Sofia’s 2014 Olympic bid
SOFIA – (SeeNews) – The Bulgarian capital of Sofia, one of seven candidates to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, needs to pour $1.25 billion (1.02 billion euros) into the event itself as well as the construction of the necessary infrastructure, an official said yesterday. «Hosting the Games itself will cost $800 million, and we will need an additional $400 to $450 million for infrastructure,» Vasil Tonchev, board member of the Initiative Committee on Sofia’s 2014 Olympics Bid, told SeeNews. He added the investment in infrastructure should go to the construction of ski jump and bobsleigh facilities and two Olympic villages, as well as repairs to skating rinks in Sofia, the Vasil Levski national stadium (where the opening and closing ceremonies would be held) and the National Palace of Culture. Bulgaria applied with the International Olympic Committee last year to host the Games from February 10-26, 2014, in Sofia and the skiing centers of Borovets on the mountain of Rila and Bansko on the mountain of Pirin. Bulgaria is projecting revenues from the 2014 Winter Olympics will be comparable to the $1.25 billion in costs, Tonchev said. Bulgaria will receive some $600 million in sponsorship from the International Olympic Committee and from the sale of television rights, about $100 million from ticket sales and another $100 million-$150 million from domestic and foreign companies supporting the organizing committee. «The remainder will come from private companies that want to build part of the infrastructure,» Tonchev said. He added the infrastructure could be built by either Bulgarian or foreign companies selected through tenders. Bulgaria will also have to modernize the road infrastructure in its southwest, where the two major skiing centers are located. «This is a priority of the government, which has to develop this infrastructure anyway,» Tonchev said. He added the government would have to finance the large road infrastructure projects through money from the state budget and the EU’s pre-accession and structural funds. «I believe Sofia has a great chance to host the 2014 Olympics, because it is the sole capital city in the bid and it is in Europe,» Tonchev said. The other candidates include Kazakhstan’s Almaty, Georgia’s Borjomi, Spain’s Jaca, South Korea’s PyeongChang, Austria’s Salzburg and Russia’s Sochi. Sofia’s biggest competitors in the 2014 Olympics bid are PyeongChang, because South Korea has a well-developed economy and will secure financing for the project, and Salzburg, because winter sports are hugely popular in Austria, Tonchev said. The International Olympic Committee will shortlist the candidates for the 2014 Winter Olympics in the summer of 2006 and select the host in June 2007.
