HOST CITY 2015 will Help Cities Get Ahead - Sir Craig Reedie

International Olympic Committee (IOC) Vice President and Executive Board Member Sir Craig Reedie says HOST CITY 2015, the leading EU-based meeting of Cities and Sports, Business and Cultural Events, will enable participants to maximise the potential of a buoyant events market and equip bidding cities with the tools needed to succeed through innovation.

Taking place in Glasgow on 9-10 November, HOST CITY 2015 is set to bring together a unique collection of city leaders and cross-sector rights holders, event owners and suppliers to explore the challenges and benefits of bidding for major global events.

Reedie, who is giving the keynote address at the event, says HOST CITY 2015 presents an attractive opportunity for cities to get ahead in the competitive international market of major event hosting.

"From my point of view of being involved in HOST CITY 2015, I am delighted that the event is coming to Glasgow, because Glasgow has shown that it is a sporting city with the way it has developed its facilities, the way it ran a major multi-sport event, the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

"So if you look at the excitement that generates locally, and the promotion that it gives the city on a worldwide basis, then I think this indicates that the market out there is a buoyant one" said Sir Craig Reedie, IOC Vice President.

Under the theme "Creative Innovation Connecting Cities with Sports, Business and Culture Events", HOST CITY 2015 will address topics such as: how events and cities innovate to thrive; the changing face of sports governance; the power of people and how to engage citizens through events; and event infrastructure innovation.

Sir Craig Reedie, who was deeply engaged in the IOC’s own "Olympic Agenda 2020", which aimed in part to make bidding for the Olympic Games more appealing to cities, said the ability to innovate is critical to success.

"We [The IOC] came up with a coordinated and sensible view of how we wanted to run the Games but also to promote the Olympic movement for the future. There were some fairly dramatic discussions on the bidding process of the Games. We wanted to make it more inclusive, we wanted to make it more cooperative, we wanted to make it cheaper, we wanted to make it encouraging to more cities to become involved.

"In the process of bidding for sporting events, it’s a competitive field. The Olympic Games are the greatest show on earth; it’s important that they maintain this status. It’s important that the athletes regard them as the greatest show on earth and something they really want to take part in. So, therefore, a process of change is a perfectly reasonable thing to undertake," Sir Craig Reedie, IOC Vice President.

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