POSTED: Wednesday June 1st 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MUNICH VOTED GERMANY'S SPORTS CAPITAL

2018 Winter Games Candidate City tops national poll by huge margin

Munich, 1 June 2011: Munich 2018’s Festival of Friendship concept is founded on the region’s rich sporting heritage and its millions of passionate fans - two strengths corroborated by a national poll that named Munich the sports capital of Germany this week.

Sport is an integral part of German society: the German Olympic Sports Confederation has some 27 million members and over 90,000 sports clubs, making it the world’s largest sports organisation. But the nationwide poll from market research institute Promit has shown that even in a country as sports-mad as Germany, Munich is associated more strongly with sport than any other city. The Bavarian capital took 38% of the vote, with second-placed Berlin recording just 14.7%. The Munich 2018 Bid Committee is confident that this well-established passion for sport will translate into an electrifying atmosphere during the Winter Games and guarantee athletes and fans alike the experience of a lifetime.

Munich 2018 Chair, Katarina Witt, underlined why Bavaria’s proud tradition of staging world-class events in packed-out venues is so important to the bid:

‘That buzzing, full-stadium atmosphere is such an important part of a successful Winter Games. It’s what the athletes have been dreaming of since they were young, and what they deserve after years of preparation. It’s what fans travel all over the world to experience. And it’s what makes the television spectacle such an irresistible draw for audiences and sponsors. Munich 2018 doesn’t just promise full stadia; we guarantee full stadia, filled with knowledgeable, ardent fans who live and breathe winter sports.’

Munich 2018 CEO, Bernhard Schwank, commented on the latest poll result:

‘We’re very pleased at this result because it cements one of Munich 2018’s unique strengths: in Bavaria, sport is in our DNA. The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships was an excellent example, with 130,000 spectators celebrating the world’s finest athletes in a warm and friendly atmosphere. It was a great experience for the fans, but it also meant it was a huge sporting and commercial success. The athletes all said they felt inspired by the atmosphere, and the event made a €5 million surplus.’

Preparations for the Bid Committee’s final two presentations to the Olympic family - in Togo this month and at the IOC Session in Durban on 6 July - are progressing very well indeed and the mood in the Munich 2018 camp is positive. This poll is a timely reminder of Munich and Bavaria’s ability to stage a Winter Games that takes the celebration to an unprecedented plateau and reinvigorates the winter sports movement worldwide.

Background
Munich, in collaboration with Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Berchtesgadener Land, is applying to host the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The application will be put together and managed by Bewerbungsgesellschaft München 2018 GmbH, with Katarina Witt as Chair, Bernhard Schwank as CEO and Jürgen Bühl as Managing Director. Shareholders in the application organisation are the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) with 51 per cent, the City of Munich (30 per cent), the Free State of Bavaria (nine per cent), the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (eight per cent) and the district of Berchtesgadener Land (two per cent). The bid is being supported by national sponsors Adidas, Allianz, the BMW Group, BayWa, Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Post, Flughafen München GmbH, Lotto Bayern, Deutsche Lufthansa AG, METRO GROUP, and the Sparkasse Finance Group, along with national suppliers ARGE (Albert Speer & Partner and PROPROJEKT), Deloitte, Getty Images, GfK Verein, Hubert Burda Media, IMMO 2018, Messe München GmbH, Norton Rose LLP, Munich Olympic Park, pilot sport and Stadtwerke München GmbH. More information about the concept, the progress of the application and many other aspects can be found at http://www.muenchen2018.org/en.

Bewerbungsgesellschaft München 2018 GmbH
Munich 2018 Bid Committee
Olympiapark München
Spiridon-Louis-Ring 21
80809 München

Responsible for contents:
Bernhard Schwank and Jürgen Bühl

Press Contact:
Simone Seefried
Agnes-Pockels-Bogen 1
80992 München
Telephone:        +49 89 540428-317    
Mobile: +49 176 840 532 26
E-Mail: presse@muenchen2018.org

Online Press Area:
http://www.muenchen2018.org/en/press

# # #

---

Keywords · Munich 2018 · IOC · Thomas Bach · Katarina Witt · Bernhard Schwank

---

Name: Simone Seefried
Organization: Munich 2018 Bid Committee
Email:
Phone: 4989540428317
URL: http://www.muenchen2018.org

---

Please refer all questions to the company listed above issuing the press release. SFC will not be able to assist you with any inquiries and disclaims any content in these press releases.