ATR First: PASO Overhaul Begins

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(ATR) Newly elected Pan American Sports Organization president Neven Ilic tells Around the Rings the organization is united as it seeks to restructure for the future.

"It was a hard election but after that everything is clear," Ilic tells ATR in Miami. "I think that we are working with family and everybody wants to be involved in the new project. I think that we have many things to do but we are very organized.

"We have to show PASO to the world," Ilic says. "We are trying to grow our marketing area to present our company to the other big sponsors and to work in the technical area to support the ideas that each NOC has."

Ilic and his fellow PASO Executive Committee members who were elected this April in Uruguay arrived in Miami on June 10 to begin preparing for an NOC Best Practices Symposium. Each of the 41 NOCs of PASO will attend what is the first official meeting led by Ilic.

The Executive Board met on June 12 to begin its work to revitalize the organization to "present a new vision and a new image".

"This is the first day in our new ambition to create a product and to go to the market to involve sponsors," Ilic says. "We are also working today with a technical commission that will propose to the EB what we will have to do to help the countries.

"We have different countries in PASO – big, small and medium – and we want to propose to them specific programs depending on the level of each of the countries. We have a spectacular team working in marketing but it’s not easy to develop a project because everything is new for us."

Not only does PASO need to plan for its future, it must also deal with its issues in the present. To this day, construction on the Athletes Village for the Lima 2019 Pan American Games and other major projects has yet to begin. Ilic says they are fully aware of the situation at hand and action is needed now.

"The most important challenge we have and they have there is to begin the construction," he says. "We have to build some venues such as the aquatics center but the most important is to start the construction of the village."

However, Ilic assures ATR that he has plenty of experience with strenuous construction deadlines.

"This is my business," he says. "I know that it’s not easy to build the village in two years; you can do it but you have to start now.

Ilic says that Lima 2019 organizers have promised a September start date for the village and other projects. PASO executives will visit Lima, Peru at that time to ensure everything is moving forward as scheduled.

PASO also needs to ensure it can maintain the viability of its flagship Pan American Games event. The 2023 edition of the Games only has one bid city in Santiago, Chile after Buenos Aires, Argentina dropped out. Ilic says the lack of bidders is a challenge for PASO but not one that cannot be overcome.

"I think that this is a good challenge because if you look today what is happening in the economies in countries in the region, you have countries that have to do a lot of things in terms of their internal problems," he says.

"But I think for countries like Chile to have the Pan American Games is a dream. It’s a dream for most of the country and the challenge for us is to find a way to have opportunity to have a lot of countries that can host the Games."

While PASO continues to improve its flagship Pan Am Games, it is also devoting more time to developing its other events such as the Pan American Youth Games. PASO secretary general Ivar Sisniega tells ATR the Youth Pan Ams can provide countries an added benefit outside of the traditional Pan Ams.

"We are talking about Pan American Youth Games also which are a much smaller and cheaper option that will allow other countries in the continent to have Games and help develop sport for the young people," Sisniega says.

PASO will also be opening new offices in Miami, Florida in the coming month. Ilic could not provide the official address but says PASO has chosen its new location that will supplement the work done at PASO headquarters in Mexico City.

"PASO is a Mexican company but I think the best place or the cheapest place to meet for the 41 countries is here," Ilic tells ATR. The new office is expected to open in July.

When asked whether new Miami offices could lead to an eventual bid from the city for the Pan Am Games, Ilic said PASO would be all ears.

"We are open to receive different proposals to have Games," Ilic says. "I think that Miami could be a great city to host the Games. I think it is better to wait and see what happens with this country and this city, but it would be great for PASO to receive such a proposal."

Written and reported in Miami by Kevin Nutley.

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