Introduction
Currently, events are increasingly being considered as one of the key components of our culture (Torkildsen, 2005, p.467). This has arisen from a number of factors some of which include increase in the consumers’ discretionary income and leisure time (Campbell, Stonehouse, & Houston, 2004, p. 34).
The world of events is composed of a wide spectrum of events some of which relate to sports, politics, business and cultural occasions (Damster, Tassiopoulos, Dry, Gasche, Johnson & Knocker, 2005, p.8).
Events can either be classified as special events, major events, and hallmark events. Special events include events that occur less frequently and are outside the normal operations of the organizing body (Varrel & Kennedy, 2011, p. 1). On the other hand, major events entail large scale events which are either national or international. As a result, they attract extensive media coverage and spectators (Damster et al, 2005, p.8).
The sports industry is one of the economic sectors within which numerous mega events are organized (Shone & Parry, 2004, p.65). An example of such sporting event is the Winter Olympics. Decision to establish the Winter Olympic Games was first conceived in 1908 with the acceptance of figure skating during the Summer Games which were held in London. The first Winter Olympics were held in 1924 in Chamonix, Paris (Mechikoff, 2009, p.43).
Currently, the Winter Olympic Games are held after every 4 years. Over the years, The Winter Olympic Games have undergone significant transformations. For example, more sports such as snowboarding, skeleton, figure skating, speed skating, curling, luge and freestyle skiing have permanently been included in the sports programme.
Letter of introduction
The Winter Olympic Games bid committee for the 2018 Winter Games is pleased to present its bid to hold the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. Decision to make the bid arose from appreciation of the fact that Germany has successfully held other mega events in the past.
For example, the 2006 FIFA World Cup which was held in Germany is one of the motivations that have made Munich to make the bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. Additionally, Bavaria which is one of the regions in Germany has successfully hosted winter games for example the recent World Championships which were held at Alpine. As a result, the country has sufficient facilities to host such a mega event.
Additionally, Munich intends to promote world peace through sports. In this document, the Bid Committee has outlined its evaluation of Munich as an appropriate city to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Please find within the document a comprehensive evaluation of Munich’s bid in addition with a concrete fact finding process.
Positioning
Vision
Munich intends to effectively host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games which are amongst the most famous winter sports within the region. Over the years, Munich has successfully hosted major events and festivals. By hosting the Winter Olympic Games, Munich intends to promote the Winter Olympic Games into a celebration for all the parties.
Mission
The mission of Munich 2018 Winter Olympic Games is twofold. These entail promoting world peace through sports and to enhance development of the youth.
Core values
Some of the core values which will guide Munich in organizing 2018 Olympic Games entail portraying the spirit of solidarity, friendship, and fair play. Additionally, the participants are required to avoid any form of discrimination during the competition.
Therefore, infrastructure and financial base are not the only factors which are considered when selecting the city to host the Winter Olympic Games. However, the government of the host country must guarantee that that the Olympic Games charter will be respected (Japanese Olympic Committee, 2011, para. 1).
Analysis of Munich as a host for the 2012 Winter Olympics
Community Overview
Germany is ranked as the 4th largest economy in the world with a population of approximately 82 million people (Tiersky, Jones & Genugten, 2011, p. 119). The City of Munich is estimated to have a population of 1.4 million citizens while that of Bavaria is 12.6 million citizens.
The country has adopted a parliamentary democracy system of government. However, the powers are shared between sixteen federal states and the Federal Government. The Members of Parliament are elected directly by the citizens every 4 years.
The elected Members of Parliament in turn elect the Chancellor who is charged with the responsibility of proposing the cabinet. The 2 tiers of government which include the State and the Federal governments have separate powers. The municipalities form a part of the state government. However, their operation is characterized by a certain degree of autonomy.
Government support and partnership
The success of the mega-event such as the Olympic Games is dependent on the degree of government support and partnership with various parties (Hiller, 2000, p. 440). The delivery of the 2018 Munich Olympic Games has clearly been defined by the Munich 2018 Multi-Party Agreement. The agreement clearly stipulates the commitments by the various parties to support the Olympic Games in different capacities.
During the 2018 Munich Olympic Games, the German Federal government will be charged with a number of responsibilities. Some of these entail construction and maintenance of the venues, transport system and ensuring provision of effective immigration and customs services.
The Free State of Bavaria will be charged with the responsibility of ensuring that there is sufficient security during the event. On the other hand, the local, regional and national authorities will be required to contribute 33.3% to cater for the construction of the competition venues. Additionally, the local authorities have accepted to contribute towards the construction of non-competition venues.
The bid for Munich to host the 2018 Olympic Games has not only gained support from the local, regional and national authorities but also from the private sectors. The bid committee met with the German Prime Minister, the Chancellor and ministers who pledged their full support for Munich to host the 2018 Olympic Games.
