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Your Sport for Life Newsletter of European Athletics 2 | 14 December INSIDE TRACK A golden year in Europe Your Sport for Life WORD FROM THE PRESIDENT Titel Hansjörg Wirz | President of European Athletics Building momentum IMPRESSUM Lead European Athletics Association Européenne d’Athlétisme following a fantastic President: Text Hansjörg Wirz Vice Presidents: Jose Luis de Carlos Karel Pilny year for athletics Jean Gracia Director General: Christian Milz Office: Avenue Louis-Ruchonnet 18 The focus this year was more on the Area Association was expected but an average attendance for the CH-1003 Lausanne level than world level of high performance for our evening sessions of 80.7 percent over the six days Switzerland sport. We enjoyed the European Athletics Team clearly contradicts opinion that the event failed to Phone +41 (0)21 313 43 50 Fax +41 (0)21 313 43 51 Championships, European Athletics Championships attract high attendances. That is plainly false when [email protected] and IAAF Continental Cup. on certain evenings attendance was at 95 percent www.european-athletics.org – and an estimated 100,000 people attended the In many aspects, Zurich 2014 was an excellent championships road races. “Inside Track” is published by European Athletics championships. With the many fantastic performances we witnessed at the Letzigrund still fresh in our The make-up of the crowd was different at Zurich 2014 Co-ordination: memories, we are now gathering important post- than at Weltklasse: more athletics specialists at our James Mulligan event data that underlines the importance of our main championships and more business type people at the François Schrurs European Athletics event. meeting. This undoutably had a big positive effect on Communication Department the atmosphere during the European championships. Phone +41 (0)21 313 43 57 A total television audience of 358 million watched the It would have been great for the fans to stay to enjoy [email protected] championships. Figures published by Switzerland’s the entertainment at the end of each evening session Federal Statistical Office showed that with 316,881 but this idea was not so effective, with the stadium Text, Photos: James Mulligan, François overnight stays in Zurich in August, the 300,000 emptying out by the time the performers took the Schrurs, Bill Glad, Matthew barrier was broken for the very first time (There stage. This is something we must consider for the Brown, Richard Lewis, were more than 18,000 room nights booked in future. Hansjörg Wirz, Christian Milz, official VIP, team and media hotels in Zurich during Andy Heading, Getty Images the event). There were 148,432 spectators in the It is also obvious that we don’t have a clear Design, Production: stadium, 100,000 attending the road races in the city qualification system to promote the Championships AMK Atelier für Marketing centre and 250,000 visiting the City Festival during compared to a sport such as football, which promotes und Kommunikation the championships, making the event very popular the main championships through the qualifiers. Amstutzstrasse 14 among residents and tourists alike. It’s hard to compete with such a set-up and to CH-6010 Kriens, Switzerland Phone +41 (0)41 320 00 72 create awareness. Thus, we must better establish Fax +41 (0)41 320 00 79 This all adds up to a big overall economic impact: the European Athletics Championships brand, [email protected] Zurich 2014 triggered a total revenue of 95 million integrating and linking much closer together three Swiss francs for the canton of Zurich alone, and 146 different elements – the one-day meeting structure, Print: Multicolor Print AG million Swiss francs for the whole of Switzerland. the European Athletics Championships format and CH-6340 Baar, Switzerland the championship qualification system – into one Taking into account our experiences in Zurich, a lot attractive product that continues to appeal to the Follow us: can be learned for our events in the future. On the public. facebook.com/EuropeanAthletics question of filling seats in the stadium, support from institutions is decreasing therefore the income from High performance remained our focus at the end tickets is very important. It is clear we must retain of this season when we celebrated our best athletes larger stadium capacities so that prices for spectators with the newly branded Golden Tracks ceremony in are more attractive while still securing an important Baku. It was a fantastic occasion with all the athletes revenue on ticket sales. And finding the correct present. Indeed, I was very pleased with the overall @euroathletics pricing level from country to country is a detail to outcome of the Convention in Azerbaijan. work on. Outside our comprehensive Competition Programme, For our European Athletics Championships, the goal we also need our sport to be involved with developing first and foremost is to have the highest possible and serving society through our outstanding values YouTube /EuropeanAthletics attendance for the evening sessions, when there are and not only through high performance. the