2014 LOC a ‘black box’

A groundswell of dissatisfaction with the current state of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC) continues to form following a second set of negative comments in as many weeks from another Federal Deputy. In a report approved unanimously by the Chamber of Deputies’ Financial Regulation and Control Commission, Paulo Rattes, member of the Chamber’s World Cup 2014 sub-commission, has complained about the ‘inexistence’ of planning, strategic actions and cost provisions.

He stated that “nothing, nothing exists” and explained that his report is so critical simply because that is the reality of the situation, plus the fact that there is a dangerous precedent for the current lack of preparation: the Pan-American Games of 2007, which suffered from a significant blow out in spending because a number of urgent, last-minute works were required.

Rattes suggested the creation of a new organising commission incorporating the most number of relevant stakeholders possible, as opposed to the present situation in which the Brazilian Football Federation, headed by Ricardo Teixeira, doesn’t bother to appear at commission hearings or even respond to invites. He said the organisation of the Cup is a ‘black box’ that no one except Teixeira and ‘his mates’ can enter.

Even FIFA was not spared, with Rattes remarking that while they consider some of their requirements as absurd they don’t even have the opportunity to voice concerns or discuss the situation in an open forum.

Pressure on 'private' 2014 Organizing Committee

Federal Deputy Sílvio Torres, a member of Brazil's Sub-commission supervising the 2014 World Cup, has called for much greater transparency from the Federal Government and Local Organising Committee (LOC) following a recent tour to South Africa to inspect preparations for the 2010 event. The sub-commission, set up in June this year by the country’s Chamber of Deputies, is aiming to follow and report on all public spending on the Cup as closely as possible to ensure all decisions and decision makers are held to account.

Torres commented this week that, unlike the 2010 LOC, which he described as democratic and rightly consisting of representatives from a wide range of relevant sectors, Brazil’s 2014 LOC is essentially a ‘private’ body with a very centralised structure that doesn’t feel the need to justify its decisions to anybody. Going further, he pointed out that, given the 2014 LOC is essentially under the auspices of the Brazilian Football Federation, and with Ricardo Teixeira heading both bodies, it is not advisable to give the Committee so much freedom and decision making power in light of the current state of the Brazilian football league.

Torres recommends creating an intergovernmental executive committee incorporating various ministers and sectors to oversee all decisions relating to the Cup.

The comments come as Torres presides over this week´s launch of a new website aimed at publishing details of all public spending, works, and tenders involving Cup projects. Established by the National Congress upon prompting by Torres himself, the ‘Network of Supervision and Control of The 2014 Cup’ will attempt to overcome the 2014 LOC’s lack of transparency to this point and will also be used for Rio 2016 projects.

Another day, another delay, as the Pantanal gets a green stadium

This week has seen two more quite visible delays in World Cup 2014 projects, one caused by success on the field and the other by weakness off it.

In Rio, the state secretary for sport, tourism and leisure, Márcia Lins, has revealed that work on Maracanã will now not begin until after August 2010 to allow Flamengo to use the ground for its Copa Libertadores matches, following the team's strong end to the 2009 Brazilian season and subsequent classification for the South American clubs tournament. The Maracanã upgrade had been scheduled to begin in December 2009 but has been delayed until March 2010, with the initial, external works to allow the stadium to remain in use until August, when it will close until the completion of works. The additional difficulties involved with working on an operational stadium are still being considered by the planning committee and architects.

In Cuiabá, which sits in the exact centre of South America and is the capital of the state of Mato Grosso (thick bush), the tender period for developers of the city's new stadium has been extended six weeks to allow more groups to submit their proposals. The tender was supposed to close Wednesday 9/12 but organisers decided that the 18 submitted bids were not sufficient and that the additional time will not affect the project start date, currently scheduled for February 2010.

