San Diego Beach Games Goes Digital

(ATR) All you will need is a phone to watch and share the San Diego 2019 Association of National Olympic Committees Beach Games, organizing president Vincent Mudd says.

Mudd along with the San Diego 2019 team gave the first update to the ANOC General Assembly since being named host two years ago. Since then the Games were pushed back two years to allow for more preparation time and marketing. Mudd told Around the Rings that presentations to the assembly and the ANOC Executive Council had a little weight to emphasize "this thing is really going to happen."

"After [Rio 2016] when we pushed the Games to 2019 it gave everyone a chance to focus on whats important for the athletes and quality of games perspective," Mudd said to ATR.

"What we are going to be doing in the first of the year is intensely focused on marketing the Games. We all need to explain to the world what the ANOC World Beach Games are and we have to explain to the world how San Diego is going to be the place to be."

The final athlete total for the Games remains at the discretion of ANOC, as does the sport program. Mudd said he expects 15 sports with 17 disciplines to feature in San Diego, but organizers continue to wait on a final decision.

The Games will cost $39.96 million and absolutely will not "be a dollar more than that," Mudd said defiantly. Included in the final budget are all infrastructure costs, which will draw completely on temporary field of play facilities.

"When we are done we are going to sweep the beach. It's going to look like the day we started," Mudd added.

Discussions remain ongoing with a sponsor which is "also a broadcaster," but the Games will not rely on a traditional television distribution model. San Diego organizers believe the best way to get young viewers to watch the Beach Games will be through digital streams and social media. Digital technology "crosses countries and crosses borders," Mudd says, and "it is available to people all over the world."

A Culture to Last

San Diego organizers believe the most important aspect of the Games will be connections to "an authentic beach culture" in Southern California.

Mudd said that the culture presented during the Games would give ANOC "a look and feel and that's what they will be looking for in other cities." In that sense the organizers consider that the inaugural Games will provide a roadmap for all of the future editions.

"If we can show a cost effective high impact Games that attract a young audience that we are looking for then I think other countries will be able to sign up," Mudd said. "If our mark is anything it is to show how these Games can be sustainable for a large set of NOCs to go after."

In addition to working towards marketing the Games, San Diego is working with ANOC to drive up NOC attendance and bring International Federations for site visits. Then a "tool kit" can be developed to flesh out the Games operations’ details.

"The thing we are trying to learn from the Olympic model is the connectivity the fans have to the athletes that is something that is [an aspiration] for us," Mudd said. "If we can get the beach culture to connect with the athletes like in the Olympics, [then] that would be good for us."

Written by Aaron Bauerin Prague

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