Community support
For a particular city to successfully host Olympic Games, it must have sufficient land (International Monetary Fund, 2010, p. 9). This arises from the fact that significant proportion of land is used to construct the necessary facilities. In the process of bidding to host the Olympic Games, the bid committee experienced one major challenge.
This arose from the fact that some of the local landowners especially those located at Garmisch-Partenkirchen were not willing to offer their land to ensure construction of the various sporting facilities. As a result, they decided to challenge the validity of Munich hosting the Winter Olympic Games.
Despite this challenge, an opinion poll conducted by the International Olympic Commission revealed that the bid for Munich to host the 2018 Olympic Games is increasingly receiving support. The poll results show that 60% and 53% of residents within Munich and Bavaria support the bid respectively. On the other hand, the national support for the bid stands at 56%.
Host Organizing Committee (HOC) overview
Legal
The prevailing legal framework in Germany is sufficient for Munich to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. This arises from the fact that the government adopted the Olympic laws in 2010. Germany has over the past year been committed towards meeting the IOC requirements.
The Organizing Committee of Olympic Games will operate as a not-for profit limited liability Company. The shareholders will include the local municipality of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the Free State of Bavaria, the NOC, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Rural District of Berchtesgadener.
The Shareholders Board will be charged with the responsibility of defining and implementing the role and responsibilities of the various stakeholders. Additionally, there will be a Supervisory Board which will be subject to the Shareholders Board. Its role will entail undertaking administrative control of OCOG.
Additionally, there will be an executive management team which will be charged with the responsibility of overseeing the day to day operations of the OCOG.
Host Competition Venues
Mega events should have all the appropriate venues to host the event (Westerbeek, Turner & Ingerson, 2002, p. 303). Munich intends to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in its existing venues. Additionally, the City of Munich plans to transform and revitalize some of the venues that were used during the 1972 Olympic Park from being Summer Olympics based to Winter Olympic based.
Two main zones which include Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Munich will be used during the event. The City of Munich will be the center for all the games to be held. The bid intends to convert the 1972 Olympic Park into a venue that can host ice sports. Five competition venues will be used during the event.
The opening and the closing ceremonies will be conducted in the existing Olympic stadium. Sports such as figure skating will take place in the existing stadium while the 1972 diving swimming venues will be converted into a curling venue. A demountable venue will be developed to host the speed skating oval.
The bidding committee will ensure that an effective Olympic Village is developed. A number of media villages which will be located near the Ice Park will be designed. Another non-competition venue which will be developed includes the Munich zone. This zone will be comprised of the medals plaza, a restaurant and the main media center.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen town successfully held the Winter Olympic Games in 1936. Within the Garmisch-Partenkirchen zone, 7 snow competition venues will be designed. Five of these venues will be located within the Garmisch-Partenkirchen zone.
Some of the sports that will be held within this venue include snowboard skiing, alpine skiing, ski jumping and freestyle. On the other hand, cross-country skiing and biathlon will be held at the Schwaiganger Nordic center. Other facilities that will be located within the center include a hotel to accommodate the media, the medals plaza, 4 media villages and a mountain media center.
Transportation services
Effective transport is necessary to ensure ease of connectivity when hosting a mega event (Roche, 2000, p.140). All the venues which supporting the Winter Olympic Games will be interconnected with an effective transport system which will entail a railway line and roads. To ensure effective interconnection of the venues a comprehensive improvement of the railway line will be undertaken.
Additionally, 3 road tunnels will be constructed within Garmisch-Partenkirchen to ensure ease of access to the snow venues. Three main links will form the core transport system between the venues. These include the Munich airport which will connect the participants to the Munich hotel area which is approximately 40 kilometers away. The airport is connected with numerous motorways and railway lines.
The second system will link Munich to Schwaiganger Nordic Center which is a distance of 65 kilometers and Garmisch-Partenkirchen which is a distance of 90 kilometers. To ensure successful interconnection between Schwaiganger Nordic Center and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, the road tunnels will be expanded to 4 lanes. The 3rd system will link Munich to Konigssee through rail, road and motorway.
Munich International Airport which is a modern, high capacity facility will serve as the main gateway airport for the entire event. The airport serves approximately 33 million passengers annually.
The airport is strategically located at 125 kilometers North of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and 40 kilometers North of Munich. The chart below shows the estimated travel time between Munich international airport and the Olympic villages.
Considering the fact that there are 7 motorways and 8 railway lines which converge in Munich city, the city forms the main transport center for Southern Germany.
To eliminate congestion within the competition and non-competition venues, the bid committee will not provide any parking services. The bid committee has ensured that the venues are effectively served by shuttle buses and rail.
Additionally, the bid committee will design 35,000 park-and-ride lots which will be distributed across all the venues which will host the event. Approximately 20,000 parking lots will be located around Munich, 13,000 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Schwaiganger and 2,000 in Konigssee-Berchtesgaden area.
