Examination of Witness (Questions 80 -
90)
TUESDAY 14 JANUARY 2003
MR CRAIG
REEDIE, CBE
John Thurso
80. You mentioned earlier that the process of
evaluation by the IOC has become much more technical and indeed
you have also referred to the processes having been cleaned up
somewhat compared to what it used to be. Can you describe to us
what the IOC will be looking for in a London bid that would make
London attractive?
(Mr Reedie) I suspect that the best way to do that
is to give you some idea of the weightings placed on various areas
for the initial applicant city process because on these weightings
you move from applicant city to candidate city. There are 11 of
them in total: Government support and public opinion is the first
one and the weighting is three; general infrastructure, the weighting
is five; sports venues, the weighting is four; the Olympic village,
the weighting is four; environmental conditions and impact, the
weighting is three; accommodation, the weighting is five; transport,
the weighting is three; security, the weighting is three; experience
from past sports event, the weighting is two; finance, the weighting
is two, and the general concept, the weighting is three. I hope
that gives you a clearer picture. As a member of the Evaluation
Commission process the sports experts, who in the main came from
the international sports federations, visited all of the proposed
venues or were given discussions on them. The rest of the Evaluation
Commission dealt with finance, marketing, security, particularly
the village accommodation and all the other aspects. So it is
a highly technical process and a very detailed report is produced
on the basis of even more detailed bid books from each bidding
city. One element is the financial element which is Government
guaranteed, but all of that information has been available to
the process and all of that information is held in the offices.
81. I do not know if we have already a copy
of that, but would it be possible to have a copy?
(Mr Reedie) I am sure it would, yes.
82. I am interested in the very first thing
on the list, Government support and it has got a weighting of
three, which probably represents something like 10 per cent of
the total in terms of earning or value. As an IOC member yourself
looking at other governments coming in, how typically would you
expect an applicant government to demonstrate their support?
(Mr Reedie) They should engage clearly in the evaluation
process when the commission is here, they should make clear and
unequivocal commitments in the bid books which go to all of the
IOC members and they should be prepared to undertake the signing
of the guarantees that are necessary. If all of that information
is made available beforehand then from a financial and a guarantee
point of view as a member I would be quite happy for it. I have
to say that those guarantees coming from the British Government
I think would be cast iron.
John Thurso: Thank you.
Mr Doran
83. Let us go back to the deliverability issue.
There is a huge prize in winning the Games but obviously huge
risks in the process. I listened carefully when you talked about
the new procedures which have been introduced to the Government
bidding process. The first thought that occurred to me was that
they seem a little bit bureaucratic and I am unsure whether they
comply with the spirit of the Olympics, but they suggest quite
serious difficulties in the past. Is it fair to say that? Can
you say how secure you feel the process now is?
(Mr Reedie) Having operated under both regimes, I
think it was inevitable that under the huge criticism faced by
the IOC they would have to react very firmly and they did. It
is interesting that at our session recently in November, particularly
on the issue of visits, there was a long and very high quality
debate from members who found themselves personally insulted by
not being trusted to visit a bidding city and at the end of the
day, out of 120 people in the room, 114 people voted in favour
of no visit and six voted for change. So while it might be bureaucratic,
I think it represents the IOC's wish never again to be faced with
the problems that it had.
84. We are still involved in a situation where
there will be huge competition. You have mentioned a number of
cities and it will obviously be very, very intense, and you have
now put in place the rules which may deal with the problem of
whether corruption is involved or undue influence. One of the
biggest criticisms that has been made in the past about the way
the British deal with this situation is that we play by the book
and we are not very good at building up the blocks and influencing
other voting members. I speak as somebody who has just watched
the fishing industry, for example, being signed away in Europe
by just that sort of operation, where there was no corruption
but lots of little nudges here and support there. How are we going
to deal with that problem?
(Mr Reedie) That is why I would like to have, first
of all, clear and total Government support and in this I agree
entirely with Mark Bostock that if the concordat that he talks
about cannot be put in place then we will not bid. Secondly, it
would be good to have a charismatic leader of the bid committee.
Thirdly, it would be good to have a small and effective sales
team and they will be briefed as well as I can possibly brief
them on all of the many different alliances that there are within
the IOC and even within the IOC within Europe because you made
reference to the fishing industry in Scotland and you are well
aware that one part of Europe seems to be of one mind and another
part is not, it is equally true in the International Olympic Committee.
