Paris 2024 Leaders Believe Handball Championship Will Aid Bid

(ATR) The World Men’s Handball Championship, which opened in Paris and will be contested throughout France over the next 16 days, could have 2024 Olympic bid implications.

French President François Hollande and Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo attended the opening match of the championship on Wednesday night at AccorHotels Arena. Defending world champion France defeated Brazil in front of 15,609 enthusiastic fans.

Paris 2024 chief executive officer Etienne Thobois tells Around the Rings that the French leaders are staunch supporters of both sport and the Paris Olympic bid.

"They are not only passionate about sport as fans – Hidalgo supports all major events and also sport as a policy tool for her to reach objectives of a better life for Parisians," Thobois tells ATR.

"She has made a commitment around this bid that no Parisians will be more than five minutes walking from a sports facility by 2024.

"Hollande went to London 2012 and ever since it's been an objective for us to experience that fantastic spirit and magic that the Games (could) bring to France," Thobois added.

The International Handball Federation's marquee tournament is the first of four world championships to be played in Paris in the lead-up to the IOC decision in September on the 2024 Olympics. Los Angeles and Budapest challenge Paris in the running.

"We have a pretty good track record with events and we always deliver," Thobois said, noting the Euro 2016, Tour de France and the French Open tennis tournament. "One of our strengths as a bid is that we can not only rely on events and infrastructure, public policy and support, but also on strong federations that know how to organize events."

Eight cities across the country, in addition to the French capital and including 1992 Winter Olympic host Albertville, are hosting games during the 25th edition of the nearly three week event.

Paris 2024 co-chairman Tony Estanguet said the tournament will help stir interest in the French capital’s quest for an Olympic return.

"Parisians and French people have a great passion for all Olympic sport and over the course of the next three weeks, these sports fans will fill all the venues, create a wonderful atmosphere for athletes and be entertained by fantastic handball action," Estanguet said.

"At Paris 2024, we know we can harness this national passion for Olympic sport, offer a great showcase to help promote events globally and help all sports grow and develop," said the French IOC member.

The AccorHotels Arena in Paris will host semifinals and the Final on Jan 29. The indoor venue, which was renovated in 2015, will be known as Paris Arena I if the city wins the 2024 Games, and will be home to the basketball finals and Judo during the Olympics and wheelchair basketball at the Paralympic Games.

Twenty-four national teams are vying for the handball world title with elimination rounds starting on Jan. 21.

According to organizers, the eight city tournament is on pace to break attendance records with half a million tickets already sold and approximately 5,000 additional tickets expected to be sold per day.

"We believe that the passion that we have for sport will also serve a purpose – and that’s why we talk about Olympic Games of passion and purpose and it's very important for us that we want to show Olympism," said Thobois, a French Badminton champion and 1996 Olympian who has also organized major Athletics and rugby events in France.

"Our promise in Paris in 2024 is exactly what handball is doing today – when we are illuminating the Arc de Triomphe it’s a way of getting the sport outside the arena to reach out to the public and add value and having Paris as a backdrop for this is fantastic."

Radio Broadcasters Denied Live Coverage of Tournament

Media organizations are contending that world handball championships rights holder beIN Sports has circumvented French law by charging exorbitant technical costs to radio broadcasters wishing to offer live coverage.

Private radio stations in France were asked to pay €25,000 ($26,621) for the right to broadcast tournament matches live on-site.

As a result, only public radio companies from France (Radio France) and Croatia (HRT) have signed radio rights agreements with beIN Sports.

Many foreign broadcasters have opted not to send any or just a limited number of reporters to cover the event.

Exposure of the premier handball event appears to be in decline across several territories. At the Rio Games, the IOC downgraded the sport from group C to group D, meaning the IHF earned less revenue from the event than at previous Games.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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