Also in Cuiabá, the public release of plans for the new World Cup-standard stadium show a strong focus on sustainability - economic, social and environmental. The project, by Sao Paulo's GCP Architects, involves a flexible, demountable facility which will eventually be reduced to around 70% of its World Cup-mode capacity of 43,000 spectators. The design also features a strong focus on ventilation systems to help cope with the region's sweltering summers, while another key to the project is the stadium's integration with the surrounding areas, with plans to create a new urban centre post-2014. The entire project is currently budgeted at R$440 million.

Delaying the inevitable in Brazil

While this week’s World Cup pools draw has focused the football world’s attention squarely on South Africa 2010, the groundwork and planning for Brazil 2014 continues to gather much needed momentum. Following an ominous but also welcome warning (if not an admission) from the country’s top sport authority, Sport Minister Orlando Silva Junior, that Brazil’s infamous bureaucracy could make it very difficult to hit all Cup 2014 targets on time, it is worth mentioning a few of the issues surrounding foreign groups keen to secure a piece of the R$125 billion+ spending pie over the next four or so years, or seven including Rio 2016.

First, although things are still going slowly, it appears that a number of countries are gradually moving their chess pieces into place in preparation for a rush of activity in the (hopefully) not too distant future. As pretty much everyone waits for the relevant city, state and federal government bodies to get their act into gear and start mapping out projects clearly and definitively, the amount of groups planning to throw their hats in the ring gradually swells.

Just this week, Germany has signed a cooperation agreement with Brazil aimed at sharing lessons from the 2006 Cup, while Cup and Olympics focused groups from the UK, US, Australia, and Portugal, amongst others, have been touring the country in recent months trying to forge relationships with 2014 and 2016 decision makers. At the same time, Brazilian delegations representing all manner of major event related sectors have been heading off to all parts of the globe in search of ideas, inspiration and potential partners; most recently, representatives from eight of the 12 host cities plus Brazilian Football Federation chief Ricardo Teixeira were in South Africa at the annual Soccerex festival and conference, promoting their respective merits to the event’s strong line-up of global football and sport business industry players.

The current wave of activity follows months of seminars, round tables and architectural project presentations all around the country: exciting and certainly feel good but yet to be followed up by much in the way any tangible, concrete work. The latter, in many cases, has been on the verge of beginning, but, as if often the case in Brazil, last minute problems or changes have pushed back starting dates. To use a symbolic example, the release date of official development plans for the upgrade to Rio’s Maracana stadium, the host of the 2014 Cup final and centrepiece of Rio 2016, has already been pushed back twice, from September to October and then to December (they are still not yet available).

Although this situation of delays and bureaucratic bungling is certainly worrying, there are definitely positive aspects for foreign groups hoping to enter the Brazilian market through Cup and Olympic driven projects. Not only does the situation give outsiders more time to get themselves ready for doing business in Brazil, a difficult task in itself, but the increasingly compressed time-line will also force both decision makers and Brazilian businesses into finding solutions and ‘delivering the goods’ at much shorter notice. Given Brazil’s relative inexperience at hosting major events, combined with the massive scale of social and urban improvements being planned, all with very real and immovable finish lines, it is not difficult to see that foreign groups offering quicker, more efficient outcomes founded on successful experiences with similar projects around the world will have better chances of winning work. Add to this Brazil’s somewhat cloudy history of absolute and utter transparency in the public realm, it is pretty clear that at least some of the thousands of contracts to be on offer all around the country will be decided and pushed through quickly and without the diligence that might otherwise be expected.

For non-Brazilian parties then, the idea will be to ensure that they are not only ready to open for business in Brazil at short notice, but that, maybe more importantly, they know all the key groups and players in their respective decision making processes, just in case all the relevant information doesn’t end up coming out through the regular, official channels.

Steel use encouraged

Brazil's steel institute has launched a campaign promoting the benefits of using steel on stadia projects around the country. Dubbed "Steel: Building the 2014 Cup", the campaign is hoping to raise the level of steel used in the country from 100kg/person to a figure closer to 300kg/person, the ratio for most developed countries. The institute expects that the Cup alone will create demand for an additional 3-5 million tonnes of steel.

