ADD2623 UEFA Champions League Final 2024 – venue scoping for fan meeting points

1.1.    As ratified through MD 2487, the Mayor was asked to support The FA’s bid to UEFA to host the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final at Wembley Stadium, building on London’s hosting of UEFA EURO 2020 and Women’s EURO 2022 and help cement London’s status as the sporting capital of the world. London secured the UEFA Champions League Final in 2019 with the original intention of the match being held in 2023. As a result of the pandemic this was subsequently postponed to 2024.
1.2.      The GLA has committed to deliver, through legal guarantees to UEFA, a number of Host City obligations including the planning and delivery of two fan meeting/screening points to allow fans of the competing teams to congregate and travel in a coordinated way to the stadium. In recent years, these meeting points have also been required to prepare and plan for large volumes of travelling ticketless fans as seen at recent football finals.
1.3.       Although the city has extensive history of hosting football finals, it is important to appropriately respond to the recent events at the Men’s EURO 2020 final at Wembley Stadium in 2021 and the UEFA Champions League Final 2022 in Paris. 
1.4.       On both occasions, the planned locations of fan zones were quickly filled with unprecedented large numbers of fans travelling without tickets, a trend that is growing more and more common. In Paris, approximately 70,000 un-ticketed fans travelled to the city to celebrate their respective teams being in the final of the UEFA Champions League 2022. 
1.5.    As outlined in the Baroness Casey of Blackstock’s review of the events of the EURO 2020 final at Wembley Stadium, fan zones are used by the police and other key agencies as a key crowd management tool. When there are insufficient sites available to accommodate these large numbers of ticketless fans, behaviour issues are exacerbated and there is significant disorder.
1.6.      In London, the circa 8,000-person capacity of Trafalgar Square - initially earmarked for a screening site for ticketless fans for the UEFA Champions League final- would be insufficient should the city receive the large volumes of ticketless fans seen in recent years and alternative sites and solutions would need to be looked at in order to deliver a safe event. 
1.7.      Behaviour issues are also exacerbated by the fact that the UEFA Champions League is a club competition as opposed to an international tournament. There are clear historic rivalries between clubs which will undoubtedly increase tensions. The need to separate the opposing teams’ fans will therefore add further complexity and require more than one screening site in London. 
1.8.      In the likelihood that the use of Royal Parks land is not permitted due to the nature of these events, the GLA will need to identify other event site solutions that meet the requirements for a safe event and not rely on the use of sites like Hyde Park and Greenwich Park as at previous events. 
Exemption from the Contracts and Funding Code
1.9.      In order to meet its commitments under the Host City Agreement, the GLA needs to procure a venue scoping report to identify suitable sites and solutions for the two fan meeting/screening points, which meet the required criteria to ensure the delivery of a safe event.  This scoping work would therefore identify alternative site options and solutions which meet the following criteria:
•    two large outdoor locations, a reasonable distance away from each other in different parts of the city
•    each with a capacity for up to 30,000 fans at any one time
•    each with good transport links; including to/from major transport hubs, central London, and Wembley Stadium 
•    have availability end of May, beginning of June 2024 (with the option to re-activate for future projects if possible)
1.10.    This scoping work will have benefits across the Major Sports Events portfolio, and as such, the £15,000 expenditure will be taken from the 2022/2023 Major Sports Events budget using surplus programme budget. The final full UEFA Champions League budget will be ratified in another decision (MD3078).
1.11.    An exemption from the GLA’s Contracts and Funding Code has been requested at decision 2 above on the basis that the proposed supplier, Steer & Gleave Limited (“S&G”), has had previous involvement in Major Sports Events projects. S&G has previously undertaken similar mobility scoping work for the GLA on both the Men’s and Women’s EUROs.  If appointed, S&G would call on this past experience working on major, London-based football events in delivering the scoping report.  It is also critical to the existing stakeholder relations with UEFA, The FA and wider city agencies to use a respected, tried and tested supplier to carry out this important work and in turn protect the GLA’s reputation for putting safety and security first.
 

