Madrid 2020: penultimate step before the host city for the 2020 Olympic Games is chosen
The Madrid 2020 Bid to host the 2020 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games was defended this week in Lausanne before the voting members of the International Olympic Committee.
The presentation in Lausanne was hugely important since following these presentations the majority of the IOC members who will vote to select the host city for the Games on September 7 in Buenos Aires will have formed a practically firm opinion on which city they are going to vote for, out of Tokyo, Istanbul and Madrid.
The Report of the 2020 Evaluation Commission, which was published at the end of June, revealed that the Madrid Bid to host the 2020 Games has a slight advantage over Tokyo and Istanbul from a technical standpoint.
The Evaluation Commission’s Report is the result of the IOC’s exhaustive analysis of the Candidature File presented by each city seeking to host the Games and the “assessment” of the candidate cities following the visit made to each city by the members of the Evaluation Commission.
Although this Report is not binding on the IOC members who will vote in Buenos Aires, it does support the decision-making process, since it reveals the degree of preparation and solvency of the candidate cities as regards the organization of the Games, analyzing aspects such as the quality of the competition venues, accessibility of the host city for athletes and the general public, traffic levels in each city, the use of infrastructure to be built for the Games once they have ended, social and political support, security, economic solvency of the Bid, etc.
In addition, the IOC has also carefully analyzed the tax and legal framework of each candidate city with a view to ensuring that the Games will be held with the utmost legal certainty for athletes, the Olympic family, sponsors, suppliers, the media and the visitors attending the Games.
Garrigues has worked hand in hand with the Madrid 2020 Bid in preparing the Candidature File, advising on all tax and legal issues arising from same and defending the Bid during the visit by the IOC Evaluation Commission.
It has been extremely hard but immensely gratifying work and we hope it can contribute, albeit modestly, to Madrid finally being chosen as the host city for the Games of the XXXII Olympiad.
While we await the final decision, we would like to send all our support to the bid team, who will continue to staunchly defend the Madrid Bid in the coming months and we wish them every success in Buenos Aires.
Garrigues Sports & Entertainment Department
