sport othersports olympics london2012 3543634 ----- # Government to help fill London 2012 funding gap at expense of emerging sports ## Olympic sports facing budget cuts ahead of the 2012 Olympics were reprieved on Tuesday after eleventh-hour negotiations between the Treasury and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport concluded with a £29 million injection of Exchequer funds to the UK Sport budget. ![Andy Burnham - Government to help fill London 2012 funding gap at expense of emerging sports][1] Late reprieve: Culture secretary Andy Burnham called the 29 million injection of Government funds into the 2012 Olympics 'a good outcome in the circumstances' Photo: DAVID ROSE By Paul Kelso 10:28PM GMT 02 Dec 2008 [Comments][2] The provision of additional public money, first revealed by _The Daily Telegraph_ on Monday, is intended to help fill a £100 million shortfall in contributions from the private sector and means that all Olympic sports will receive some funding in the build-up to the London Games. Culture secretary Andy Burnham informed the UK Sport board of the funding decision on Tuesday after negotiations with the Treasury concluded late on Monday evening. Individual sports will be informed of their allocations on Wednesday. The new package means that all sports considered to have medal potential will receive their full allocation, but emerging sports such as volleyball and handball are likely to have to get by on skeleton funding. The settlement means that British athletes will receive £40 million more than during the Beijing Olympic cycle, an unprecedented investment. However, it falls £50 million short of the £600 million promised in 2006 by the then Chancellor, Gordon Brown, and the uncertainty caused by years of wrangling over the issue has left many governing bodies deeply frustrated at the Government's approach. Uncertainty over funding stemmed from Brown's insistence in 2006 that £100 million of the £600 million, six-year package should come from the private sector, a forecast that looked hopelessly optimistic almost as soon as it left his mouth at the Dispatch Box. ## Related Articles * [UK Sport dealt £50m funding blow][3] 02 Dec 2008 * [Government ponders £20m bail-out for athletes][4] 02 Dec 2008 * [Cuts could hit 2012 medal haul][5] 30 Nov 2008 In the 30 months since then, not a single penny has been raised and until Tuesday the only dent in the £100 million shortfall had come courtesy of a projected increase in Lottery sales worth £21 million. Tuesday's announcement means the funding gap has been halved, but serious doubts remain as to whether private sector contributions will close it any further. Burnham insisted that the public funding package was a good result for Olympic sport, and said he was confident the private sector would contribute. "This is a good outcome in the circumstances and I think it is a realistic package, but at the same time we are saying to British sport that we have to pull together to bring in additional sources of funding," he told _The Daily Telegraph_. "This means that no sports will be dropped from the Olympic programme and that they can be maintained until the private funding arrives, which it will. One of the things we want to see as a legacy of the London Games is the emergence of a third funding stream for Olympic sport alongside Lottery funding and the Exchequer. Public money has built a lot of value into sports like cycling and rowing which now attract sponsors, and we want to repeat it across the other sports that are not at that level." Securing additional Exchequer funding in the current financial climate is a notable achievement for Burnham, who inherited the thankless task of delivering on a funding formula that has appeared deeply flawed from the outset. The fact remains, however, that the Government has failed, so far, to deliver on a clear commitment to Olympic sport. While the Government has long insisted that the funding package was conditional on the private sector contribution, UK Sport had been unequivocally told to budget for the full £600 million. The expectation of £600 million was also backed up by official documents, including a DCMS pamphlet called _Our Promise For 2012_, published in June 2007. On page seven, in bold and underlined, it lists "Investing £600 million in high performance sport" as one of their plans. In July this year, sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe told a press conference to unveil Beijing medal targets that the Government was "committed to £600 million". For £600 million read £550 million, and delivering on the promise to make up the shortfall from the private sector will be a significant challenge. The problem is that the DCMS have nothing of significant value to sell to potential sponsors. The only Olympic property of any tangible worth to sponsors is the five rings and the right to use the word "Olympic", and as the IOC's regulations make explicit, the Government has no call on them. According to the host city contract signed by London in 2005, all rights to the Olympic rings, the flag, motto, emblem and anthem and expressions such as Olympic, Olympiad, Olympic Games and their abbreviations, reside with the London organising committee (Locog). Given that Locog were and remain busy exploiting those rights to raise private finance to pay for the running of the Games - they have so far banked £450 million - there was never any chance of the Government borrowing a ring or two to help make up the shortfall. This fundamental misreading of the sponsorship opportunities around the Games has hobbled the private funding plan from the outset. With nothing "Olympic" to sell, the DCMS have been forced to try to construct an alternative based around athlete appearances. The resulting programme, 'Medal Hopes', will offer sponsors locally and nationally the chance to be associated with 2012 hopefuls, but many are sceptical. "It hasn't got a hope in hell of pulling in major funding," said a source. Fast Track, the marketing agency run by former Olympic medallist Alan Pascoe, were retained in July to market the scheme, but five months on the DCMS are yet to sign off the details of the programme and it is yet to be tested in the market. Fast Track's ability to sell 'Medal Hopes' to a sceptical market may also be undermined by the failure to secure additional athlete time for personal appearances. Under the current UK Sport athlete contracts, athletes are obliged to give up three days a year, ostensibly for Camelot to promote the Lottery. UK Sport were seeking to increase that to four, but _The Daily Telegraph_ understands that contracts will remain at three days. On Tuesday the Government promised these difficulties would be overcome, and that sport could plan with certainty for 2012. The onus is now on them to deliver results. **In numbers** Total Olympic and Paralympic funding for 2008 and 2012 Olympic cycles: £619m Beijing funding: £265m Confirmed London funding: £304m Full London funding: £354m Shortfall: £50m [X][6] Share & bookmark Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! 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