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Exclusive: Bates calls for funds as county bids for World Cup
KEN BATES has called on tourism and regeneration bodies in Yorkshire to stump up the cash to make the White Rose county's World Cup dream a reality.
Hull, Leeds and Sheffield are among 15 cities from across England bidding to be host venues should the tournament come to these shores in either 2018 or 2022.
Delegates will submit their final proposal documents to the Football Association today at Wembley ahead of a decision being made on December 16 as to the 10 or 12 cities likely to go forward to FIFA as part of the bid on May 24 next year.
World football's governing body will then select the hosts for both tournaments the following December.
The stakes are undoubtedly high for the remaining candidates, Portsmouth having dropped out yesterday following the local council's refusal to provide financial guarantees, with one economic expert predicting successful cities could net up to 280m each should the World Cup come to England in either 2018 or 2022.
With this in mind, Leeds chairman Bates, whose Elland Road ground would have to be increased in capacity from its current 40,000 to 51,240 should West Yorkshire get the nod, believes extra funding should come from outside agencies dedicated to bringing investment, jobs and tourists to the county.
He said: "The money for bringing the World Cup to the region should be down to Yorkshire Forward and Welcome to Yorkshire. They should be committing funds, not leaving it to the local Councils or clubs.
"The clubs certainly don't get any money out of the World Cup and yet it seems we are being expected to stump up the money.
"Yorkshire Forward and Welcome to Yorkshire don't have to show any favouritisim to any of the three cities, but they have to do something."
Funding has been a contentious issue for the England 2018 bid team with an early Government promise to provide 5m towards the overall 15m cost having since turned into an offer of a 2.5m loan from Whitehall.
In delivering the bombshell news earlier this month, Richard Caborn, the Prime Minister's bid envoy, said the missing 2.5m would be coming from the candidate cities.
On the need for other bodies to get involved with the funding, Leeds chairman Bates added: "Tourist income is the most valuable of all because it circulates through the whole economy. It was once proven in the West Indies that for every dollar spent, seven dollars-worth of spending was possible by the locals as it worked its way through.
"Hotels would pay suppliers, whose owners would then pay their employees, who would go into the local shops and so on.
"Yorkshire Forward's mandate is to generate employment in Yorkshire. How many jobs would a World Cup generate? If it was held at Elland Road, our two hotels alone would need 200 staff. And these would be permanent positions."
Yorkshire Forward granted the three teams hoping to bring the World Cup to Hull, Leeds and Sheffield 50,000 each earlier this year to help with the cost of putting together the bids that will be submitted to the FA at Wembley today.
A Yorkshire Forward spokesperson said: "Once we get a decision on December 16 as to which cities have been selected and providing one or more of our cities is considered, we will then sit down with the relevant people to discuss how we can move forward."
Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity is also keen to help once the identity of the successful cities are known. He added: "We are anxiously waiting for the result.
"We do realise it will have a huge effect in terms of attracting visitors to the region and will throw our weight fully behind whoever is selected."
The 2006 World Cup was a tremendous success with foreign visitors to Germany alone pouring an average E40m per game into the local economy.
Last summer's Ashes Festival, organised by Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Yorkshire Forward and Leeds Metropolitan University proved how sport can boost a region's economy.
The 11-day celebration, centred around the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley Carnegie, is thought to have brought in 6m despite the match only lasting three days and experts believe a World Cup would attract even greater rewards.
Professor Chris Gratton, director of Sheffield Hallam University's sports research centre, says the potential is huge. He said: "In Germany, the setting up of fan parks had a major impact. In Berlin alone, 8.1m people watched all the games in Fan Parks. The city's population is 3.3m so that shows just how many visitors came for the football.
"If England hosts the World Cup, using Germany as a benchmark, I believe we could be looking at 85-140m coming into a city from overseas tourists and the same amount again from domestic sources."
WORLD CUP TIMETABLE
Today: Submission of bids by all 15 cities.
December 16: Selection of cities to be included in England 2018 bid to FIFA.
May 14, 2010: Bids by all interested parties to be delivered to FIFA.
December 2, 2010: Hosts of 2018 and 2022 World Cup finals announced.
The other World Cup hopefuls for 2018 and 2022 are: Australia, Belgium/Holland, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Spain/Portugal, USA, South Korea (2022 only), Qatar (2022 only).
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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