The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) is launching the high-profile “Sport is added value” campaign together with its member organizations this Tuesday, August 29th. This is intended to draw attention to the effects of the planned funding cuts for sport in the 2024 federal budget.
DOSB President Thomas Weikert: “Sport provides indispensable added value for our society. Wanting to cut funding for the 2024 Olympic year sends the completely wrong signal to all athletes, coaches and supporters of the sport. The sports clubs and associations generate many times the positive effects for our society with an extremely small public investment in relation to the overall budget. That should be worth every cent to politicians. It is important to further strengthen the sports system in Germany so that it can fulfill its requirements – both in top-class sport and across the board.”
The communicative focus of the campaign is on social media, where several motifs are used to show the negative consequences of austerity measures for sport and society.
The sports budget in the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) envisages a reduction of around 10% compared to the current year (from around 303 million euros to around 276 million euros).
The savings would affect, among other things, the financing of important training measures for athletes on their way to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as well as the payment of competitive sports personnel in the sports associations, who have not received a salary adjustment since 2015. In addition, there are drastic cuts of 20% for the Institute for Applied Training Science (IAT) and the Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment (FES), which provide valuable scientific and technical support to sports associations and athletes in Germany. Through its work, the FES was most recently involved in 21 of the 27 medals won by Team Germany at the Winter Olympics in Beijing.
DOSB board chairman Torsten Burmester: “The federal government announced in the coalition agreement that it would create “better framework conditions for top-class sport”. We are currently experiencing that the opposite is the case: the general conditions are deteriorating. Top-class sport creates unforgettable moments that reach and inspire millions of people; it creates role models and conveys values from which society as a whole benefits. That's why he needs every support. I also have little understanding of cuts in the area of voluntary services, which will have a significant impact on sport, or in the federal integration through sport program. As the DOSB, we are committed to ensuring that the planned cuts are reversed; the campaign is an important building block in this.”
Cuts also affect popular sports
The 2024 budget draft also sends worrying signals to organized sport beyond top-class sport. For example, no funds are earmarked for the “Sports Development Plan” announced in the coalition agreement. With the plan, sport and politics want to work together to set the course for a healthy sports landscape in Germany and to lay down concrete measures to encourage the population to adopt a more active and healthier lifestyle with the help of the 87.000 sports clubs. The development of the project is in full swing. However, the planned measures cannot be implemented if the necessary financial resources are not available.
The DOSB will work throughout late summer and autumn until the second and third reading of the budget draft in the Bundestag at the end of November to ensure that sport receives the appreciation in budget planning that it deserves.
Source: DOSB