SportAccord Off and Running in the Olympic Capital

(ATR) Change seems inevitable as the SportAccord Convention has returned to Lausanne for the second time in its 14-year history.

Delegates are convening at the stunning Swiss Tech Convention Center, which was inaugurated in April 2014.

Sport leaders, international federations, national Olympic committees, cities, media, consultants and other stakeholders from the world of sport have converged upon the Olympic capital for the annual networking gathering, April 17-22. Approximately two-thousand attendees are expected at this year’s event with approximately 100 sport federations and organizations exhibiting.

As vendors scurried to put the final touches on their exhibits on the garden floor on an overcast and drizzly Monday morning in Lausanne, SportAccord managing director Nis Hatt spoke to Around the Rings about what to expect over the upcoming days.

"I have no doubt that when we close the convention on Friday...that people will see and have felt that things are back to where it was – taking it back to the core of what SportAccord and the convention is all about," Hatt told ATR.

SportAccord was sent into turmoil last April in Sochi following former president Marius Vizer’s scathing diatribe targeted at Thomas Bach and the IOC. Vizer’s ill-advised remarks resulted in a mass exodus of sport federations. Under Hatt, SportAccord convention president Francesco Ricci Bitti and a soon to be elected new SportAccord leader, the umbrella organization for sport federations continues to search for a clear identity.

"Open dialogue and exchange are very much the watchwords at this year’s convention," SportAccord Convention president Francesco Ricci Bitti told SportAccord publication The Daily. "We have a great opportunity to do this through the Conference Program with its overarching theme of ‘The Mission of Sport.’"

Hatt also discussed logistical changes to the program.

"When in the old days we focused on two days of program, this year we’ve pulled the rubber band a little bit and made it four days," Hatt said.

Monday’s program opened with LawAccord and proceeded with the ARISF General Assembly, ASOIF and AIMS meetings and MediaAccord in the afternoon. MediaAccord – which made its debut at SportAccord in 2015 – plans to focus on the Digital Rights Environment and will include two case studies, followed by a round table chat including Around the Rings editor Ed Hula.

Among the highlights of the 2016 convention is the debut of the Digital Summit. Delegates will be addressed by industry leaders from Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, among others, as well as the IOC.

"It is a new component where all the different platforms are coming in to give their presentations," Hatt said reeling off the various social media brands. "This is a great addition and something that has been hosted in very close collaboration with the IOC. It will also allow the IOC to talk about some of the good things they are doing coming into Rio, upcoming Winter Games and Tokyo 2020."

Also high on the agenda will be the election of the next president of SportAccord to be determined at the organization's general assembly on Friday, April 22. International Basketball Federation (FIBA) secretary general and IOC member Patrick Baumann and International Underwater Aquatics Federation (CMAS) president Anna Arzhanova are the two candidates vying for the position.

Although for the second consecutive year no IOC Executive Board meeting will take place, naturally, IOC president Thomas Bach will attend the conference.

Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO of WPP, will deliver the SportAccord Convention Keynote Address on Wed., April 20 ahead of the Digital Summit and Plenary Conference, outlining how recent turmoil in sport has also presented its governing bodies with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reinvent themselves.

Regarding the Swiss Tech Convention Center, Hatt said: "This venue, if you compare it to past editions of the convention, it’s more intimate – it’s confined into a much smaller area and that helps build the interaction as you see here in the café area, where people can eat and drink while looking at what is going on."

SportAccord Convention was last held in Lausanne in 2004, marking the second edition following its debut in Madrid in May 2003.

"In those days, it was a much smaller event, not as inclusive and we didn’t do as much as we are doing today," Hatt said. "I think people back then had fond memories of it and I think they’re happy to be back in Lausanne."

Reported by Brian Pinelliin Lausanne

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