The appropriateness of Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen zones arises from the fact that these zones are served by effective transport system. High capacity shuttle buses and low capacity rail stations will be used to connect all the venues.
Additionally, the bid committee will ensure that traffic within Garmisch-Partenkirchen zone is limited to only permit holders and the Olympic transport. Considering the fact that the motorway system within Munich will be heavily used during the games, the bid committee will integrate advanced traffic management measures (Evans, Campbell & Stonehouse, 2002, p. 34).
Security services
Tarlow (2002, p.9) is of the opinion that security is a critical consideration when holding any event. The bid committee believes that Munich has a comprehensive understanding of the security needs during the mega events such as the Winter Olympic Games.
During the Winter Olympic Games, Munich will assign the security responsibility to the Free State of Bavaria. This decision was arrived at after consideration of the fact that Bavaria has successfully held mega events in the past. Additionally, security support will also be provided by the Federal Governmental agencies.
The Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) will be charged with the responsibility of ensuring security within the non-competition and the competition venues. The overall security of the entire event will be on the Bavarian Ministry of Interior.
The bid committee estimates that a total of $ 49 million will be incurred to cater for non-OCOG security while $ 37 million will be incurred to cater for equipments, planning, training, logistics, coordination, private security and law enforcement personnel. The German government guaranteed that the cost of the security will be integrated in the budget for the involved agencies.
The security personnel for the event will be drawn from the Bavarian forced, private security agencies, and volunteers. The bid committee has also considered seeking the help of police forces from other regions within Germany.
Information communication technology
It is important for event managers to ensure that there is an effective communication system to ensure successful completion of the intended event (Adams & Mallen, 2008, p. 91). The City of Munich is extremely advanced with regard to information technology.
For example, the city has a well established telecommunication infrastructure. From its assessment, the bid committee established that the city of Munich has sufficient level of technology and expertise that meets the requirements of the Winter Olympic Games.
Environmental services
One of the most important components which should be taken into consideration when bidding to host any event relates to the impact of the event on the environment (Yeoman et al, 2003, p. 32).
The 2018 Olympic Games bid committee has formulated an innovative sustainability strategy. The strategy entails use of temporary and existing venues to host the event. As a result, the event will have minimal environmental impact.
By bidding the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, Munich intends to attain the Gold standard under the German Sustainable Building Council certification system. The objective of the certification system is to reduce energy consumption with a margin of 30% during the 2018 games.
In the process of upgrading and constructing new venues, a total of 1.3 hectares of forest will be cleared. To ensure environmental sustainability, the bid committee will ensure that an equivalent area is covered with trees. However, upgrading and construction of the competition and non-competition venues will not affect the protected areas.
Additionally, the committee will also ensure that the Games adhere to the concept of carbon neutrality. Ensuring environmental sustainability is a key element in the bidding process (House of Commons, 2003, p. 7). This will be attained by integrating carbon offsets and using energy saving technologies and renewable forms of energy. The bid committee will ensure that all the venues are supplied with 100 per cent green energy.
Medical facilities
In an effort to enhance the wellbeing of the participants, each of the Olympic Villages will offer effective medical services. All the competition venues will offer modern emergency services in line with the specifications of each sport. Additionally, the bid committee will ensure that free healthcare services are offered to all the Paralympics and the Olympic family during the games.
The bid committee has selected 4 hospitals with a total bed capacity of 4,100 to take care of the athletes and their respective organizing committees. The committee has also taken into account the interest of the spectators. Free first aid and other emergency medical services will be offered to the spectators at all the venues.
Considering the fact that Germany is a signatory to WADA Copenhagen Declaration which prohibits doping in sports, Munich 2018 bid committee will open a laboratory for the event at the Technical University of Munich. This will play a critical role in fighting drug trafficking and doping.
Marketing and communication
Upon developing a product or service, a comprehensive marketing strategy should be formulated to create awareness amongst the target customers (Silvers, 2004, p. 6). For a mega event such as the Winter Olympics to be successful, it is critical for a comprehensive marketing campaign to be conducted (Theodoraki, 2007, p. 37). The objective of the campaign is to create awareness to a large number of individuals.
To ensure successful creation of publicity regarding the Munich 2018 Olympic Games, the bid committee has integrated different marketing communication techniques. One of these entails outdoor advertising. For example, outdoor advertising spaces have been guaranteed by Munich Airport, and at other transportation companies.
Other outdoor advertising guarantees that have been obtained entail posting adverts at Salzburg and Innsbruck airports in Austria. To ensure that a large number of individuals are aware of the event, Munich 2018 Olympic Games bid committee will also use other mediums in creating awareness. One of these will entail securing television rights with the local television stations.
