Coronavirus: Broke international sports federations snap up Swiss loan offer

07 Juin 2020

Nairobi, Kenya, June 7 (Infosplusgabon) - Around two-thirds of Switzerland-based  international sports federations have taken advantage of the government loans being offered to ease their cash-flow problems during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is according to Francesco Ricci Bitti, president of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), UK-based sports organization, SportsBusiness, says.

The loan system was announced by the Swiss government on May 31 with the aid part-covered by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is based in Lausanne.

''We the government side we have two kinds of schemes. One is the temporary and permanent unemployment support scheme and the other is the free loan,'' Bitti told the media..

“We act in both directions and around two-thirds [of international federations] took the [loan] opportunity.”

In addition, the IOC is providing repayable aid of up to US$150 million to international federations, National Olympic Committees and “IOC-recognised entities”.

The 32 international federations that are part of the Tokyo 2020 sports programme – regardless of where their headquarters are based – qualify for support from the IOC’s scheme.

International federations that are highly dependent on Olympic revenues have been hit particularly hard by the 12-month postponement of the 2020 Games in Tokyo.

The Swiss government scheme is chiefly designed to support international federations whose own events have been cancelled or postponed. The IOC support is to help international federations left struggling after the deferral of the Olympic revenue payments.

Bitti remarked: “The issue is cash flow and the free loans try to solve this. It’s a matter of time and I hope the time [that Covid-19 lasts] is not so long but cash flow was the key problem."

However, he insisted that the international federations’ finances remain robust.

“Generally, the financial situation of the federations sounds very positive. We have federations with [cash] reserves,'' he added.

“The duration of this crisis is very important. If, as expected, it’s getting better then I think all the federations could survive very well in my opinion.”

He also pointed to the international federations’ dependency on IOC funding going down “dramatically” in the period between the Sydney 2000 and Rio 2016 Olympics, and over a term in which the IOC contribution has increased in financial terms by 80 per cent.

Switzerland’s loan programme for international federations is being covered in a 50-50 split by the IOC and the federal and cantonal authorities.

The US$ 150 million package does not mean that the IOC will no longer consider cash advances to international federations.

The Lausanne-based International Canoe Federation recently approved different budget scenarios in response to the Tokyo 2020 postponement, including the possibility that the Olympic Games do not take place in 2021 at all.

The Swiss government’s repayable aid scheme is not available to the IOC itself, Fifa or Uefa given their existing financial clout and reserves.

The Zurich-based Fifa, which had cash reserves of US$2.74 billion according to its latest accounts, has announced its own US$ 150 million emergency package for its 211 member national associations.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/HOP/GABON2020

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