Knowledge sharing deal for Brazil and England

VisitBritain and Embratur (the countries' respective tourism bodies) have developed a cooperation agreement centred on the exchange of experiences and information over the coming decade. With Brazil already locked in to host the world's two biggest sporting events and England threatening to do the same thanks to its ongoing 2018 World Cup bid, the agreement is no doubt a smart and proactive move for both countries.

Sandie Dawe, the CEO of VisitBritain, will formalise the arrangement next May when he visits Brazil for a seminar involving world specialists in tourism marketing and promotion.

Jeanine Pires, President of Embratur, indicated that they are also looking at developing relationships with other recent Olympic hosts including Beijing and Sydney.

Construction work and planning delays troubling

The president of Brazil's National Association of Architectural and of Consulting Engineering Companies (SINAENCO), Jose Roberto Bernansconi, has issued another warning to the cities and governments responsible for getting themselves ready for the 2014 Cup, stating that ongoing delays and hiccups in transport and telecommunications preparations in particular are becoming very worrying.

Having just returned from London and an inspection of preparations for the 2012 Olympics, Bernansconi believes Brazil, and of course Rio de Janeiro, are falling behind the required time-frames and that significant work needs to be done over the coming months to remedy the situation.

Aussie tent city for 2010 Cup

A report in the Sydney Morning Herald today provides details of what is sure to be another amazing piece of Australian off-field sporting prowess. For the 2010 World Cup in South Africa a big, well-organised football supporters group, called simply the Fanatics, has hired the 25,000-seat Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban and will create a village-style headquarters at the facility, which is just 1km from the beach.

Organisers already have approval from Durban council and plan to transform the ground into a tent village for up to 1,500 supporters as a base for the group stage of the tournament. Rock band Powderfinger is also said to have committed to play at some stage during the period.

A novel approach sure, and sounds like plenty of fun, but the real question is just who is on the organising committee for the Brazilian tent city for 2014?

Rio Mayor leads group to European Olympic cities

On Monday, October 19 Eduardo Paes, the Mayor of Rio, led a small group of key figures involved with planning for the Rio 2016 Olympics to Europe to tour the Olympic cities of London (2012), Barcelona (1992) and Athens (2004).

The group, which also includes the special secretary for Rio 2016, Ruy Cezar, and development secretary, Felipe Góes, will focus on promoting Rio de Janeiro, attempting to attract investors and setting up research links.

The revitalisation of the Harbour Zone, which will feature an accommodation village with 1,840 beds, will be one of the strategic initiatives presented to host groups.

£30 billion estimate put on World Cup/Rio 2016 construction opportunities

A new report by UK Trade & Investment has detailed that up to £30 billion worth of construction work opportunities will be available in Brazil thanks to the 2014 World Cup and Rio 2016 Olympics.

The report covers commercial opportunities from over 80 projects including:

• £1.5 billion on constructing and modernising 12 stadiums
• £1.4 billion expanding and modernising airports across the country
• £10 billion improving and expanding urban transport systems in the 12 world cup host cities

Report author Faith Quigley stated that “The know-how and expertise of UK companies, and the sporting links between our two countries, makes our firms well-placed to take advantage of these opportunities."

Rugby and golf to make 2016 even more interesting

Today's decision that both golf and rugby 7s will be included in the 2016 Rio Olympics should create another interesting aspect to an already intriguing situation for the 'cidade maravilhosa'. Neither sport is at all important in Brazil, with rugby at best amateur and grassroots-driven (mainly by gringos - expats) and golf essentially an elite-only sport with a small, tight-knit following and only a handful of courses in most cities and very few really good layouts around the country. Indeed, one commentator has already pointed out that Rio doesn't currently have a course long enough to host an international golf tournament, so some big decisions and significant development will be on the cards.

The big picture then is that, like many of the disciplines already included in the Olympic regime, both new additions will require significant foreign involvement and expertise to be made a reality.

