Tate shows off city in bid to lure sporting powerbrokers

GOLD Coast Mayor Tom Tate is on a mission to woo some of the world’s most powerful sports governing and lobby groups.

The Mayor met with a number of the delegates here for SportAccord 2019 yesterday morning, spruiking the city in an attempt to attract major events.

The five-day SportAccord convention, which brings together the international sports federations, under the patronage of the IOC, opened on Sunday.

More than 1500 heavyweights from 500 different sports federations and event rights holders are here.

“The Gold Coast has flourished because of the Commonwealth Games,” Cr Tate said. “It’s an incredible opportunity to show off the GC2018 facilities (and) share our learnings.

“Now we are on the level where we are attracting world sporting events.”

The delegates will also be getting involved in local sporting activities, like the active-and-healthy program. “We want the delegates to experience ‘living like a local’ and finding out what makes the Coast such an amazing, friendly destination,” Cr Tate said.

The delegates will also be meeting with Commonwealth Games Federation CEO David Grevemberg, who will be sharing learnings a year on from the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

He said the Gold Coast was being considered as a potential host city for major events. “Since hosting the Games in 2018, (the Gold Coast) has been an ideal location,” he said.

The pair remained tight lipped over what events they were hoping to attract.

A SOUTHEAST Queensland Olympic Games could land a profit after an exchange-rate error in the planning.

IOC president Thomas Bach met Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner in Brisbane yesterday to discuss a potential bid to host the 2032 Games – where it was revealed a currency calculation error had resulted in a potential funding windfall.

The council had been anticipating the IOC would provide $1.6 billion but the IOC said there was an extra $950 million. Cr Schrinner said that would mean a cost-neutral Games at worst. Dr Bach said he was “pretty impressed” with the planning, describing the feasibility study as “extremely well founded”.