South African Soccer World Cup 2010 Bid Committee: briefing

SPORTS AND RECREATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
9 September 2003
SOUTH AFRICAN SOCCER WORLD CUP 2010 BID COMMITTEE: BRIEFING

Acting Chairperson: Mr C T Frolick (UDM)

Documents handed out:
Soccer World Cup Bid Presentation 2010 (Document not to be released)

SUMMARY
CEO of the Bid Committee, addressed the Committee on the 2010 Soccer World Cup Bid. One of the aims of the Bid is to promote and increase Africa's involvement in the global football economy. He referred to Government and corporate support for the Bid and had embarked on a number of marketing programmes to popularise the Bid among the people. Comparisons made with other bidder countries showed that South Africa had the best chance of generating the required revenue from hosting the event.

MINUTES
Mr Danny Jordaan, CEO of the Bid Committee, introduced Ms Nomsa Chabeni, Head of Marketing.

The 2010 Bid was an almost spontaneous response to the failure of the 2006 Bid. It was an all Africa affair this time as a developing country had not yet hosted a major event

The 4-2-4 System
The first four areas to be considered were:
- Government support which had to be guaranteed to provide security. Other considerations included a tax regime import and export measures and arrangements concerning VISA's, all of which would reside with the government.
-Corporate support was important as the Bid constituted a major business initiative.
-Infrastructure would be a huge cost with regard to hosting. Increased levels of infrastructure would result in lower input cost, which in turn resulted in higher profitability
-Hard business issues for FIFA were contained in the area of the economy.

Two broad categories, sport considerations and business considerations, had to be taken into account. Sport concerns would include arrangements for accommodation, transportation and the well-being of players. Business imperatives were important to FIFA as this event was staged once every four years. FIFA's entire budget was based on revenue generated by the World Cup, and events to take place within the four years had to be funded from this revenue.

People, history, wildlife and culture constituted the 'final four' of the System. All were huge selling points for South Africa, but the FIFA requirements had to be met. 13 out of 24 votes were necessary for the Bid to be successful.

Resolution
Africa constituted only 1% of the global football economy. Africa's role in the global football economy was to send talented players to Europe and then they often become unaffordable. This was a general African problem. One of the aims of the Bid was to promote and increase Africa's involvement in the global football economy. A number of big events like the Cricket World Cup, Rugby World Cup and the African Nations Football Tournament had all been hosted in South Africa with huge success, especially in terms of levels of participation. This indicated that South Africa had the event management expertise to host the Soccer World Cup. Performance of the local team was obviously very important.

Support
Joseph Blatter, President of FIFA, supported the notion of the 2010 Soccer World Cup (SWC) to be staged in Africa. At the opening of Parliament this year, President Mbeki pledged his support for the Bid. Government guarantees submitted to FIFA by the various countries had indicated their seriousness in terms of participating in the World Cup. Companies that pledged corporate support included amongst others, South Africa Breweries, Telkom, Vodacom, Transnet, First National Bank, BMW, Southern Sun, SAA, Adidas and AVIS Car Rental.

Other Bidders
Comparing the overall economic performance with other bidding countries, South Africa was by far the biggest economy on the continent, and also FIFA's best chance in terms of generating revenue. Morocco was the biggest rival as the country had made three former attempts.

Challenges
These included ensuring effective participation of people in the economy, especially in terms of black empowerment, as well as the managing of new and existing sports entities. The reality was that modern sport was business, but the business of sport must serve sports to maintain a balance.

Economic benefits and job creation
5.9 million people visited South Africa every year, placing this country in the top 23 in the world in this regard. Key industries to benefit from the SWC include clothing, textiles and footwear where there would be opportunities for black economic empowerment. Other areas include transport, information and technology, construction, hospitality, event management, marketing and security.

Cost
R2.3 billion would be spent on upgrading stadia and infrastructure. GDP contributions would amount to R21.4 billion, R7.2 billion would be paid in taxes to the Government and R12.7 billion would be collected in revenue from spectator spending. In addition, 159 000 jobs would be created.

Infrastructure
Ten venues had been identified as playing fields, seven of which required minor upgrades and three of which required major upgrading. Three more stadia were to be built. The aim was to have a venue in each province. World Cup training venues would then be delegated as Premier Soccer League (PSL) training grounds. However, these venues had to be multi-purpose as it would make sense to have a huge venue that a PSL soccer team could not fill every week.

Travel
Johannesburg is the hub for most international travel, and all venues are linked by rail, road and air. Inner-city travel involved fans moving from residential areas to venues. Security issues had been raised around this, but South Africa has a 100% safety record, as was seen at the Cricket World Cup where security measures were fully comprehensive.

