European Sport Industry May 11 – 26, 2014 University of Cincinnati Program Proudly Provided by Sports Travel Academy www.facebook.com/SportsTravelAcademy CONTENTS Introduction 3 Program Details & Cost 9 Program Package Includes 10 Program Itinerary 11 Who is the Sports Travel Academy? 19 2 Introduction From an academic perspective Europe offers fantastic opportunities for students interested in the Global Sport Industry to visit and study the European model of sport. The origins of many of the world's most popular sports today lay in the codification of many traditional European games. This program will take students inside the European Model of Club Sports where they will receive firsthand experience at some of the world’s most successful sporting clubs and organizations including the IOC, FIFA, Red Bull, The Hague University, the German Sports University as well as a number of Sporting Clubs, Facilities & Sport Businesses. This program visits the Netherlands, Germany, Austria & Switzerland and along the way will cross several diverse sporting and cultural borders. Students will be exposed to a number of different sports and will no doubt increase their knowledge of sport in the global community. Unlike major team sports in the USA where franchises are awarded to nominated cities, most European teams have grown from small clubs formed by groups of individuals before growing rapidly. Churches, community facilities and work places have often been the most fertile birthplace of many of Europe's major sports clubs. The most popular sport in Europe is undoubtedly Association football (soccer). European club teams are the strongest (and highest paid) in the world led by the Union of European Football Association (UEFA). Their Champions League and the European Cup are the sport's most prestigious tournaments. The European national teams which compete in the UEFA Champions League often dominate in FIFA World Cup play. The most popular and successful football leagues are the Spanish “La Liga”, the English “Premier League”, the Italian “Serie A” and the German “Bundesliga”. In addition to football, other team sports are popular in various regions of the continent. Basketball & Volleyball are very common sports across Europe and particularly popular in the Mediterranean & Eastern countries. Road bicycle racing is very popular in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Ice hockey is the sport of choice in Scandinavia and throughout Eastern Europe, while handball is well-liked in many countries including Germany, Spain, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Rugby Union is popular in the British Isles, France and northern Italy. Cricket is also a very popular summer sport in the United Kingdom and over the years has been very successfully exported to other parts of the former British Empire. 3 Individual sports are also quite prevalent. The most prestigious and lucrative athletics and aquatics meets in the world are still today conducted in Europe, as are several major golf tournaments including the Ryder Cup where Europe competes as a single team. Tennis is popular in most of Europe with France and the UK playing host to 2 of the 4 major Grand Slam events in the sport. It is also widely known that Europe, more specifically Greece, was the birthplace in 1896 of the Olympic Movement which has become so central to modern sport. This program will visit with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland where you will spend time in the Olympic Museum as well as meet with an IOC Staff member and several other executives at international sporting organizations based in Lausanne. The rich and diverse sporting history found throughout Europe affords wonderful opportunities for students to enhance their knowledge of the Global Sport Industry. The Netherlands Approximately 4.5 million people from a population of just 16 million are registered to one of the 35,000 active sports clubs in the country. About two thirds of the population older than 15 participate in organized club sport weekly. These statistics alone make it a safe bet to say that the Dutch are “sports crazy” and that their government supports sport as integral to the fabric of the nation. Association Football (soccer) has the largest following with field hockey and volleyball as the second and third most popular team sports. Tennis, gymnastics and golf are the three most widely played individual sports. The Royal Netherlands Football Association is the largest sports federation in the country with 1,076,759 members (in 2008). The organization came into being on December 8, 1899 and was one of the founding members of FIFA in 1904. It is an amazing statistic that 1:16 people in the country are currently members of a football club! Though baseball is highly recognized as America’s pastime, the Royal Dutch Baseball Federation was established March 12, 1912. They merged with the softball federation to form the Royal Dutch Baseball and Softball Federation in 1971. In 2008 there were over 24,000 players active at one of the 184 clubs in the country. The Netherlands boasts the most successful national baseball team in Europe, having won the European Baseball Championship twenty times and frequently representing the continent in international competitions such as the World Baseball Classic and Baseball World Cup. Baseball is especially popular in the island of Curacao, part of the Netherlands Antilles. In 2009 the Netherlands twice upset the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic's entire roster played in Major 4 League Baseball (with a combined salary of $84 million), while the Netherlands only had one player on a Major League roster (with a salary of $400,000). The Dominican Republic was highly favored, but in its first game the Dutch won 3-2. The Dominican Republic won its next game against Panama to set up a rematch against the Netherlands. The Dutch stunned the Dominicans again and won 2-1 in extra innings. Although the Netherlands were later eliminated in the second round, the Netherlands upset is one of the biggest upsets in the World Baseball Classic’s history. Germany In 2008 about 27.5 million Germans were members of the more than 91,000 sports clubs. In the all-time Olympic Games medal count through 2008, Germany ranks fifth. However if all the medals were combined (from when they competed as East and West Germany), Germany ranks third in the world thus establishing herself as a global Olympic sporting power. Germany has hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice, in Berlin in 1936 and in Munich in 1972. Germany also recently claimed the most gold medals and the most total medals during the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. As a team sport football (soccer) is hands down the largest sport in Germany. More than 170,000 teams and 6 million registered football players combine to make one the largest football club programs in the world outside of England. Behind the NFL and Indian Premier League Cricket, Germany's top level football league, known as the Bundesliga, has the third highest average attendances of any professional sports league in the world. You will visit Bayern Munich (German: Bayern München) which is the most successful German football club with 20 national championships and four European Champions titles to its credit. Like many other German football clubs, Bayern Munich is a multi-sport club. At the national level, the German national football team is one of the traditional powers of international football. It won the FIFA World Cup in 1954, 1974 and 1990 as well as the European Football Championship in 1972 and 1980 as West Germany and in 1996 as Germany. Germany also hosted the FIFA World Cup 1974 & 2006, in which they placed third after losing a close semi-final contest to eventual cup winners Italy. The German women's national team is also a world power, with its wins of the FIFA Women's World Cup in 2003 and 2007. As a European nation, Germany is the only country to win both the men's and women's World Cup and European titles. 5 Women also have their own Bundesliga, but it is semi-professional and does not command the fan support of the men's competitions. Nevertheless it is followed with an enthusiasm greater than most other women’s professional leagues around the world. Other popular sports include tennis, swimming, basketball, ice hockey, volleyball, cycling, handball, weight lifting and boxing. Baseball, whilst it is still a minor sport, is growing in popularity and poised to continue its growth in Germany and other European countries. Austria Austria is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people with a highly mountainous terrain. Only 32% of the country is below 500 meters (1,640 ft), and its highest point is 3,797 meters (12,457 ft). The majority of the population speaks German which is also the country's official language. Due to the very mountainous terrain alpine skiing is a prominent sport and the Austrians have won more Olympic medals in this sport than any other nation. Similar sports such as snowboarding or ski-jumping are also very popular and Austrian athletes such as Annemarie Moser- Pröll, Hermann Maier and Toni Sailer are widely regarded as some of the greatest alpine skiers of all time. Football (soccer) and ice hockey are very popular team sports in Austria both having 10 team professional leagues. Bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton are also popular events with a permanent track located in Igls, which hosted bobsleigh and luge competitions for the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics held in Innsbruck. In 2012 the first Winter Youth Olympics will also be held in Innsbruck, Austria. Red Bull is an energy drink with origins in Austria and Thailand and on market share it is the most popular energy drink in the world.