Development bank to fund Games and Cup

Brazil's National Bank of Economic and Social Development has indicated that it will release up to R$15 billion (US$8.5 billion) for projects for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio Olympics combined. The principal focus of the funding will be on activities involving infrastructure in the 12 Cup host cities, including Rio and its additional requirements for the Games.

The federal government has also announced that it expects Rio 2016 to cost around R$26 billion, seven times the cost of the 2007 Pan American Games, which came in at R$3.7 billion.

Brazil's big sporting chance

While the country is still officially considered a 'developing' nation, Brazil has received a massive dose of support from the world's principal sporting authorities by being chosen to host the planet's two biggest sporting events within a period of two years.

Projects and planning already underway for the 2014 World Cup will be given a big boost following Rio's successful bid to host the 2016 Olympics, with the vote of confidence in Rio's capability sure to reverberate around the country and give new life to Cup-focused projects in the 11 other cities hosting matches. In short, the Olympics win will instill even more self-belief in the governments, private groups and individuals responsible for getting the country ready for the Cup, while the additional international focus should also promote a greater sense of responsibility in terms of ensuring the country is as ready as physically possible, across all key areas, by 2014.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Rio decision was met with a fair amount of disbelief from a great number of Brazilians. Although a favourite in the days leading up to the final vote, there was definitely a sense of cynicism in the local population that South America, Latin America, would once again be looked over for a safer option. But it wasn't, and in the days following the decision the new feeling is one of optimism, acceptance and confidence; an important shift for a country that has always been self-conscious about its international standing.

Questions over security, facilities, capability and experience are certainly relevant and understandable, and have been asked plenty of times before, but Brazil's strong, stable growth in recent years and increasingly solid reputation on the global stage indicate that the country can find the answers: at least that what the people at the IOC and FIFA feel, as well as plenty of others in positions that matter.

Brazil is a big country on an upward trajectory and its success in attracting the planet's two key sporting events, both times right under the noses of other global superpowers, provides the international recognition the country has been desperately seeking in recent years. The important thing now is to take advantage of this newfound respect by doing everything in its power to fulfill the world's expectations while also remaining true to the country's traditions and people: no small task, but one that if performed proficiently and with a sense of urgency, will reap major rewards for many years to come. And with the world watching on, it is also a chance for Brazil to show that it really is the serious global player it has for some time been threatening to be.

Some opinions on Brazil's Cup

Below are some ideas on the way things might be approached in Brazil ahead of the football World Cup 2014…

- "World Class" Stadia should not be the top priority. To have facilities that are functional, within FIFA's guidelines, safe, reasonably priced and with future plans should be the focus. As opposed to trying to develop the world's best stadium. Brasil, as it is a little behind with most stadia in the country, is not the place for this kind of aim right now and there are many other things to worry about.

- Focus on security, security, security. It is no mystery that Brazil has some problems in this area, not just in the general population but in relation to football in particular. If there is any aspect that deserves full attention and an attempt to develop world's best practice, security is it. I would take the best of the best from recent games, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Germany 2006, and Beijing 2008 and try to develop a focused, specific security policy tailor made for Brazil. If anything goes wrong in this area it could easily be a deal breaker for the event, ruining all the other work, therefore the country must get this right. Things to take into account are crowd control particularly getting to and from stadia, which can be in difficult areas, and police/security training in terms of dealing with foreigners, which in many parts of Brasil is not really up to scratch. To have an internationally well regarded police force would not be a bad thing for Brazil in the future, in all respects.

- Focus on strengths. Just as stadia are a weakness, there are many strengths to focus on for Brazil 2014, all of which could help define the event. The happiness and receptivity of the people is an obvious one and this will not be difficult. Efforts to improve the hospitality and tourism industry, particularly through language courses in English and Spanish, are spot on, and will improve an area of the country that is already high quality and loved by tourists. Technology is another, and attention should be paid to ensuring there is the capability to cater to the heavy workload and requirements during the games, plus use technology to maximum advantage - eg. this could be one part of the stadia refurbishments that should be a focus, as existing media, technology, security facilities along with corporate hospitality areas are regarded as poor. As Brazil is a world leader in internet usage and associated areas of technology, it should really try to make it a stand out aspect of the Cup.

