Aside from back-slapping and political manoeuvring, what can a sports governing body do to maximise its  chances of winning a bid to host a major sporting event? This is the subject of a recent research paper by Dr Geoff Walters of the Birbeck Sports Business Centre in his paper entitled “Bidding for major sporting events; key issues and challenges faced by sports governing bodies in the UK”.  It is available at the following link - www.sportbusinesscentre.com/researchpapers. What are the key issues that arise? One key issue is Government support. Depending on the scale of the event, it can be almost impossible to win the bid to host a major sporting event if a sports governing body doesn’t have support from its Government. Aside from financial support, it is also important that Government provides a legal framework for the organisation of major events which may include legislation relating to street trading, advertising, ambush marketing and ticket touting. Tax arrangements can also be important. It is understood that the UK and the US are the only two major nations that levy tax on oversees athletes endorsement income. This is suggested to be one of the reasons why Sergio Garcia decided last year, out of all the tournaments held in the UK, to only compete in the British Open. Interestingly, golf’s World Match Play Championship had been played at Wentworth annually since 1964, but due to a number of leading players missing the event in 2007, the tournament sponsor HSBC withdrew from its 10 year contract and the 2009 event has relocated to Marbella in Spain. Visas and the migration of the athletes involved in the sporting event can also be a key issue. Perhaps the main issue is the cost of both the bid and hosting the event. The high cost of preparing a bid for a major tournament or event raises questions as to whether it is worth a national governing body committing significant financial resources to a bid, particularly if the other elements are not in place. This is not to mention the cost of actually hosting the event and securing the necessary funding. An issue linked to generating funding is the ability to secure commercial sponsorship, as it can help to raise awareness of an event and increase its profile. A number of issues arise in this context. Many small sports do not attract significant TV interest, even for a major international event. This makes it more difficult to attract commercial sponsors. It is international federations who retain the sponsorship and commercial rights to an event and so the sports governing body will generally have little opportunity to negotiate with commercial sponsors. The lesson? It is essential to have all your ducks in a row when preparing a bid for a major sporting event.