About the Series
![About the Series](/web/20140914205317im_/http://www.uksport.gov.uk/assets/Image/Gold-Event-Series/Pages/About_the_Series.jpg)
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Key Statistics
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The number of major events targeted to be staged as part of the Gold Event Series£27 million
National Lottery funding invested in bidding for and hosting these events2.5 million
Estimated number of live spectators who will watch these events25,000
Officials and volunteers who will gain event experience through the Gold Event Series£287 million
Additional spend in cities and regions when they are hosting these events
The UK-level support provided through UK Sport and DCMS is intended to complement the activity of local, regional and national event organisations, including the UK’s major event-hosting cities and the Scottish and Welsh Governments. The UK has a good track record in developing strong partnerships across such organisations, and this approach has been the successful formula behind many major international events that have been brought to the UK.
UK Sport and DCMS have identified 14 key areas to help sports bid for and stage major events. Seven of these will support sports with the bidding process, including assistance towards feasibility studies, business planning, political endorsement, and technical bidding advice. The other seven areas will support sports with the delivery of major events including staging advice, equipment support, event research and knowledge transfer. More information can be found in Event Support Services.
Whilst the Gold Event Series is restricted to events receiving Lottery funding, UK Sport is widening the availability of some of its technical services to other strategically important events. For the first time, technical services are available to high priority events that are financially viable. Whilst these events will not receive Lottery funding, there is clearly a strategic rationale to support their acquisition for the UK. Technical support will also be considered for events that fall just outside of the Gold Event Series based on their strategic priority. These might typically include world circuit events that UK Sport cannot support with Lottery funding, but which play an important pathway role in enabling some of the larger international events to be hosted.
The scope of sports able to approach UK Sport for these wider technical support services will be Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Sports but with the inclusion of Home Country Sports Council (HCSC) funded sports in receipt of a minimum of £5m investment across the four-year Olympic and Paralympic Cycle (for clarity this can be aggregated across the HCSCs). The purpose of using a minimum investment threshold is to ensure that there is sufficient structure and activity within an NGB to engage with and benefit from hosting a major international sporting event.
UK Sport works in close partnership with the NGBs to identify strategic hosting targets. Only major events that have been prioritised and proposed through an NGB (ie the member NGB of their International Federation) will be considered for inclusion. Early dialogue is essential, and support will not be provided retrospectively following submission of a bid.