Someone from the family of the Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton Federation for Germany (BSD) just wrote to me saying that he was watching me. ‘I follow your reports on sledding sports very closely...’ I like him, we exchange ideas regularly. But that doesn't change the fact that the statistical survey I conducted yesterday on the running costs for the three Olympic sliding sports is correct:
At least €340 million from public coffers (federal, state and local) will flow into the four German ice tracks, personnel, the base system, research and development, BSD measures and the athletes over the current decade.
World Record.
- At least 65 million in direct federation funding from the federal government to the BSD for competitive sports personnel and central measures
- At least 150 million for new construction (Schönau Königssee) and renovation measures for the tracks (Altenberg, Winterberg, Oberhof)
- At least 25 million from federal funds for research and development and the FES institute in Berlin (I have set a flat rate of 10 percent)
- As a further lump sum, at least 40 million in public funds for the sports soldiers in the BSD, proportional costs for Olympic training centres and federal training centres, sports high schools, additional federal and state funds for the many world championships
- Public operating subsidies for the four tracks can also be calculated reasonably well from many documents: around 60 million over the decade, probably more
I have made conservative calculations, and the basic figures are fully documented. That is an average of at least 34 million euros per year. That is more than Norway spends from public funds (which are diverted from lottery surpluses, as I have already explained to you) per year on all winter sports federations.
