World Cup: and another one!

Once again – you the public get access to the World Cup documents chief council officers are hiding away from us and our elected representatives.

World Cup Host City Agreement by bristol_citizen on Scribd

Tonight it’s a draft of the host city agreement Bristol City Council will sign – on our behalf – in its entirety, with no negotiation allowed whatsoever, with that funny old world football body FIFA.

It’s quite a read – as it seems to have been produced by some weird McDonalds-sponsored international entity that’s got Erich Honecker in charge.

I’ve come across the privatisation of public space before but this is new. The wholesale privatisation of an entire fucking city for a month so that international big business can turn it into a giant cash register for themselves.

In the highly unlikely event this overblown nonsense can generate the £150m of revenue being claimed, most of it won’t be staying in Bristol that’s for sure. Unbelievable.

So wanna run a World Cup event? Here’s their rules:

FIFA exclusively and solely owns and controls on a world-wide basis any and all Media Rights, Marketing Rights, Intellectual Property Rights and all other commercial or other rights and opportunities, including any title and interest in, and in relation to, the Competitions, including any Competition related Events, whether existing or created in the future.

(i) The Host City shall be entitled to organise, host and stage Host City Events, subject to the terms and conditions of this Host City Agreement and the Host City Event Guidelines and, in particular, the following specific requirements:

a) Pursuant to Clause 5 below, the Host Cities may use the following Competition Marks in relation to the Host City Events, subject to the prior written approval by FIFA:

• Host City Composite Logo;
• Host City Designation;
• official Competition design as developed by FIFA;
• Official Slogan; and/or
• official Competition designation.

b) Commercial Affiliates shall, free of charge, be given appropriate recognition in relation to, and at, any Host City Event (e.g. by way of using composite towers or the Commercial Affiliate logo strip as provided by FIFA).

c) The Host City may grant marketing rights in relation to the Host City Events in such manner as to be determined by FIFA. The Host City agrees and acknowledges that entities being competitors of any of the Commercial Affiliates may not be granted any rights or opportunities in relation to any Host City Event.

d) Pursuant to Clause 4.11.2 below, Commercial Affiliates in any food and beverage product category shall have a first right of negotiation and right of last refusal for the right to offer and/or sell their products at any Host City Event, to be implemented in accordance with the procedure set out by FIFA.

e) The sale of official licensed products at any Host City Event shall be exclusively conducted by the entity appointed by FIFA as the official retailer for official licensed products in relation to the Competitions, to which the Host City shall provide space and utilities, on an at cost basis.

f) The location used for any Host City Event must be free and clean of any visible third party advertising, branding and/or other commercial identification.

Or what about Bristol’s World Cup website? That’ll be a great opportunity to promote local business won’t it?

3.5 Host City Website
(i) The Host City shall be entitled to promote and communicate its status as a host city of the Competitions on its Host City website by creating a dedicated section informing on its promotional activities and events as well as its support of the Competitions in such manner to be approved by FIFA in its sole discretion and subject to the Host City Website Guidelines.

(ii) The Host City shall ensure that no third party advertising or branding, or any other commercial content or identification of any commercial entity, appears within the Competition-related section of the Host City website.

Ok, maybe do some World Cup flyers supporting local business then?

(ii) The Host City agrees and acknowledges that the publications produced by, or on behalf of, the Host City shall a) be free of any advertising and promotional or other commercial content of any entity which is considered by FIFA a competitor of a Commercial Affiliate; and
b) bear recognition of the Commercial Affiliates in such manner as determined by FIFA (for instance, by way of using the Commercial Affiliate logo strip as provided by FIFA).

They’ll also be taking over our publicly-owned road system when they feel like it too:

(i) The Host City shall, upon FIFA and/or the LOC’s reasonable request, at any time during the Competition Periods, temporarily
a) restrict public access, or close public access completely, to any roads within the Host City; and
b) provide special traffic access lanes as well as police escorts for the participating Teams, key representatives of FIFA and the LOC, VIP guests and further Competition officials;

And who pays for the pleasure of turning our city into a giant McDonald’s advertising platform? We do!

8.1 Costs
Unless otherwise explicitly stated in this Host City Agreement, the Host City shall be responsible to bear all costs for the fulfilment of its obligations, and the exercise of the rights granted to the Host City, as set out in this Host City Agreement.

And we’ll pay their tax too:

8.2 Municipal Taxes
(i) The Host City agrees and acknowledges that all taxes, duties and levies which are imposed directly or indirectly by statute, directives or in any other binding legal form on FIFA and/or FIFA’s subsidiaries and/or the LOC as a direct or indirect consequence of the Competitions and/or the entering and/or implementation and/or cancellation of this Host City Agreement under municipal laws and regulations in the Host City shall be borne by the Host City. To the extent that FIFA and/or FIFA’s subsidiaries and/or the LOC incurs any costs for taxes imposed under municipal laws and regulations in the Host City, the Host City shall indemnify and hold free and harmless FIFA and/or FIFA’s subsidiaries and/or the LOC from and against any such tax payment.

Deal of a lifetime eh?