- Transport simply has to improve and should be a major focus, not just for the Cup but in general; many of the cities are not up to scratch and will have problems during the event, but really need an overhaul for the future anyway - what better time than now??

- Accommodation is a bit of a problem but I say the market will work this aspect out, although in 2014 there may be some rich tourists and travelling fans being forced to stay in less than luxury accommodation to see their countries play. But, ultimately, many of the cities just can't sustain a bunch of new five star hotels and the best option will be squeezing everyone into the pousadas, sitos and whatever else there is - it's more the Brazilian style anyway, particularly in the smaller cities. And again, the market will work this out - if a foreigner can't book the package/room they desire then they will simply gave to figure something else out, or not go… either way, it's a problem that will not create any major waves beyond maybe having some matches with smaller crowds - but in a country of 200 million, I'm sure the locals will fill in the gaps.

Trade Mission from Brazil to Australia

Brazil-Australia Sport & World Cup 2014 and Rio 2016 Business Mission

February 27-March 7, 2009

Locations: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane

Overview -

A series of presentation and networking event involving a range of key Australian sport administration, business and football bodies with a specific aim of presenting Australia's expertise with major event management and sport business in relation to the World Cup 2014 in Brazil, while also providing Brazilian attendees with a look at some of the best sporting facilities in the world. Given the wide range of requirements the 2014 World Cup and Rio 2016 Olympics will present, the trade mission delegation can incorporate people from a range of areas, although the main focus should be on having a solid group of Brazilian 2014 organising committee contacts who will be seeking ideas, capability and partners. A parallel focus will be on Australia's bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup and where Brazil might be able to assist.

Some areas of Australian expertise which Brazil will have to address -

* Stadium construction/refurbishments/overlay - all twelve stadia require major work; up to four to be built from scratch

* Master planning - timetabling, budgeting, marketing strategies

* Transport, accommodation and service infrastructure

* Major event security and risk management

* Specialist IT and telecommunications requirements

* Delivering an environmentally sustainable event

* Staffing, volunteers, training and operational readiness

* Urban improvements and parallel entertainment options

Key Australian groups -

* Australian International Sporting Events Secretariat (AISES)

* Business Club Australia

* Australian Sports Commission and Sport Minister

* Football Federation Australia

* NSW Department of State & Regional Development

* Industry Capability Network (ICN) - Victoria

* Queensland Government & Sport

* A-league teams

PROBABLE EVENTS:

Tour of Sydney Olympic Park and presentation

Presented by:

NSW Department of State & Regional Development "Readying a city for the Olympic Games"

Australian International Sporting Events Secretariat (AISES) "Australia's expertise with major sporting events"

Sydney Olympic Park Authority

Tour of Melbourne sport precinct and presentation

Presented by:

Victorian Industry Capability Network "Melbourne - The world's 'Ultimate Sport City'"

Australian International Sporting Events Secretariat (AISES) "Australia's expertise with major sporting events"

Melbourne Cricket Ground Trust

Tour of Suncorp Stadium and presentation

Presented by:

- Business Club Australia "Doing business at sporting and major events"

- Australian Sports Commission and Sport Minister "Sport in Australia and links with Brazil"

- Football Federation Australia "Football in Australia and our bid for the 2018 or 2022 World Cup"

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT SIMON TARMO AT simon@sponsorshipnews.com.au

The Cup half full in Brazil

After almost two years of relative inaction Brazil is finally waking up to the fact that it will be hosting one of the world's biggest events in five years time. Although it was selected as the host of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in mid 2007, only in recent months have the first rumblings of Cup-focused planning and development really begun.

At the end of May FIFA will announce the 12 Brazilian cities that will host 64 matches over two months in June and July 2014. This selection process has been the driver of a wave of activity from state governments and city councils around the country all trying to prove their credentials and secure one of the coveted positions. This in turn has aroused significant concerns about just how much work will be required to get Brazil ready for the event, across the wide range of sectors that will play their part.