Legacy plan
There are a number of legacies associated with the Munich 2018 Olympic Games. For example, 2 new multi-sports facilities will be constructed within Munich. Hosting the event will contribute towards an intensive investment in road infrastructure especially within the Garmisch-Partenkirchen area. The event will also result into an increase in the number of sustainable housing units (Coulter, 2008).
Additionally, the event will also contribute towards revival of the Munich Olympic Park. The community especially the youth will also benefit from the awareness and education programmes. The programs will give the youth insight with regard to sports participation and Olympics. Considering the fact that the event will be held on the already existing facilities and temporary venues, a high degree of sustainability will be attained.
Economic impacts
According to a report by Great Britain (2006, p.9), there are numerous economic benefits which are associated with hosting mega events such as the Winter Olympics. These benefits range from short term to long term benefits.
Some of the short term benefits associated with hosting Olympic Games relate to regeneration and increase in the number of local investment within the host city. This arises from the fact that there are numerous economic activities which are staged on the games (Cashman, 2002, p. 10).
Different governments are increasingly promoting and supporting events as one of their core strategies towards attainment of their nation building, destination marketing and economic development goals. Damster et al (2005, p.8) opine that events entail a unique way of attracting tourists.
As a result, events are increasingly being considered as an effective way of enhancing tourism within a particular country (Locate In Kent, 2009, p. 4). For example, by hosting the Winter Olympic Games, more individuals will change the perception regarding Germany.
As a result, they will increasingly consider Germany as a potential foreign investment destination. The resultant effect is that the country’s Gross Domestic Product will be enhanced.
Media services
Mega events such as the Olympic Games are characterized by extensive media coverage (Great Britain, 2010, p. 9). These range from television and radio broadcasting stations and the print media.
To ensure effective coverage of the event, Munich 2018 bid committee has proposed that it will design 2 main media centers which will be effectively equipped with the state-of-the-art facilities in order to meet the needs of the various media houses.
One of the centers will be located in Munich while the other will be at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The media centers will entail an International Broadcasting Center (IBC) which will be approximately 40,000 m2 and a Media Press Center (MPC) which will be approximately 20,000 m2.
These centers will be housed at the Munich Trade Fair Center. Additionally, six media villages will be designed to cater for the needs of all the media. The media representative will be accommodated within the restaurants that are located near the media centers. This will ensure ease of access to their place of work. Transport between the competition and the accommodation venues will also be offered to all the media representatives.
Accommodation
The appropriateness of Munich to host the 2018 Olympic Games is evidenced by the fact that the city has sufficient accommodation. There are approximately 53,000 rooms which are located within a radius of 50 kilometers from Munich.
This means that Munich meets the International Olympic Committee (IOC) accommodation requirements of over 24, 600 rooms. Approximately 18,500 rooms are located within a distance of 10 kilometers from Munich. More than 12, 800 rooms are located at Garmisch-Partenkirchen while 1000 rooms are located at Konigssee.
The bid committee has also projected the average room rate by 2018. The chart below illustrates these projections.
The chart below also illustrates the rates that other clients will be required to pay. These rates are inclusive of breakfast and taxes.
Currency fluctuations pose a risk with regard to these projections. However, the bid committee confirmed that in the event that the room rates increase by 2018, it will cater for the difference.
Business plan
According to Bowdin (2010, p. 298) management of events should take into consideration the finances. One of the ways through which this can be attained is by integrating the concept of budgeting. This arises from the fact that a substantial amount of money is required to successfully host the event.
The 2018 Munich Olympic Games organizing committee has developed a comprehensive balanced budget which outlines the revenue and expenditure which will be incurred to host the event. It is projected that the event will generate $ 1.52 billion in revenue.
Additionally, the total expenditure for the whole event is also $ 1.52 billion. To ensure that the event is successful, the organizing committee has set apart a contingency fund of $76 million which represents 5% of the total expenditure. Considering the fact that Germany is in a relatively stable region, the committee projects that the average annual rate of inflation by 2018 to be 1.6%.
Revenue generation
The chart below illustrates the projected the revenues to be generated from the event.
In its budget, the committee has also outlined the main expenditure items associated with the event. The main expenditure items identified are outlined in the chart below.
Critical path
The chart below illustrates the key dates for the event bidding process.
Conclusion
The evaluation conducted by the bidding committee on the appropriateness of Munich to host the 2018 Winter Olympic Games presents a high probability of Munich being selected by the IOC. This is evidenced by the information presented by the bidding committee to the IOC. The information provided depicts the key success factors necessary to host an event such as the Winter Olympic Games successfully.
The bidding committee has presented Munich’s commitment towards ensuring that the event is successful. For example, the bidding committee has outlined its proposal with regard to the various requirements that are necessary to host such an event.
Some of these relate to provision of both competition and non-competition venues. Additionally, the bid is also supported by a number of parties such as the government and the local community.
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