The headquarters of the Col-legi d'Economistes de Catalunya (CEC) in Barcelona hosted last Thursday 13 July the conference "Challenges of Olympism in the 20th century" by the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Juan Antonio Samaranch coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the Barcelona'92 Olympic Games.
Samaranch recalled that at the last IOC meeting important changes were announced in relation to the choice of candidate cities to host the Olympic Games "giving us great flexibility" that will allow a tripartite agreement "for the moment unique and non-permanent" between the IOC, Paris and Los Angeles to designate them as Olympic cities for 2024 and 2028. Samaranch said that "this flexibility will give us the tools to face populism and the forces of no that have already become professionalised" and "will enable us to work for 10 years on better communication of the Olympic movement, the generation of savings and the promotion of efficiency".
In relation to the designation of the candidate cities, Samaranch explained that "a department will be created just to manage this process, which will take a maximum of two years, with a first information phase of one year in which the cities will approach the IOC to investigate the possibilities of hosting the Olympic Games and in which they will be given all the support they need". After this phase "we will have an idea" of which cities offer the best opportunity and they will be invited to become candidate cities.
On the other hand, the IOC vice-president detailed the revenue generated by the Olympic Games, which "between 2013 and 2016 was 5.7 billion dollars, 4.2 billion of which was generated by television rights, 1 billion by sponsors and 500 million from other sources". Samaranch stressed that "90% of the revenue goes to the Olympic movement, and only 10% to the IOC itself". He also pointed out that "$2.4 billion goes directly to the host cities, which shows that it is unfair and false to say that we are ruining the Olympic cities".
The chairman of the CEC Commission on Sport Economics and Finance, José María Gay de Liébana, welcomed the event by pointing out that "Barcelona is still reaping the dividends of the great investment made in 1992". Samaranch's conference at the Colegio de Economistas de Cataluña also counted on the intervention of other speakers linked to the world of Olympism, such as the International Marketing Director of the Organising Olympic Committee of Barcelona'92 (COOB'92) and President of Sport Cultura Barcelona. Albert Agustíformer Olympic swimmer, member of the CEC's Sport Economics and Finance Commission and Sport Cultura Barcelona Mª Paz Corominas and the director of communication and official spokesperson of the Barcelona'92 Olympic Games Pedro PalaciosHe pointed out that "it is a solemn injustice what Barcelona is doing to the figure of former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, who is recognised all over the world except in this city". Palacios also reviewed the major milestones of Samaranch's presidency, highlighting "the elimination of amateurism, the consolidation of the Olympic Games as the biggest competition, the fact of making athletes the protagonists, the improvement of the IOC's economic resources through income from television and marketing rights, the fight against doping, the creation of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the promotion of the role of women in the Olympic movement, the democratising reform of the IOC, the diplomatic and institutional projection of the IOC and the creation of the Olympic Museum".
The Col-legi d'Economistes de Catalunya (Association of Economists of Catalonia)with more than 8,000 members and more than 2,000 associated companies and firms professionally dedicated to the different aspects of economics and business, is considered an institution which, through the organisation of very different activities and services, is configured as a centre for the training and recycling of professionals and as a forum for opinion open to society in general.