Looking Ahead Madrid Will be Belt Tightening in Their Spending

Written by: Staff on 2nd December 2011

Looking Ahead Madrid Will be Belt Tightening in Their Spending

Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal (R) returns the ball to Argentinian Juan Monaco (L) during the first match of the Tennis Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina at Olympic stadium in Seville, southern Spain, 02 December 2011. EPA/JOSE MANUEL VIDAL |

While London battles ahead spending bucket loads of public money it does not have, on the costly 2012 Olympic Games, 2020 candidate Madrid has finally hit a patch of economic reality.

With the Eurozone in serious trouble, one of Europe’s most financially ailing economies has finally decided it’s time to scale back some grandiose plans.

Madrid municipal and regional government has been a big player in tennis sponsorship in recent years, tossing funds into Davis Cup and elsewhere and heavily promoting tourism and the city’s brand. But with the Spanish unemployment rate in excess of 21 percent and the country a potential candidate for a bailout which could well sink the Eurozone, even sport is starting to feel the pinch.

Madrid bid officials have announced a 40 percent cut in their budget in an attempt to lure the increasingly expensive Olympics to the Spanish capital. But that doesn’t mean the bid is dying.

“We need the games,” said bid boss Alejandro Blanco told Spanish media. “This country, with its current political and economic situation, needs a project such as this. The Games mean a lot to all countries but, for Spain, it means a lot more.”

Also competing with Madrid for the Games: Tokyo; Rome; Istanbul; Doha and Baku, Azerbaijan. Madrid has lost bids and spent million in attempts to win the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, losing to London and Rio de Janeiro respectively.

The cut by Madrid, annual host of the spring Masters event which will next year be played on untried blue clay, said that a $50.4 million budget will shrink to around $30-35 million.

“DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”