Munich hopes for Winter Olympics
Munich. The Munich application for the 2018 Winter Olympics is about to begin. Results of a poll look promising.
Munich plans to win the contest for the games against Pyeongchang in South Korea and Annecy in France. "We are looking forward", explains Willy Bogner the head of the application office after a conference with the Olympic associates. Thomas Bach, head of the german Olympic sport alliance stressed, now is the time to set the course for the "Candidate-City-Phase" of the application, a decision is expected to be made by the 6th of July 2011 in Durban, South Africa, regarding which of the candidates will be the host in 2018.
Initally a poll gives hope, the results, which a marketing company calculated, are positive. According to calculations 69,6% of Munich's citizens support the drive to host the Winter Olympics, similarly "around 70%" in Oberbayern, only Garmish is behind with only 64,8%. Nevertheless: "That is excellent", says Thomas Schmid, the mayor of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
In Werdenfelser Land, the location where the skii contest would take place, faces problems with the land and environmental protection recently, however the situation should improve on the 18th of May, according to the head of state chancellery, there will be an information centre, in the hope to get closer to the people living there, says mayor Schmid.
"We will start a very large campaign, which will spread all the way to Durban", announces Bogner. In one and a half months a hot air balloon with the Winter Olympics logo will take off "to show engagement". An expert commission for the paraolympics will be founded as well, to put emphasis on the importance of them for the 2018 application, says Bach.
The bid also has financial backing. The application requires 30 million Euro, 17 million of which are "secured", says OB Christian Ude. Three major companies could offer around 3 to 9 million Euro, which would almost complete the necessary funding.
The expenses for the sports buildings, have been established and will be split between the federation, country and commune. It is still unsure who will front the money for possible deficits during the games. According to Ude smaller communes like Garmisch and Oberammergau, as well as Berchtesgardener Land will be untroubled by this. It is unknown who else will back the bid for the Winter Olympics, financially, as there are risks of monitary deficits during the games.