SBP to welcome FIBA visitors
A high-level team of five FIBA executives will visit Manila on Oct. 19-22 to examine facilities, check on financial guarantees and review the hosting details of the Philippines’ bid to co-host the 2023 World Cup with Indonesia and Japan.
The FIBA Evaluation Commission is composed of FIBA Central Board members Hamane Niang of Mali and Ingo Weiss of Germany, FIBA senior consultant Lubomir Kotleba of Slovakia, FIBA director of media and marketing services Frank Leenders of the Netherlands and FIBA director of events Predrag Bogoslavljev of Serbia. Weiss is also FIBA treasurer.
SBP executive director Sonny Barrios said the other day he has requested for an appointment with President Duterte for the FIBA visitors to pay a courtesy call on the Chief Executive at Malacañang or in Davao City. Barrios said it is critical to establish that both government and the private sector will support the bid. When the Philippines submitted a bid for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, the Department of Tourism was a strong partner in the initiative.
Barrios said it won’t only be basketball games in the World Cup agenda but also the FIBA World Congress. FIBA will convene representatives of its 213 member national federations all over the globe for a three-day general assembly before the start of the competitions. The venues that the Evaluation Commission may inspect are the MOA Arena, Smart Araneta Coliseum, Phil Sports Arena, PICC and Sofitel.
There are four bids on the FIBA table for the 2023 World Cup. Russia is on the list with sports minister Vitaly Mutko pinpointing Moscow, St. Petersburg, Perm and Kazan as the four cities to host the games. Next year, Russia will stage the FIFA World Cup on June 14-July 15. Turkey, the 2010 World Cup host, is reportedly putting up a hefty offer to coincide with the celebration of the republic’s 100th anniversary. Argentina and Uruguay are making a joint bid with seven host cities in Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Comodoro Rivadavia, Villa Deportiva, Cordoba and La Rioja.
Argentina hosted the World Cup in 1950 and 1990 while Uruguay took its turn in 1967. Manila hosted in 1978. The current FIBA president Horacio Muratore is from Argentina while among the members of the FIBA Central Board are SBP chairman emeritus Manny V. Pangilinan of the Philippines, SEABA president Erick Thohir of Indonesia and Yuko Mitsuya of Japan.
Barrios said the three-nation bid of the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan is unprecedented. Each country submitted its candidature files to FIBA by the deadline of last Aug. 31 under a common theme. As the lead bidder, the Philippines also submitted a consolidated file. Barrios said global advertising giant DDB, owned by the New York-based Omnicom Group, and TLA Worldwide assisted in finalizing the SBP’s candidature files. TLA Worldwide’s Brendan McClements flew in from Melbourne to work on the documents. TLA has offices in Melbourne, Sydney, London, New York and Newport Beach.
The Evaluation Commission will visit Russia, Turkey, Argentina, Indonesia and Japan before ending its tour in Manila. Barrios said the SBP will make a theme presentation of both the Philippine and consolidated bids during the visit. Representatives of Japan and Indonesia are expected to attend the presentation.
The 32 countries participating in the 2023 FIBA World Cup will be split into eight groups of four each. Japan and Indonesia will host two groups each while the Philippines will host four. After the first round of eliminations, the top two finishers of each group advance to the second round. The top eight of the 16 survivors advance to the knockout quarterfinals in Manila. The semifinals and final will also be held in Manila.
Japan’s venue is the Okinawa Arena which will be constructed and finished in the Koza Athletic Park by 2020 when Tokyo hosts the Olympics. The arena will be the home of the Japanese basketball club Ryukyu Golden Kings. Indonesia’s venue will be the 10,000-seat Istora Senayan at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta. It will also host the basketball competitions at the 2018 Asian Games.
Barrios said included in the SBP’s candidature files were endorsements from PSC chairman Butch Ramirez, House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and PNP chief Gen. Ronald (Bato) de la Rosa. On Oct. 11, Rep. Chiqui Roa Puno will present a House resolution supporting the SBP bid at a hearing in Congress. Sen. Sonny Angara will author a counterpart resolution in the Senate.
Barrios said the multi-nation event will assemble an audience of 500 million for the World Cup. “It will be the most watched FIBA World Cup ever particularly as we plan to stage the final at the 55,000-seat Philippine Arena,” he said. “We’ll set a new live audience record for the FIBA World Cup final. This is history in the making.”