In terms of Brazil's sport and major event technology, the 2014 Cup should create a veritable revolution. To begin with, just about every potential host stadium around the country, even those in the big cities of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, are still well short of the standards required by FIFA. All of the existing stadia to be used will therefore be undergoing major refurbishment and remodelling over the coming years, while up to four new facilities will be built from scratch. A key part of this upgrading process will involve stadium technology, with much of the infrastructure demanded by modern football and sport simply not currently available in Brazilian facilities.

The improvements will need to be as wide ranging as they are drastic, incorporating comprehensive communications systems catering for operational, promotional, entertainment, media and on-field requirements, new business and corporate hospitality facilities, accessibility and safety provisions and, last but certainly not least, security.

The latter is considered one of the most important areas to be addressed for Brazil 2014 and the powers that be are acting. In March the Brazilian government launched a new project aimed at significantly raising the bar on spectator security at football matches in preparation for the Cup. The 'Torcida Legal' (literally 'legal supporter') project has as one of its central features the installation of sophisticated crowd monitoring and security technology in all stadia in Brazil with a capacity of more than 10,000 spectators. The project sets tough minimum standards covering the control of access to stadia, the amount of video cameras and monitors throughout the facility and the establishment of fully-equipped security centres. The requirements will come into effect for the beginning of the 2010 Brazilian domestic football season with a view to ironing out all kinks well in time for the 2013 Confederations Cup, one year before the main event.

Another important factor in Brazil's preparation for the Cup involves the ongoing use of stadia. A small controversy continues to unfold in the country surrounding a recent statement by FIFA's marketing department discouraging the use of stadia with athletics tracks separating the crowd from the field of play, a comment that has raised the ire of Brazilian athletics officials while also highlighting the important issue concerning the ongoing utility of modern day stadia. Although there may be little choice in some cases, it will be interesting to see if the FIFA pressure translates into either design modifications allowing for moveable seating and stadia reconfiguration or the removal of athletic tracks entirely.

Just which groups will steer the modernisation process the 2014 host stadia will require largely remains to be seen. Sinaenco, Brazil's national association of architectural and consulting engineering companies, affirmed recently that Brazilian groups have sufficient expertise, knowledge and experience to develop and manage projects for the Cup across all relevant areas of infrastructure. While this may be true to some extent, the combination of a relatively short timeframe, 12 separate locations and a long list of requirements spanning many different sectors presents a major challenge that will rapidly escalate in magnitude if any hiccups are encountered along the way. Considering again the afore-mentioned fact that not one single stadium in Brazil currently meets the standards imposed by FIFA to host World Cup matches, it would appear that significant international involvement will be required, particularly when it comes to the likes of specialised technology and major event know-how.

One group that will almost certainly play a part is FIFA's official technology sponsor for the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, Satyam. At present, the Indian company has only a small presence in Brazil and with the group's recent activities clouded by a series of controversies and the shock resignation and jailing of founder and chairman Ramalinga Raju there have been few hints as to just how it will handle Brazil 2014. Satyam has significantly ramped up its involvement and presence in the South African market ahead of the 2010 Cup, however one major issue in Brazil is the language barrier, which the company has already cited as being a problem when it first entered the market in 2004. In South Africa, Satyam is playing a crucial role in developing the core IT event management system for FIFA and its service partner for IT, accommodation and hospitality - MATCH AG, while the company is also working closely with the local organising committee. The question is whether this level of involvement will be repeated for Brazil 2014, and just who will fill in the gaps if not.

While it is easy to raise doubts about and cast aspersions at any country preparing to host an event as big and prestigious as the FIFA World Cup, something that cannot be questioned is Brazil's strong desire, and indeed major potential, to make 2014 a grand success. Come May 31, when FIFA names the 12 Brazilian cites to host 2014 matches, the real test of just how to make that happen will begin.