ADD2037 World Cup of Gymnastics 2017

1.1 Background

1.1.1 The success of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has cemented London’s position as a world-leading host of major sporting events. The O2 Arena has also added to the range of world class sporting facilities that London offers, hosting the artistic gymnastics at the London 2012 Olympics and the 2009 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships. A key part of the on-going legacy of London 2012 is ensuring that these facilities and others around London be regularly and fully made use of.

1.1.2 London has since secured a portfolio of additional events that will help sustain our position as a world-leading host and is in keeping with the stated legacy aims from London 2012, one of which is to ensure that the facilities built for the Games continue to be used to stage high-level international sporting events. They include the 2015 Rugby World Cup, 2015 European Hockey Championships, 2015 and 2016 Formula E Championships, 2016 European Swimming Championships, 2016 Track Cycling World Championships, 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championships and IPC World Athletics Championships and 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup.

1.1.3 Recognising that most major sporting events require some level of public support, the GLA allocated £2.4 million over four years to future major sporting events as part of the 2014/15 budget setting process. This Major Sports Events Fund supports the GLA’s major sporting events strategy for London, ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’, which was published in April 2014.

1.1.4 This new London-wide approach to bidding for and supporting major sporting events establishes the Mayor’s Office as the first point of call for anyone looking to bring their event to London, and firmly establishes the Mayor’s Office as London’s strategic lead for major sporting events.

1.2 2017 Gymnastics World Cup

1.2.1 The Gymnastics World Cup is an annual four-leg international gymnastics competition featuring the world’s best gymnasts. British Gymnastics, along with Germany, Japan and the United States have been selected to host one of the four annual legs of the World Cup for the next four years (2017 to 2020).

1.2.2 The World Cup events will act as qualifying events for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Each leg of the World Cup includes Men’s & Women’s All Around Competition, mirroring the Olympic All Around format. The top 12 nations in the world are entitled to send a gymnast to the World Cup.

1.2.3 The UK event has previously been staged successfully in Glasgow, however as part of its major events strategy, British Gymnastics wishes to move the event to London for the next four years. London has not staged a major gymnastics event since the World Championships were hosted at the O2 in 2009 where 41,000 people attended.

1.2.4 The GLA is keen to support British Gymnastics to take the sport forward in London. London and the South East have a strong gymnastics market, representing more than 50,000 of the 300,000 British Gymnastics members. Membership is growing at an average of 13% year on year, reflecting the international standing of UK gymnasts and the improved public profile of the sport.

1.2.5 The £50k grant requested will contribute towards a total event budget of c£650k. UK Sport have agreed to contribute £50,000 towards delivery of the event. British Gymnastics have secured a partnership deal with Matchroom, Sport, a commercial event promoter, to underwrite the event; the GLA will therefore not be exposed to any potential shortfall in revenue.

1.2.6 Evaluated against the criteria, it was deemed that:

• the Economic Impact of the event was evaluated as bronze;
• the International and Domestic Broadcast proposal for the event was evaluated as bronze.
• the Community Engagement proposal for the event was evaluated as silver.

1.2.7 Overall, the event scored bronze against our evaluation criteria. It delivers against the key GLA objectives of: delivering direct economic benefit to the city through non-London based spectators visiting and staying in the city; increasing tourism by increasing exposure for London overseas; and of improving the health and wellbeing of Londoners, particularly through the establishment of a large-scale community engagement programme alongside the event. The GLA Sports Team therefore recommended accepting the request to award up to £50,000 and the GLA Events Steering Group (GESG) approved this recommendation on 21 September 2016.

2.1 The objectives of the proposed funding are to:

• Support the successful hosting of the 2017 World Cup of Gymnastics;
• Support delivery of the GLA’s major sports events strategy, ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’;
• Increase economic investment into London;
• Increase international exposure of London;
• Increase opportunities for Londoners to participate in sport and physical exercise programmes associated with major sporting events;
• Assist the GLA in delivering against commitments to a lasting sports legacy following the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• Increase opportunities for Londoners to volunteer at a major sporting events;

3.1. Every major event that seeks financial support from the GLA must demonstrate how the event will engage with the local community, in line with the GLA’s grassroots sport policy, ‘A Sporting Future for London’ and the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme.

3.2 An equalities impact assessment has previously been undertaken on the overall Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme.

3.3 According to the most recent Sport England Active People survey (APS 8 published in January 2015), levels of participation in sport and physical activity are variable across different socio-demographic groups in London. Across all 33 London Boroughs, average figures indicate that 43% of men participate in sport at least once a week compared to 32% of women. 37% of Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) people participate weekly compared to 39% of people of white origin. 19% of disabled people participate weekly compared to 40% of non-disabled people. 17% of people over the age of 65 participate weekly compared to 52% of those between the age of 16 and 25. 41% of people from socio-economic groups 1 to 4 participate weekly compared to 25% of people from socio-economic groups 5-8 (based on the National Statistics Socio-economic classification system).

3.4 Sports programmes supported by the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme engage significant numbers of women, disabled people, BAME people and people from lower socio-economic groups, both via sports participation programmes and training opportunities. We are seeking to increase participation opportunities for these groups through the Major Sports Events Engagement Fund that this event has also bid to.

4.1 Key Risks and Issues

4.2 Links to Mayoral Strategies & Priorities

GLA support for the event will:

• support delivery of the GLA’s major sports events strategy, ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’;
• support the aims of ‘Inclusive and Active 2’ strategy for increasing participation in sport and physical activity amongst disabled people in London;
• support delivery of the Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme;
• assist in meeting the objectives of the Mayor’s Health Inequalities Strategy;
• promote social development in London;
• assist the GLA in delivering against commitments to a lasting sports legacy following the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• support the Mayor’s priorities around volunteering and his Team London programme.

4.3 Impact Assessments and Consultations

4.3.1 An equalities impact assessment has previously been undertaken on the overall Mayor’s Sports Legacy Programme. Further information is available at Section 3 of this document.

4.3.2 In writing ‘A Sporting Future for London’, the GLA Sports Unit consulted extensively with over 400 individuals from over 100 different groups and organisations including national governing bodies of sport, the Pro-Active Partnerships, senior representatives from local authorities and a wide variety of sports clubs and community organisations.

4.3.3 The conclusions reached received broad support from all key stakeholders and reaction to the plan itself has been very positive.

4.3.4 In writing ‘London: Home of World Class Sport’, the GLA Sports Unit consulted extensively with various national governing bodies of sport in the UK, Sport England, UK Sport, London Sport, relevant Local Authorities, LLDC, Lee Valley Regional Park Authority, London & Partners, sports venue owners in London and Transport for London. The strategy has been greatly welcomed by all key London stakeholders and partners, as well as the key national agencies identified above.

5.1 The grant funding of £50,000 to British Gymnastics will be funded from within the existing Major Sports Events Fund of £2.4m.

6.1 The GLA Sports Team is working closely with British Gymnastics and other stakeholders to ensure effective planning for the event.

6.2 Next steps are as follows: