Sports Event Bidding A strategic guide for bidders and sports property owners

Sports Event Bidding

A strategic guide for bidders and sports property owners
Bahrain’s International Circuit, built as part of its bid for Formula One, contributed
5% of GDP in 2006 alone, demonstrating the powerful financial reasons for
bidding and hosting sports events.
Of no less importance, the longer term social and health benefits of sport
are being recognised as never before with the result that governments are
increasingly interested in exploiting the potential of sports events as vehicles for
achieving specific policy goals.
This has led to fierce competition among bidders and heightened the
expectations of the international federations to the point where it now demands
huge financial and technical resources just to be in the running.
Against such a competitive backdrop, it has therefore never been more crucial
to understand and play to your strengths when selecting events to bid for.
Developing Successful Strategies in Sports Event Bidding will show you how
to mount the most powerful and well-communicated bid, influence the decision-
makers in the awarding bodies and deliver the real benefits of bidding, win or
Sports Event Bidding
lose. A strategic guide for bidders and
If you are responsible for awarding hosting rights, this report will also give you
valuable insight into how you can improve decision-making and achieve the best
sports property owners
outcome for your event.
Marketing Partner
David Walmsley

David Walmsley
 Sports Event Bidding
A strategic guide for bidders and sports property owners
Author: David Walmsley

The right to host an international event is now one of the most valuable prizes in sport. The 2007 Dubai
International Sports Conference valued the market at US$50 billion worldwide, while UK Sport estimates
such events contribute £1.5 billion to the British economy each year.
Hosting events is no longer purely about prestige either. The power of sport to deliver lasting economic,
social and health benefits to host communities is also being recognised as never before, prompting
government support for prospective bidders to grow at a similar rate.
Consequently, competition to host events is hotter than ever before, and particularly beyond the top tier
of Olympic Games, World Cup football and the like: for example, around 60 cities made initial applications
to host yachting’s 2007 America’s Cup.
But increased competition is constantly raising the bar for depth and quality of bids – which in turn is
increasing the cost of getting into the race. The prospective bidder therefore needs as much information
and intelligence on the process as they can.
This report aims to meet that need by assessing the changing bidding landscape and assisting potential
hosts in plotting a course through it, examining key issues in all areas from making the initial decision to
mount a bid, through putting together the components of a successful campaign and – for the unlucky
majority – responding to ultimate defeat in the committee room.
Case studies and interviews will look at how current and recent bidders have approached these
questions and assess the success and lessons of their chosen solutions.

Author profile: David Walmsley

David Walmsley has more than a decade’s experience in the sports industry as a business analyst,
journalist and author.

As an analyst, David works with the SportBusiness and Mintel research and intelligence groups,
specialising in spectator sports and media. He was author of the SportBusiness report , Maximising
Revenue from Sports Ticketing, published in 2001.

As a journalist, he has covered all major sports for newspapers, magazines and websites, working for the
likes of Independent News & Media and the BBC. He was also content provider to the official British and
Irish Lions website for their 2005 tour to New Zealand.

David has written six books on football and rugby union, including the acclaimed Genesis Publications
history of the British and Irish Lions, The Lions (2005). He is also a Director of electronic programme
provider Pregramme Media.

Marketing partner

www.sportbusiness.com www.heliospartners.com
 Table of Contents
Introduction and executive summary

Chapter 1: Why bid?

Depending on the situation of the potential bidder numerous benefits can be identified as motivating a
bid. This chapter sets out the range of reasons put forward for bidding for sports events including:
• Place branding and international positioning
• Economic gains both short and long term through tourism, regeneration and employment
• Development and participation gains in sport and health
• Extending the use of existing facilities
We also provide pointers as to common bidder situations and the most appropriate reasons to explore.

Chapter 2: What to bid for?

This section examines the growing opportunities for sports event hosting and offers a framework for
matching events to the strategic aims of the potential host. We offer a more scientific staged approach to
event target selection which:
• Identifies and understands the needs of sports property owners
• Maps the strategic aims of the bidder and look for a match
• Reviews sports event targets for fit, assessment criteria and winability
• Selects targets based on the assessments above

Chapter 3: Gaining stakeholder support

Winning the support of local and national government, the public, national sports federations and other
stakeholders are vital to the success of any bid. This chapter identifies the wide range of stakeholder
groups that will have to be communicated with and brought on board. We show some of the problems
that must be faced by bidders who do not have sufficient support and use worked examples to show
how support may be gained.

Chapter 4: Gaining commercial support

One increasingly common way of covering the cost of bidding is through commercial support. The pub-
licity that a bid generates is valuable to companies and “bid supporter” programmes can be attractive for
a number of reasons including:
• Lobbying access to government and key influencers
• Meeting CSR objectives by supporting a community
• Opportunity to showcase company expertise
Commercial property owners generally welcome such involvement and an increasing number of IFs are
recognising that cities need this kind of support to fund their bids.

