Major Revamp of SportAccord Coming

(ATR) SportAccord’s name could be scrapped next month in a vote on major changes to the statutes of the international federations’ body.

A proposal to revert to the Global Association of International Sports Federations (GAISF) will be presented for discussion and approval of SportAccord’s 120 members at the general assembly in Aarhus, Denmark.

It is one of several landmark changes to the organization in an eight-page document on proposed amendments to the statutes. Around the Rings has seen the dossier which insiders describe as an "evolution" of SportAccord.

The SportAccord Council formally approved wording of changes to the statutes at its March 1 meeting in Lausanne. But the amendments were only circulated to members in the last 24 hours.

Rotation of the presidency among the respective umbrella organisations - ARISF, AIOWF, AIMS and ASOIF – will be put to a vote on April 7.

Two-year presidential terms are also proposed when Patrick Baumann steps down in 2020. One first vice president will be appointed by the organization that will take over the presidency at the next cycle.

Under this arrangement, the Association of IOC Recognised International Sport Federations would hold the presidency from 2020-2022. A president would then be nominated from the association of Olympic winter federations for the period 2022-2024. The Alliance of Independent Recognised Members of Sport is slated to take it for the next cycle before the presidency returns to the summer Olympic federations from 2026-2028.

On the name change, the revised statutes say that the SportAccord Council decided that the Global Association of International Sports Federations "would better represent the nature of the organization. It would also make a clear distinction with the commercial activities held under the patronage of the association, such as the SportAccord Convention/IF Forum or the multiple sport games which shall also in the future retain the name and brand SportAccord".

Baumann: Changes No Slam Dunk

Speaking exclusively to ATR on Wednesday, Baumann denied that SportAccord’s name change to the Global Association of International Sports Federations was a backward step. Hein Verbruggen first brought the branding in during his time as president prior to Marius Vizer’s controversial reign.

"It is a way forward in the sense that it clarifies the distinction between the products that SportAccord has. We want to keep that," said the secretary general of the international basketball association.

Under proposals to overhaul the SportAccord presidency, therevised statutes note that the experience of opening the position to any fully paid-up member "has indicated that this process may lead to intense debates dividing the membership, creating instability for the organisation in terms of mission, vision and objectives and alienating the support of other key stakeholders".

SportAccord’s council said "it would be more pragmatic and democratic to install a rotation system amongst the respective stakeholders/umbrella organizations".

Baumann told ATR the organization should "not become as it has become a political organization" that might challenge other stakeholders in the sports world or create divisions.

His comments could be interpreted as a reference to Vizer's angry attack on the IOC at the Sochi SportAccord Convention, which led to many federations suspending their membership and ultimately sparked his resignation.

Baumann added: "The idea is to make sure that these divisions don’t happen anymore, that we concentrate on things that are important for international federations like ensuring smaller ones coming in get better and better and go to the pinnacle one day… and being recognized by the IOC and maybe becoming part of the Olympic program."

He said SportAccord's leadership should not always be in the hands of Olympic sports.

"It is also absolutely fair and correct that non-Olympic sports can chair the organization of all these international federations," he said.

Commenting on the two- not four-year presidential terms that are being proposed, Baumann said such a lengthy tenure "seems a little bit too much". The two-year amendment "gives every group, every stakeholder a reasonable time limit".

Asked about initial reaction to the revised statutes, he said: "It is a matter of hours it has been out there. It's now up to our council to discuss with members why these change have been proposed and give the right arguments to understand them."

"I look forward to having a lot of discussion when I get to Aarhus."

Baumann is under no illusion that the statutes will be approved without opposition.

"This is never a slam dunk and is not meant to be a slam dunk. Statute changes are never a simple matter for any organization," he said.

"We are changing the statutes. It’s an important thing. The membership has to think about it and consider what they think is best.Our job is to give direction, leadership and vision and explain why. Then it is always the membership who has the last word."

Reported by Mark Bisson

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