The serious problems that marred the celebration of the first two stages of the Vuelta 2023 this weekend, and especially the terrible bad image projected on Saturday by a Barcelona in the dark, should not, in principle, affect the bet of the government of Jaume Collboni so that the city is the seat of all the major international sporting events that come within reach, either proactively, through the recruitment work of the City Council itself, or by offering the entities responsible for these competitions.
While waiting to assess whether the fiasco of the Vuelta may have any long-term negative effect - something that municipal officials consider unlikely -, Barcelona continues to be an attractive showcase for selling the product of the great sporting spectacle.
The doubts and reluctance expressed explicitly or implicitly by the commons during the two mandates of Ada Colau have suddenly dissipated with the recovery of the mayorship by the party that launched the adventure more than 40 years ago Olympic in Barcelona. In the new PSC government, for now alone, there is no discussion that the city must continue to contribute to the financing of the Montmeló circuit, to prevent Catalonia from being left out of the Formula 1 circus, or that it must row in favor of the project of the 2031 Ryder Cup of golf on the Costa Brava and which, of course, must aspire to be the starting point of an edition of the Tour de France, the main venue of the World Cup of football and of a World Athletics Championship, to name three of the main goals on Barcelona's sporting agenda.
Collboni believes that after years of drought, the time has come for Barcelona to once again host major sporting events. The mayor assures that it is an excellent formula to "positively position the city" and strengthen the natural association with the values of sport that are part of Barcelona's DNA.
In a conversation with La Vanguardia on Friday, the mayor commented that "they will prioritize the sports that make the most sense in Barcelona", such as sailing - with the 2024 America's Cup as a springboard for activities related to the sea - , and the "democratic" ones, which adapt better to the conditions of the city and which do not require the payment of a ticket to be able to enjoy the show.
Together with the mayor, the Councilor for Sports, David Escudé, recalls that the start of the 2023 Vuelta and the 2024 America's Sailing Cup represent a turning point after a whole decade in which Barcelona has been absent of the international sports calendar. You have to go back to the 2013 World Swimming Championships to remember a competition of the highest category that has come to this city.
One of the pieces most coveted by the current management team of the City Council – even in the last municipal mandate and before, in Colau's first, when the Socialists had a fleeting run through the government – is the Tour de France . Both Collboni and Escudé were optimistic about the possibility of Barcelona being the stage for the grand start of the French cycling tour, like Bilbao and the Basque Country in this year's edition. The mayor and the Councilor for Sports explained that there has been intense prior work to restore relations with the organizers of the grande boucle after a period in which this relationship and trust between both parties was completely broken. They have not yet ventured to set a date – it will not be before 2026 – but both are convinced of the company's success.
Escudé assures that the list of competitions that could end up being held in Barcelona on the horizon of 2030 and even beyond is quite long. For his part, the mayor points out that "we are very clear that we need to define the events that interest us based on criteria of economic, sporting, environmental and social sustainability".
Collboni recalls that the promotion of these projects does not have a direct impact on the City Council's budget, but will come from the collection of the tourist surcharge. As an example of this democratizing will to which he refers, he points to the radical change in the conception of the America's Cup village: from the exclusive and closed areas of the previous editions to the open and popular facilities of the Moll de the wood.
Another of the City Council's objectives for this mandate is to give a new boost to the Barcelona Marathon. Escudé assures that in the next edition there will be "surprises", and most likely a forced change of route, in part, due to the works being carried out in the city. The Councilor for Sports insists that the model that must be followed is that of New York, a test that is characterized by the animation that surrounds it, by the parallel activity that is created around the race, more than that of Berlin, more oriented towards the achievement of great sports records.
Barcelona does not give up at all being the seat of a World Athletics Championship. The 2019 edition, which would end up being held in Doha, tried it without success. Now the focus is on 2027 or rather 2029. Barcelona's candidacy has the support of the Socialist Government and in March Congress approved with the favorable vote of all the groups, except for Vox, which abstained , an ERC proposal that endorses this old aspiration.
Barcelona City Council's letter to the Kings of the Orient does not include a Champions League final for soccer, but the Final Four of the basketball Euroleague does. Long before this is possible, from December 14 to 17 the Palau Sant Jordi will be filled again to host the Boss Master Final of the World Padel Tour, the final test of the circuit of the fashionable sport, promoted by Estrella Damm.