Chapter 5: Legacy
Much has been written about the legacy of major events but this needs to be planned for at the bidding
stage. Property owners increasingly look for legacy benefits in bids and the number of budgets that can
be accessed when bidding and hosting is increased if all aspects of legacy are considered:
• Physical legacy of venues and facilities
• Sporting legacy of increased participation
• Economic legacy through investment in and stimulation of local economy
• Social/cultural legacy resulting from community co-operation
• Environmental legacy as areas are regenerated and renewed

Marketing partner

www.sportbusiness.com www.heliospartners.com
Chapter 6: Facilities
Not all facilities have to be built by the bidding stage (although some IFs will insist on this) but a clearly
worked through plan for stadia and venues will need to be shown. Whilst a bid showing only refurbish-
ment of existing facilities may be possible it could lack the “wow factor” that the awarding body is
looking for. Neither is big always better as many IFs prefer to show the world a packed house than rows
of empty seats. Detailed research will need to go into predictions of competitor, media, audience and
staff numbers to get this right. IFs are also increasingly sensitive to accusations of leaving white el-
ephants so bidders also need to show how facilities will be used post games.

Chapter 7: Infrastructure
The wider provision of transport and accommodation is a key part of the bid and can often be where
much of the legacy benefit will accrue. Security is now a major consideration at major sports events and
legal and practical preparation also needs to be done to ensure the event can be delivered. This chapter
provides advice on the less glamorous aspects of bidding but without which bidders can be forced onto
the back foot. There have been several high profile cases of bids being withdrawn due to these impor-
tant but avoidable challenges.

Chapter 8: The competition

The mechanics of event bidding competitions vary widely with many IFs conducting no more than a
simple beauty contest. For others the process can be drawn out over several rounds and governed by
detailed rules. This chapter provides guidance to the various scenarios bidders may face as well as look-
ing more in depth at the process adopted by:
• Summer and winter Olympic games
• Commonwealth games
• Cricket and rugby world cups
• World and European athletic championships and many others

Chapter 9: PR and lobbying

Another area often covered by complex rules, it is in the marketing, PR and lobbying activities that a
bid can be won or lost. For some competitions the costs of this activity can account for up to half of the
overall bid budget and it is one where almost fanatical attention to detail can be important. This chapter
looks at every aspect from international media, communications and messaging to the role of bid ambas-
sadors and even heads of state in bringing the games home.

Chapter 10: Losing the bid

Losing a bid does not need to be the disaster it might appear. Many of the legacy gains from hosting can
be realised albeit in a more minor way from the bid process itself. Indeed some entrants have no ex-
pectation of winning a competition but see the benefit of gaining the experience as justifying the costs
involved. These benefits include:
• International PR and “place branding”
• Accelerating of planning and development of sports and other physical infrastructure
• A galvanising impact on diverse bodies uniting them around a common goal
• Invaluable experience preparing the team for bidding success in future

Marketing partner

www.sportbusiness.com www.heliospartners.com
SportBusiness report buyers include:
Octagon, Chelsea FC, , Infront, Schmidt und Kaiser, Dentsu, UEFA, FIFA Marketing, Orange, France Telecom,
KNVB, Sportfive, Red Bull, BBC, KHP, Nationwide, Shell, Barclaycard, Castrol, Bank of Scotland, Celtic FC,
South African Breweries, Deutsche Telekom, Mastercard, Toyota, Team Alinghi, UBS, Rangers FC, DAGOC,
Fox, Canadian Grand Prix, ICC, Australian Rugby Union, Interbrew, Wembley Stadium, Adidas, Nike, Real
Madrid, Barcelona FC, WPP, MLB, NFL, NHL, Volvo Ocean Race, Williams F1, Hill & Knowlton, NatWest,
Vodafone, Carat, Manchester United, Swatch, IAAF, LTA, Anschutz Entertainment, Bahrain MotorFederation,
Wiggin & Co., Olswang, Bradford & Bingley, RAI, Stadium Australia, Juventus, Coca-Cola, TV Globo, Dorna,
JP Morgan, ESPN, Goldman Sachs, EBU, Hutchison 3G, Accenture, Prisma, ATP, IBM, China Central TV, Cisco
Systems, Samsung, Peugeot, Royal Bank of Canada, Siemens, Deloitte & Touche.

Corporate Credentials
Sports Event Bidding - A strategic guide for bidders and sports property owners is one of the growing
number of in-depth intelligence reports in the SportBusiness portfolio. For more information and to find
out which other reports can help you achieve your business objectives, please visit “reports” at
www.sportbusiness.com

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Marketing partner

www.sportbusiness.com www.heliospartners.com