85. That deals with one aspect of it. You have
put together a fairly highly qualified and focused team, but what
are their chances compared to their competitors?
(Mr Reedie) Everybody will be operating under the
same set of rules. There are only so many events which bidding
cities can attend. There are a very clear set of rules on what
you may or may not do and it is monitored by the IOC and ultimately
by its independent Ethics Commission. You have to believe that
the rules will work. If you believed that people would simply
get round the IOC's rules it would be a very unsatisfactory state
of affairs.
86. We want to know in advance that we have
a fair chance before we suggest that the Government should put
on the line the money and its own credibility. From the outside
it does seem to be a very ruthless, bloody process. Sometimes
I feel that politicians sitting round this table are pussycats
compared to some of your fellow members on the IOC. Is that a
fair comment?
(Mr Reedie) It is a comment that I have seen in the
press. I do not think I would agree with it in quite the sense
that you presented it. There are certainly some individuals who
would like at least to have others believe that they had influence
on the voting blocks or whatever. I think the evidence for all
of it is relatively sketchy and I think the IOC is a much more
open and a much more democratic place now than it was and that
encourages me to think that a well organised and well supported
London bid has a more than reasonable chance of success.
Chairman: Mr Bryant, as we have time
left you may put your other question.
Mr Bryant
87. It was about broadcasting. Obviously broadcasting
is absolutely essential to any Olympic financing and also most
ordinary citizens see the Olympics through watching it on TV.
As I understand it, in the past the International Olympic Committee
has been quite keen to make sure that they take into hefty consideration
the public service broadcasters when granting the rights. Is that
still going to be true in the future?
(Mr Reedie) Can I correct you? The IOC has a policy
that the Games will be shown on free-to-air television, they may
not necessarily be public service broadcasters. I listened to
your earlier question to Mark Bostock of Arup. The principal television
deal is done in the American market which is free-to-air, but
it is commercial and the IOC have appointed consultants and will
be going back into that market on very, very good professional
advice at the best time so to do. Thereafter, the European rights
are currently held by the European Broadcasting Union, which in
the main is public sector in Germany and France and in Britain.
The last time the rights came up for negotiation the IOC turned
down a very, very high offer from News Corporation because it
was not free-to-air and it stayed with the European Broadcasting
Union, a decision for which it was given much credit. The third
major area is what is known as the Japan pool, meaning the Japanese
companies pooled their efforts. The IOC are very well aware of
the difficulties in the television marketplace, but they will
simply not be going to negotiate when they think the market is
bad, they will be going to negotiate when the market has recovered.
They have good advice in that and I am reasonably confident that
they will succeed in at least maintaining, if not increasing,
the overall television rights fees because the product that they
have is hugely attractive.
Derek Wyatt
88. Could you just confirm that there is no
relationship between the ISL and the IOC in regard to the sponsorship
for television?
(Mr Reedie) I do not believe that the IOC have any
relationships with ISL. The IOC had left ISL as an agency arrangement
many years ago and has been doing all its commercial negotiations
in-house by setting up its own marketing department.
89. You do not think there is anyone left in
the IOC who has a legacy with ISL?
(Mr Reedie) No, that cannot can be the case because
there are members of the IOC who have been involved with FIFA
for many years and who must have had some relationship through
FIFA with ISL, but the fact is that that happened years ago, wearing
their IOC hats and there is no relationship with ISL to the best
of my knowledge.
Chairman
90. We have been talking about the New York
application. If New York were to get it then the United States
would have staged the Olympic Games three times in less than 30
years. By 2012 it will be 64 years since Britain has had the Olympic
Games. Is that kind of factor taken into account?
(Mr Reedie) Yes, it is and it is certainly taken into
account as far as the United States is concerned, because you
must remember that not only do they have the Olympic Games, they
have regularly hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the most recent
in Salt Lake City. It is my understanding that the domestic process
undertaken by the United States Olympic Committee was to find
a city with which USOC would stick in the long term. I think the
United States would like to have the Games back at some future
date. I do not believe that they are passionate about having them
in 2012, although they certainly would not say that.
Chairman: Thank you very much, Mr Reedie.
I think we are about to see you again immediately.
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