Sports Events Between 2020 and 2021, Switzerland Will Host Three World-Class Sports Events for Which the Federal Council Is Calling on Parliament to Release CHF 25.5 Million
Youth Olympic Games and world ice hockey championship in 2020, Winter Universiade in 2021. Switzerland will soon host three world-class sporting events. The Federal Council asks the Parliament to release 25.5 million francs.
The Youth Olympic Games and the Winter Universiade are not only multi-sport events of global importance but also effective tools for encouraging sport; the government said in its message to the legislature on Wednesday.
The games are expected to bring together around 1100 athletes aged 14 to 18 in Lausanne. The Federal Council intends to allocate 14 million to them: 8 million for the Games and 6 million for the renovation of The Malley Sports center.
The construction, which will be used as a competition venue for the 2020 World Ice hockey Championships, will be used as a logistics center for the Youth Olympic Games. Some 1100 athletes between the ages of 15 and 18 will take part in these games with their 500 coaches. The operational budget for the event is 36 million francs.
2500 students
Nearly 2,500 students from all over the world are expected to take part in the Universiade sporting games, which will take place in all the cantons of central Switzerland, with Lucerne as the host city. Federal support should amount to 11 million francs.
To organize this event, the cantons of central Switzerland and the city of Lucerne have joined together in an association. The budget is 33.5 million francs.
Finally, the government proposes to allocate 500,000 francs for the world ice hockey championships to be held in Lausanne and Zurich. The event will have effects beyond our borders, and Switzerland will be able to present itself as a host country on the international scene, the executive justifies. The operational budget is 50.5 million.
$6 million will also go towards the construction of decentralized ice hockey infrastructure. But it is the result of the reallocation of an equivalent appropriation that was earmarked for the Winterthur National Ice hockey center. The National Federation has abandoned this project for financial reasons in favor of a strategy of decentralization of facilities.
The Confederation can support sporting events of European or World scope, and the cantons must contribute to the costs in an appropriate way. Federal finances will be burdened during the years 2019-2021, but not by the costs of potential inter-cantonal policing commitments.
Security Risks
The Confederation will have to assume, to a small extent, additional tasks of security and support of the civil authorities by the army. Given the global political situation, there is a risk that the situation will deteriorate to the point where the holding of any major sporting event will become impossible, or that the cost will become prohibitive due to the scale of the necessary security arrangements.
For the government, organizers must now deal with this risk. To refrain from organizing these events would be to capitulate to those who reject our liberal society, he writes in the message.
Any risks not identified could also cause additional costs. However, the Federal Council considers the residual risk to be low and bearable given the expected impact. There is no guarantee of a deficit from the Confederation for all three events.