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March 18th, 2010
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Olympic bid lacks national support

Ski championship mishaps are proof, says finance minister

By František Bouc
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
December 17th, 2008 issue

Prague should give up its dream to host the Summer Olympics, says Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, and the proof lies in the state subsidies now required to get the upcoming World Ski Championship in Liberec off the ground.
“If this expenditure was to give just a small proof that the Olympics cannot be held in this country, then it was not wasted money,” Kalousek said.
Prague City Hall, however, is not backing off future plans for hosting the Olympics in the country’s capital.
In September 2007, City Hall submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) a bid to host the 2016 Summer Games. However, the bid did not make the IOC’s June shortlist. City Hall then made a surprising announcement in early December that it will, by the end of this year, kick in an additional 11 million Kč ($554,000) to Praha olympijská company, the group which developed the 2016 bid and vowed itself committed to another bid for the 2020 Games. Furthermore, City Hall slated Praha olympijská to receive an additional 25 million Kč in city funds in 2009.
“I can confirm that we consider making another bid,” said City Hall’s Deputy Director Miroslav Sklenář.
The city’s elimination from the 2016 Olympics bidding process was likely to bring about the closure of Praha olympijská. The company spent 15.5 million Kč this year. The failed bid for the 2016 games cost the city of Prague 70 million Kč.
But Sklenář insisted that Prague still stood a chance in the IOC bidding process in the future.
“No city has managed to succeed on the very first bid,” Sklenář said.
Sklenář said the future development of the 2020 Prague Olympic bid will depend on the IOC’s decision about the Summer Games’ future format. Should the IOC prefer expensive games such as this year’s Beijing Games, Prague would stand no chance, he said. While total costs of the 2008 Beijing Olympics reached some 700 billion Kč, direct costs of the Prague Games would amount to only 89 billion Kč, according to late-2007 independent case study by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Overall costs, including expenditures on developing roads and other infrastructure, would not exceed 500 million Kč.
However, despite City Hall’s pledge to subsidize further development of the 2020 Olympic bid, Praha olympijská will find it difficult to secure financial guarantees for the project. The 2016 bid fell largely because of the government’s failure to issue financial guarantees. Given the fact that two of the three members of the national ruling coalition — the Christian Democrats (KDU-ČSL) and the Green Party (SZ) — have pledged indifference to the Prague bid, it doesn’t look as if an Olympic project would receive enough national political support.
Czech Olympic Committee (COV) member Jiří Kejval said finding political consensus appears to be a key requirement in the meantime.
“The IOC has made it clear that without the government’s support, developing the bid is irrelevant,” Kejval said.

František Bouc can be reached at fbouc@praguepost.com


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