Decision-makers
Whether or not the Bid was successful depended on a number of individuals from, inter alia, Asian Football Association, Confederation Africaine de Football, Centra-American and Carribean Association Football, Confederation sudameriacana de Futbol, Union des associations europeennes de football, Oceania Football Confederation and FIFA President, Joseph Blatter.

Discussion
Mr Z Ncinane (ANC) commented that it was clear that soccer was not only centred in Guateng, but very prevalent throughout the country. Rural areas seemed to be excluded as there were none around the stadia mentioned in the presentation. How would the Bid be popularised among the people?

Mr D Lee (DA) asked whether the stadia in other bidding countries were also included when doing economic comparisons. He asked about the inclusion of the border area?

Ms R Southgate (ACDP) asked whether other African countries would support South Africa's bid and whether, if successful, South Africa would stage games in other African countries as had been done in the Cricket World Cup. Experience had been that stadia were upgraded but then not maintained. What would be done to ensure that facilities were not neglected after the SWC.

Mr Jordaan answered that coaches and teams would prefer to stay outside the central cities to control players and protect from certain influences. If accommodation was available in rural areas, the teams would rather stay there. Concerning rival bidders, both Morocco and Libya had indicated that they would build all facilities should they be successful. It would be clear after January next year following the Confederation of African Football (CAF) elections as to whether African countries would support South Africa . Companies wanting rights of ownership for facilities must propose how they would be funding the facility.

Mr A Mlangeni (ANC) asked if townships would be considered for sites for facilities. Was a campaign to promote the Bid amongst the people.

Mr B Dhlamini (IFP) asked if Soweto was deliberately left out and whether other bidders would withdraw in South Africa's favour and reduce the number of bidders.

Mr Jordaan answered that a big problem was that areas did not have decent sporting facilities. Football and the PSL were not truly national in character and building a world class sports facility where there was no PSL team would not be viable. It was proposed that access to facilities be made available in areas where a PSL team was present. It would be very costly to maintain. Currently soccer and rugby shared venues as this helped to maintain facilities.

Ms Chabeni addressed the marketing questiion. The Bid Legacy Programme involved travelling around the country and choosing specific existing projects to assist with maintaining activities. Most activities related to children's concerns. Commercial partners ran their own campaigns, like LoveLife, the Daily Sun and City Press. At the beginning of October, a groundsoil initiative would pre-empt the visit from the inspection team to the country.

Mr Jordaan referred to Mr Dhlamini's question, saying that Nigeria had attempted to present a West African Bid. FIFA dismissed the idea as Korea and Japan had co-hosted but did not generate the required revenue. All Bids had to be one-country bids. The Arabian countries wanted to present an Arab Bid, and Libya and Tunisia had also attempted to make a joint bid. Nigeria experienced a problem with government endorsement as they were to host the All Africa Games in October this year. South Africa had to be convinced of its own strength and not be concerned by the weaknesses of others.

Mr S Simmons ((NNP) asked why there was no new facility planned for Cape Town. The best in Cape Town was the Athlone Stadium, and Newlands Grounds did not have sufficient parking.

Ms M Molebatsi (ANC) asked as to the availability of South African players based overseas.

Mr E Lucas (IFP) said that something should be done about inner-city transport and the Department of Transport should be influenced to assist in this area. Concerning tickets, he asked whether there would be concessions for businesses making donations.

Ms D Morobi (ANC) asked as about security issues.

Mr M Mzondeki (ANC) raised an issue on those requiring special assistance at venues, like ramps for wheelchairs.

Mr S Moropa (ANC) said that the ordinary masses should be mobilised. He added that South Africa was held in high regard by the rest of the continent and there should not be divisions on the continent.

Mr Jordaan stated that the construction of a stadium had been planned for a site new Century City and another for Durban, but the plans had not been carried through for the 2010 Bid. However, if initiatives to have these constructed came to the fore, they would be considered. Overseas-based players would be available as the season in Europe ends in May. African players were under huge pressure not to play in their home countries, but then coaches in Africa were fired if they could not get players here. A development programme had to be developed between coaches to safeguard national interests. Concerning African support, South Africa had been accused by other bidders of being arrogant and therefore it was important that the CAF Headquarters were informed of the intention to bid for the 2010 SWC. Inner-city transport did present a problem. Transnet had indicated that the issue should be raised in Government as it affected the country's economic development. With regard to ticket prices, it must be ensured that the ordinary fans were able to afford tickets. Germany fought for the right to control ticket prices delegated to the Local Organising Committee in a host country. The perception of security had been changed by 11 September 2001, but South Africa was regarded as a safe destination. The issue of providing special assistance at venues was to be raised in terms of event planning.

The Chairperson pledged to provide the necessary assistance should it be required.

The meeting was adjourned.