Saturday 21 February 2015

To host, or not to host!

Whenever I see Mind Sports South Africa send a team sponsored by MWEB

I am aware that in 2010, the MSSA had a meeting with the owners of DreamHack (in Johannesburg) about bringing DreamHack to South Africa. The meeting was common knowledge at the time. However, due to the lack of the gamer's enthusiasm, the event was shelved.

Anyone who has been around for a long time will understand how government works and the impact that international events have on increasing membership as well as the burden that such an event puts on the organisers. Often those involved in running an international event exhibit all the signs of burn-out after the event and are sometimes physically ill from the stress and work-load.

The people who do the work are often volunteers who do both their normal jobs as well as other MSSA activities.

Thus to effectively host an event, there needs to be a local team that is going to do most of the work as well as get assistance from the municipality and the provincial government and/or the provincial sports council.

However, from what I know, the MSSA would like to be able to assist any bid for an international event to be held in South Africa, but there are some legal requirements that the MSSA, and all other sport bodies, have to meet before bidding for any international events.

In order to comply with those requirements, the MSSA has drawn up a checklist which bidders need to work through and complete fully in order for MSSA to make a proper decision.

These are:

1.   Application must be made on behalf of a fully-paid-up member club which meets the following requirements:

     1.1  Must be duly registered with MSSA.
     1.2  Have a minimum of 3 members.
     1.3  Must by able to prove that it is active, for example through participation in MSSA  activities.

2.   Application must be accompanied by provisional written endorsement by (a) the local municipality, and (b) the provincial sports department.

overseas to an IeSF event, I too see the usual critics exclaim “Why can't we have it here?”.

Where:
  • either authority indicates that its rules dictate that it will only deal with the national federation, this must be indicated in the application.
  • The endorsement must indicate what financial or logistical support, if any, will be provided.

3.   The proposed venue for the tournament/championship must be provided, together with      written confirmation that it is available on the proposed dates.

4.   A list of proposed hotels where the competitors, officials and international delegates  will be housed, together with their grading and room rates.

5.   A draft budget, taking into account at least the following factors:
           5.1        Sources of income.
           5.2        Expenses, including:    

    • International travel for competitors, officials and delegates. 
    • Domestic travel for competitors, officials and delegates.
    • Transport within the host city from the airport, to hotel and to venues.
    • Accommodation and meals.
    • Venue and equipment hire.
    • Health and safety requirements.
    • Promotional equipment
    • Per diems or other expenses for Stationery, telephone and other miscellaneous expenses.
    • Prize money
6.  What anticipated media coverage will there be (including online streaming, etc)?

7.  What will the anticipated spectator interest be?

8.  What legacy programmes are envisaged: ie how will the country and the host city/province, in particular, benefit from hosting the event in the long term. (Please do not include claims of economic benefits unless there is ample evidence to back this up.) Specific reference must be made to the increased exposure of the discipline involved and how hosting  the championships/tournament will increase player numbers in a sustainable manner.

Any club that can provide the MSSA with answers to the above questions may have their bid evaluated.

Few, if any will, meet the above criteria.    

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