2.1.    Approving expenditure of £15,000 from the Major Sport Events budget will ensure a thorough venue scoping report can be carried out to identify appropriate event sites and solutions across London.
2.2.    This report will provide assurance to key city agencies and UEFA that safety and security is at the forefront of the GLA’s planning for the event.
2.3.       Benefits for London by the provision of funding: 
•    support delivery of a safe 2024 UEFA Champions League Final
•    increase economic investment into London 
•    increase international exposure of London
•    increase opportunities for Londoners to engage with major sports events through opportunities to attend, volunteer at, gain qualifications from, and participate in community sport activity that is linked to, the event.
2.4.    Hosting the 2024 UEFA Champions League Final presents a significant opportunity to maintain and build on London’s reputation as a leading global city and a destination for hosting the world’s biggest sporting events and to demonstrate that this can be done safely and securely in London.
 

3.1.    Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, the Mayor of London must have ‘due regard’ of the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who have protected characteristic and those who do not. 
3.2.    The GLA will work with the venues to ensure that it is an accessible venue, with a relevant and effective strategy. Appropriate assistance to all Londoners and visitors will be available at the event. 
3.3.    The procurement for an agency to carry out the scoping report will be a transparent process and will benefit from hiring an individual or organisation with an understanding of London’s event spaces

    Risk      Likelihood/ Impact      Response & Mitigation  
1    Large numbers of travelling fans travel to London without tickets and there is a significant risk of overcrowding at the screening locations and in Central London     High / High     Safety and security is at the forefront of the GLA’s planning for the event. This expenditure will enable the GLA to scope out suitable locations and solutions that meet the criteria required to prepare and plan for large volumes of travelling fans as seen at recent football finals. This work will be carried out in partnership with key city agencies to ensure that all plans are thoroughly reviewed. 
2    There is an increase in crowd disorder at football matches prior to the tournament, resulting in further scrutiny on all safety and security planning. 
    Medium/High     Safety and security is at the forefront of the GLA’s planning for the event. The GLA will work very closely with key city agencies including MPS to ensure that safety and security plans respond effectively to the issues being faced. This piece of scoping work will be used to develop these plans. 
3    The approval of the ADD is put on hold resulting in the delay to the piece of scoping work. This will have a detrimental impact to the planning of the event and the engagement with key stakeholders.        Medium/High    Safety and security is at the forefront of the GLA’s planning for the event. This piece of work is essential to developing these wider plans and building the key stakeholder relationships that are impacted by the event. 
 

5.1.    This paper requests approval for a venue scoping report ahead of the UEFA Champions League in June 2024. The cost of the report is estimated at £15,000 and is expected to complete by March 2023. This will be funded from the Major Sport Events 2022-23 programme budget. 

Power to undertake the requested decisions
6.1.    The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the assistant director concern the exercise of the Authority’s general powers and fall within the Authority’s statutory power to do such things considered to further or which are facilitative of, conducive or incidental to the promotion of economic development and wealth creation in Greater London and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:
•    pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
•    consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom
•    consult with appropriate bodies.    
6.2.    In taking the decisions requested, the assistant director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty; namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, and to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation) and persons who do not share it and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the assistant director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.
Exemption from the Contracts and Funding Code
6.3.    The procurement of the scoping report from S&G is valued at up to £15,000.  Section 9 of the Authority's Contracts and Funding Code (the "Code") requires that the Authority undertake a formal tender process or make a call off from an accessible framework for procurements with a value between £10,000 and £150,000.  However, section 10 of the Code also provides that an exemption from this requirement may be justified on the basis of the relevant service provider’s previous involvement in a specific current project or continuation of existing work that cannot be separated from the new project.  The officers have set out at paragraphs 1.9 to 1.11 above the reasons why the procurement of S&G falls within the said exemption.  Accordingly, the assistant director may approve the exemption, if she be so minded.