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Italy
Rome city council strongly backs bid for 2024
Olympics
Rome’s city council has voted 38-6 in favour of a bid to host
the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The vote comes two days af ter Paris joined Boston and
Hamburg in the race to host the Games, with Budapest also
expected to be a candidate.
The city ’s Mayor Ignazio Marino said: “Like it was for Barcelona
and London, the Rome 2024 Olympics will leave a renewed,
modern and sustainable identity for our city.
“This is a vote that looks to the future and an opportunity to
think about the city for the next generation.”
Rome, which last hosted the Games in 1960, abandoned plans
to bid for the 2020 Games due to f inancial concerns.
The bid is expected to include many of the venues used for the
1960 Games, including the city ’s Stadio Olimpico, which hosted
the 1990 World Cup f inal as well as four European Cup f inals.
Rome is believed to considering a budget of €6 billion, which is
roughly half of what London spent on the 2012 Games.
Japan
Rugby World Cup plans in doubt
Japan’s plan to host the 2019 Rugby World Cup were thrown
into doubt as the design for the new stadium was scrapped. The
Japanese government dealt organisers a huge blow when Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe announced that the design for the new 80,000
national stadium was being scrapped due to spiralling costs,
meaning the venue - scheduled to host the semi-f inals and f inal in
2019 - would not be ready when revised plans are drawn up.
World Rugby issued a statement expressing their “extreme
disappointment ” with the announcement given the proposed
stadium had formed a “compelling pillar” of Japan’s bid to host the
tournament.The prospect of the tournament being taken of f Japan
remains a distant one, despite speculation that those interested in
hosting the 2023 tournament might of fer their services.
That would bring Ireland into the equation, but it would appear
more likely that one of their rivals such as South Africa may seek
to step into the breach given the existing stadium infrastructure
that exists since the 2010 football World Cup f inals.
China
Chinese club giant Guangzhou
Evergrande files for IPO
Guangzhou Evergrande, China’s most successful club
of recent years, has f iled with the National Equities
Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) to list on a trading
plat form for shares in small and medium-sized
companies.
The club is currently owned 60% by property f irm
Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd and 40% by
e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and
has been valued by Chinese media at 10 billion yuan
(US$1.61 billion), although on what basis is unclear as
Alibaba last year reportedly paid US$192 million for
50% of the club.
The team made a loss of 265 million yuan during
January-May but the owners hope that the listing
will “enhance the liquidity of its equity interest, thus
facilitating the introduction of strategic investors,
promotion of corporate image and realization of
sustainable development.”
Whilst Evergrande is being hailed by various media
as “the f irst Asian football club to list on the stock
market ” this is not true in a geographical sense - with
Trabonspor and Fenerbahce both listed and physically
in Asia.
USA
US Open becomes richest tennis grand
slam
The U.S. Open leapfrogged Wimbledon as the richest
grand slam event in tennis as the United States Tennis
Association announced a 10.5 percent prize money
increase for the championship starting on 31 August
2015.
The purse for the U.S. Open will hit US$42.3 million,
with the men’s and women’s singles winners each
pocketing US$3.3 million.
The All England Club upped the Wimbledon prize money
this year by seven percent to 26.75 million pounds
(US$41.82m).
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