(ATR) European athletics leaders are set to discuss their concerns about plans for a European Games at a meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria this weekend.
"We will discuss what conditions have to be fulfilled to enter into discussions [with the European Olympic Committees]," Hansjörg Wirz, president of the European Athletics Association, tells Around the Rings.
"It has to be of additional value. There are some basic criteria we need to respect," he added ahead of the EAA Council meeting starting Friday.
The EOC wants the EAA to be a key stakeholder in a European Games from the first edition, tentatively pencilled in for 2015, but it has so far been slow to embrace the idea of the multisport event.
Among the EAA's concerns are what value a European Games would add to an already crowded sporting calendar, the impact on its own events and the implications for athlete preparations for the event in the year they are held.
While a European Games could be lucrative for federations, other issues pose significant challenges for EOC officials and federations. Agreeing on how the Games would be funded as well as how marketing and sponsorship revenues can be divided remain unresolved.
At an EOC meeting during last month's Association of National Olympic Committees congress in Moscow, delegates heard someof the concerns of federations and NOCs.
Consultation is continuing on the project with European sports federations and NOCs.
A vote on whether the European Games gets off the ground or is scrapped altogether is expected to be held at the EOC's annual general assembly in Israel in the autumn.
EOC president Pat Hickey told ATR that he was "very pleased" with progress on the project after the cynics had initially said a European Games would never work.
"My opinion is it will start with not all the Olympic sports but with a core group and then when it's up and running you'll have a lot more," he said.
"We are keeping it very transparent," he said, a reference to letters circulated to EOC delegates at the Moscow meeting that show the concerns of some of the 49 member NOCs.
Europe is the only continent without a multisport event along the lines of the Asian or Pan American Games.
This year's European Olympic Committees general assembly takes place in Eilat, Israel, Dec.7 to 8.
Homepage photo from Getty Images.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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