The FIFA World Cup is not only very big business, but is the single biggest media event in the world.  To think that almost 40 billion people will cumulatively watch the 64 games pushes all other events into the second league.  In media terms the event is around 9 times the size of the Olympics and so visiting probably the world’s most advanced football stadium in Munich and then going on to the nerve centre of the FIFA World Cup – The International Broadcast Centre – was a very sobering experience.

The Munich stadium has set the standard for the world.  While all the stadia offer similar levels of high quality service for the media, Munich set the standard as it hosted the opening match and was built according to the world’s best standards.  Those in charge of the media centre see their only role as serving the media.  Their stadium’s media centre is a huge operation.  At the opening match some 1400 journalists were accredited with tickets to watch and report on the match with another 1000 operating out of their media centre within the stadium itself.  Another 125 photographers were on the pitch.  The accreditation process is done a day or two before each event and is based on where journalists are coming from and what kind of media they are reporting for.

The stadium media centre consists of 350 high speed internet access work stations, a press conference facility for 200 journalists, and a number of multi- and uni-lateral studios.  After alighting from, and before getting on, the buses, the players and coaches pass through a ‘mix’ zone where they are free to answer questions being posed by the journalists.  A range of interviews are conducted and made available to the journalists.

Each stadium has 25 cameras and the twelve stadia are all linked through fibre optic cable to the IBC in Munich meaning a continuous feed of information coming through.

FIFA President Blatter succinctly captures FIFA’s approach: “The World Cup is the Gold Standard of sport and we won’t leave anything to chance”.  The 30000 square metres of space in Munich, the International Broadcast Centre houses everything, from an Internet Nerve Centre to ensure the electronic systems function properly to the Master Control room which guides what we see on our screen.  Some 270 broadcasters throughout the world ensure that around 500 million viewers watch each match on TV screens, on the internet, on mobiles or through any others means.  Millions more hear the broadcasts on radio and the reach is to all parts of the world.  Host Broadcast Services run the overall operation and their CEO Francis Tellier defined their strategy quite simply.  Firstly, they have recruited the best TV sports directors in the world and each brings along their own team. Their 2000 employees at the IBC come from 48 countries. They also have a legacy programme where some 450 students are receiving the experience of a lifetime learning about how such media is put together.  Thirdly, they ensure that they are using state of the art media and technologies.  Finally, they work very closely with their customers, the broadcasters to ensure they deliver material which can be packaged for the very different world-wide audiences.

In the IBC itself, there may be as many as 2000 broadcasters at any point in time, making the whole operation a mini world village.

This year’s World Cup has perfected the use of HDTV (High Density Television) which not only means even better resolution on our screens, but a range of different media can be used: from large screens to flat screens to mobiles, internet and the like.  The Host Broadcast services expected only 10 countries to take HDTV, but instead over 40 countries are utilising this latest technology.  The incredible amount of footage is organized and packaged in many different ways and the broadcasters have an incredible range of material from which to draw their own programmes.

While the IBC and stadium visit was sobering, I was very pleased that I did not feel overwhelmed.  Our own ICT strategy as eThekwini is in many ways groundbreaking and at the forefront of the world.in world terms.  2010 will certainly allow us to ensure those plans are properly implemented to benefit all the people and the economy of our city.

 The media standards set in Germany will guide us as we prepare both the infrastructure and our operations.  In the next few months a decision will be made on where the IBC for 2010 will be and on how the key linkages between the stadia and the IBC and the IBC and the world will be made.  I have no doubt that the scale of the event will grow and if for every person with a ticket watching a match there are 15000 watching the match on TV and thousands more listening on radio or using new media like internet and mobile phones, then we must ensure that we prioritise the way we prepare for and deal with media.  The fibre optic, satellite communications and other technology we will build will provide our country with the means to establish our economy and society as truly world class.  And the learning opportunities are going to be massive. Successfully communicating with the world means South Africa will be on the lips and in the minds of the world and that will undoubtedly benefit our country and continent for years to come.

Dr Michael Sutcliffe
City Manager: eThekwini