On behalf of European Athletics, I would like to wish a merry Christmas to the entire athletics family following a fantastic year.
The focus this year was more on the Area Association level than world level of high performance for our sport. We enjoyed the European Athletics Team Championships, European Athletics Championships and IAAF Continental Cup.
In many aspects, Zurich 2014 was an excellent championships. With the many fantastic performances we witnessed at the Letzigrund still fresh in our memories, we are now gathering important post-event data that underlines the importance of our main event.
A total television audience of 358 million watched the championships. Figures published by Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office showed that with 316,881 overnight stays in Zurich in August, the 300,000 barrier was broken for the very first time (There were more than 18,000 room nights booked in official VIP, team and media hotels in Zurich during the event). There were 148,432 spectators in the stadium, 100,000 attending the road races in the city centre and 250,000 visiting the City Festival during the championships, making the event very popular among residents and tourists alike.
This all adds up to a big overall economic impact: Zurich 2014 triggered a total revenue of 95 million Swiss francs for the canton of Zurich alone, and 146 million Swiss francs for the whole of Switzerland.
Taking into account our experiences in Zurich, a lot can be learned for our events in the future. On the question of filling seats in the stadium, support from institutions is decreasing therefore the income from tickets is very important. It is clear we must retain larger stadium capacities so that prices for spectators are more attractive while still securing an important revenue on ticket sales. And finding the correct pricing level from country to country is a detail to work on.
For our European Athletics Championships, the goal first and foremost is to have the highest possible attendance for the evening sessions, when there are the finals and not solely qualification rounds, and when television is broadcasting live the majority of the action. It is clear that ticket sales were not what was expected but an average attendance for the evening sessions of 80.7 percent over the six days clearly contradicts opinion that the event failed to attract high attendances. That is plainly false when on certain evenings attendance was at 95 percent – and an estimated 100,000 people attended the championships road races.
The make-up of the crowd was different at Zurich 2014 than at Weltklasse: more athletics specialists at our championships and more business type people at the meeting. This undoutably had a big positive effect on the atmosphere during the European championships.
It would have been great for the fans to stay to enjoy the entertainment at the end of each evening session but this idea was not so effective, with the stadium emptying out by the time the performers took the stage. This is something we must consider for the future.
It is also obvious that we don’t have a clear qualification system to promote the Championships compared to a sport such as football, which promotes the main championships through the qualifiers. It’s hard to compete with such a set-up and to create awareness. Thus, we must better establish the European Athletics Championships brand, integrating and linking much closer together three different elements – the one-day meeting structure, the European Athletics Championships format and the championship qualification system – into one attractive product that continues to appeal to the public.
High performance remained our focus at the end of this season when we celebrated our best athletes with the newly branded Golden Tracks ceremony in Baku. It was a fantastic occasion with all the athletes present. Indeed, I was very pleased with the overall outcome of the Convention in Azerbaijan.
Outside our comprehensive Competition Programme, we also need our sport to be involved with developing and serving society through our outstanding values and not only through high performance.Running activities are growing at a rapid rate and as the number of activities increase, so too do the demands of the runners. Every runner has a reason 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 attract a large number of participants.
Until now there are only a limited number of regulations that exist in some European countries. Where examples of best practice exist, the experience cannot be considered Europe wide and is not understood by all.
For that reason, European Athletics has developed Safety and Quality Standards for public road races via consultation and integration of different experts within the running movement.
There is a need to recognise the races with a good-quality level. It will be the role of European Athletics and its Member Federations to support this movement by setting and implementing these standards, ensuring the necessary legitimacy and credibility.
The Safety and Quality Standards will serve as an orientation, common view and understanding of the expected requirements. Additionally it will encourage positive partnerships between runners, race organisers, European Athletics and the athletics Federations as well as with all the other stakeholders.
The Safety and Quality standards are divided into three levels – 1-star, 3-star and 5-star - to encompass all race types and sizes.
European Athletics will launch an online platform and promotional tools that will enable Member Federations to manage the spread of the standards in their territory and facilitate race organisers applying for certification.
The ultimate goal is to have as many races in Europe certified, bringing race organisers and Member Federations closer together and to have the runners themselves recognising and trusting the system.
This editorial appeared in the December 2014 edition of the European Athletics newsletter Inside Track.