finals and not solely qualification rounds, and Running activities are growing at a rapid rate and when television is broadcasting live the majority of as the number of activities increase, so too do the the action. It is clear that ticket sales were not what demands of the runners. Every runner has a reason 2 www.european-athletics.org Newsletter of European Athletics 2|14 INSIDE TRACK WORD from THE PRESIDENT e Lif or f t Spor our Y Hansjörg Wirz | President of European Athletics Titel Strong TV figures for Zurich; SPAR extends Text live streaming partnership for participating and holds certain expectations on the level of quality and safety wherever and whenever they intend to take part in a public race. Every race organiser has the intention to organise their race in the most secure way possible for the runners and the spectators whilst maintaining the quality in order to A total television audience of Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, attract a large number of participants. 358 million watched the Zurich Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, 2014 European Athletics Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Until now there are only a limited number of regulations United Kingdom.) that exist in some European countries. Where examples of Championships this summer, best practice exist, the experience cannot be considered underlining the continued Zurich 2014 had an average audience of Europe wide and is not understood by all. popularity of European 11.6 million which is an increase of 3.2 Athletics’ flagship event. percent in the average audience between For that reason, European Athletics has developed Göteborg 2006 and Zurich (11,260,727 Safety and Quality Standards for public road races via to 11,621,183) and is almost on par with consultation and integration of different experts within The cumulative figure (excluding news Barcelona 2010 (11,877,496). the running movement. audiences), collated from EBU and Repucom reports received by European Average audiences continued to increase There is a need to recognise the races with a good- Athletics, was higher than the 340 million in key markets France and Germany, with quality level. It will be the role of European Athletics reported for the Göteborg 2006 European audiences above 2.5 million. Average and its Member Federations to support this movement by Athletics Championships and on an audiences remained stable in the United setting and implementing these standards, ensuring the almost equal level to Barcelona 2010’s Kingdom, hovering just below the 2 necessary legitimacy and credibility. 368 million. million mark. The Safety and Quality Standards will serve as an Göteborg 2006 was held over seven days Other countries that saw increases orientation, common view and understanding of the while Barcelona 2010 like Zurich 2014 included Czech Republic and Netherlands, expected requirements. Additionally it will encourage was held over six days. both of which have major upcoming positive partnerships between runners, race organisers, European Athletics events. Prague will European Athletics and the athletics Federations as well In the Olympic year of 2012, with a host the 2015 European Athletics Indoor as with all the other stakeholders. shortened programme that didn’t include Championships and Amsterdam the 2016 road races, the European Athletics European Athletics Championships. The Safety and Quality standards are divided into three Championships in Helsinki had a total levels – 1-star, 3-star and 5-star - to encompass all race cumulative audience of 156 million. In addition, European Athletics is pleased types and sizes. to announce that it will continue to The European Broadcasting Union provide a full live streaming platform European Athletics will launch an online platform and also delivered a report on the average during major events in 2015 including promotional tools that will enable Member Federations audience per minute during transmission Video on Demand, in partnership with to manage the spread of the standards in their territory of the championships – a more qualitative principal sponsor SPAR. and facilitate race organisers applying for certification. measurement that European Athletics plans to use in the future. The report on This means that the european-athletics. The ultimate goal is to have as many races in Europe average audiences, which are based on org website will continue to be the main certified, bringing race organisers and Member live, delayed and highlights transmissions source of athletics on the continent. It Federations closer together and to have the runners during the daytime, included only the brought together for the first time live themselves recognising and trusting the system. same 25 countries that broadcast the streaming, live results, live blogging, championships in 2006, 2010 and 2014. news, video interviews and photos on the (Countries: Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, homepage during the European Athletics Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Team Championships in Braunschweig Finland, France, Germany, Greece, last June.