Looking
at that losing FIBA World Cup bid
by rick olivares pic borrowed from fiba
The bids by China and the Philippines
are a study in contrasts.
You can actually say that China’s bid
was rational and calculating while the Philippines’ bid was emotional. Very
kurot sa puso as we like in our telenovelas and films. But sadly, as much as it
tugged at my heartstrings, I wondered how this would resonate to men of
different cultures who think differently.
Listening to China’s bid, the strengths
they outlined -- veterans in hosting world-class events, existing world class
venues, efficient transportation system, efficient media management — were our
very own weaknesses.
The 2013 FIBA Asia is the biggest one
the Philippines has hosted in recent memory aside from the traditional
Southeast Asian Games. That paled in comparison to China’s impressive hosting
resume.
The venues we have are pretty good even
if the venue in Cebu has yet to be built. But that leads to the traffic
situation in Manila that is getting horrendous by the day. If that is terrible
then our public transportation system is worse. We don’t need a world-class
event to galvanize solving that problem. It should be on top of this country’s
priority list.
As for media management. Sadly, the
facilities for this are really wanting. I remember how foreign journalists
would complain about the poor internet during the FIBA Asia.
So when FIBA Secretary General Patrick
Baumann announced the innovations that are set to take place on 2019, it is
entirely possible that they didn’t want to gamble with the infrastructure and
go with a country that is tried and tested.
As per the criteria set forth by FIBA,
it is the ability to:
• meet FIBA’s commercial, operational,
and venue requirements
• field a competitive national team
• have a strong sport development
programme
• and leave a lasting legacy for the
event
Okay. Fine.
But I can’t help but think of
Indianapolis in 2002. They only had two venues — the Conseco Fieldhouse and the
RCA Dome for all the teams! So what if there were only 16 teams then as opposed
to the 24 now. They’re not even a media hub. Okay, they host the largest single
day sporting event that is the Indy 500. But still.
How about Saitama in 2006? They had
five venues with only the Saitama Super Arena the only with more than 10,000
seating capacity (21 thousand to be exact). The Philippine arena seats more
than all those five venues combined. Furthermore, Saitama was only founded as a
city in 2001 after three prefectures were merged. Now if you check the legacy
portion of the criteria, basketball in Japan is lagging way behind baseball and
football. Sure they have a lot of teams but the sport as a whole is struggling.
In 2010 in Istanbul, the popularity of basketball
wasn’t because of the NBA (especially in a football-mad country like Turkey).
Believe it or not, it was an American television show, “The White Shadow” that
was about grassroots hoops. The game even before the FIBA hosting was popular
and it has grown even more in this country. Who did Turkey beat in the hosting
bid? France. And to think more countries voted for these two than the united
Balkan States that banded together in an effort to host the 2010 games. And
these Balkan countries are really basketball mad.
And for the 2014 games, wasn’t Spain
mired in an economic recession at that time?
And look who is bidding for the 2023
games — Germany, Qatar, and Turkey. Turkey hosted in 2010 so why are they back
in the picture?
So I cannot figure out the rhyme or
reason for these countries winning the bids. If you go back into the FIBA World
Championships, in its early years many of the games were held in South America
where FOOTBALL IS KING. So is it growing the sport? Is it economic power?
You want more proof of how strange the
decision making is during the bidding for the 2013 FIBA Asia Championships,
Lebanon was awarded the right to host with the Ghazir Club Court as its main
venue. Hold on boys and girls because that venue seats only 4,500 people.
Somehow, I feel like that this is like
applying for a VISA. You’ll never know if you’ll get it. Like when I applied
for a Schengen VISA months ago, there was this family that had previously
traveled all over Asia that was denied a chance to go to Europe while this
family that had never traveled before was granted one. Go figure.
I guess, it is like the Ms. Universe
contest where it isn’t necessarily the prettiest woman who wins the
title.
You might say that tugging on
heartstrings isn’t enough. Of course it isn’t. That is why the Philippines’ bid
stated the economic growth and the love for the game that will ensure that the
venues are packed. If on short notice, the Philippines picked up the bid for
the 2013 FIBA Asia after Lebanon was taken off the hosting rights following war
in the region what more the Philippines with four years to prepare for 2019?
Losing the bid is painful. The country
is beginning to make a name for itself in the international arena and this
would be the crowning glory (next to an Olympic or FIFA World Cup hosting bid)
and this would have left a real lasting legacy. And whether we like it or not,
there’s the matter of the Spratly Islands where China was annexed islands that
belong to us. We can’t do much militarily in the Spratlys issue then we get
bushwhacked in a game that we call our own. IT. HURTS.
Now let me leave you with one sobering
fact. We like to say that the Chinese have an acumen for business. And on the
day of the bid, sans emotion, it was all cold blooded business. No frills. No
fancy slogans.
And now they are FIBA World Cup hosts.
No comments:
Post a Comment