MESGO V participants recently visited Barcelona for the sixth session of the programme. Francesc Solanellas, professor in sports management at Institut Nacional d’Educació Física de Catalunya (National Physical Education Institute of Catalonia) organised the session, which took place from 17 to 21 June and was dedicated to sports events.
The session began at INEFC on Monday 17 June, where Professor Francesc Solanellas introduced the Barcelona session and gave a presentation looking back on 25 years of sports events in Barcelona. Then, Iain Edmondson provided the city perspective with the case study of London and the 2012 Olympics. The day ended with a tour of the Olympic Ring by bike.
Tour of the Olympic Ring.
On Tuesday 18 June, the group visited the headquarters of Euroleague Basketball. The participants got to meet among other Xavier Gonzalez (former CEO of IPC), Jordi Bertomeu Orteu (chief executive and president of Euroleague Basketball), Roser Queraltó (chief business development officer) and Patrice Coste (commercial events manager at UEFA SA and former MESGO participant). Prior to the visit of FC Barcelona stadium and museum through the “Camp Nou Experience”, Javier Sobrino (strategic planning and innovation director at FC Barcelona) introduced the governance system and the strategy of FC Barcelona.
Participants at Euroleague Basketball.
At Euroleague Basketball: Presentation of the Euroleague model by Bertomeu Orteu, chief executive and president of Euroleague Basketball.
Presentation of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four by Roser Queraltó, chief business development officer, Euroleague Basketball.
Presentation of the UEFA Nations League by Patrice Coste, commercial events manager at UEFA SA and former MESGO participant.
Wednesday’s session was held at the Barcelona World Race, where Jeremy Cottino from UEFA and former IOC, presented risk management in a global view to make participants more aware about the global threats that could happen in a sports event and the way to prevent them. John Bailey, international expert on crisis communication gave participants the methodology to collect, process and disseminate information required to address a crisis communication. The day ended with a catamaran cruise as part of the week’s social event.
Jeremy Cottino, programme manager, CEO Office, UEFA
John Bailey, managing consultant, Global Communications Consulting
The following day, the MESGO group went to the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.
Joan Fontseré (CEO of the Circuit), provided an introduction to the circuit. Then, moving on to MotoGP, Pau Serracanta i Marcet, managing director for the commercial area at Dorna Sports, gave a presentation on Dorna Sports.
Joan Fontseré, CEO, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Pau Serracanta i Marcet, managing director for the commercial area, Dorna Sports.
Holger Preuss (Professor at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz) and Gilbert Felli (former head of the Sport Department at the IOC) concluded the session by presenting the post-event issues (legacy, knowledge transfer and economic impact).
Back at INEFC on the Friday, the participants defended their MESGO thesis subjects in front of a jury.
The next MESGO session, which will focus on ethics, will take place in Mainz and Frankfurt am Main (Germany) from 23 to 27 September 2019.