted events or rehearsals will be used, “based on a risk and opportunity analysis.”
Campriani addressed one of the major priorities for the federations: the hiring of a staff manager for their sport! Of the 36 sports on the program, managers for five have started, five have been hired, seven more have been identified, and hiring of the remaining 19 is either in process or ha not started. Most are expected to be hired by the middle of 2026.
¶
Also, another formality was taken care of, as ASOIF approved the entry of World Boxing as an associate member as the provisional International Federation for the sport in Los Angeles by a vote of 27-2.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 694-event International Sports Calendar for 2025 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
