ARG - FIBA Americas Evaluation Committee visit Argentina

BUENOS AIRES (2011 FIBA Americas Championship) - The FIBA Americas Evaluation Committee is currently in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they have met with members of the country's government and basketball authorities.

The committee consists of FIBA Americas President, Mr Horacio Muratore, Secretary General, Mr Alberto Garcia and Event Manager, Mr Javier Otero.

They met with Argentine Basketball Federation (CABB) President, Mr Germán Luis Vaccaro, as well as with Treasurer, Mr Carlos Henault, and special events director at the Municipality of General Pueyrredon, Jorge Etchart.

The FIBA-Americas authorities answered questions and outlined the obligations the CABB would have if it were chosen to organise and host the most important event on the continent.

The committee then went to the Provincia Bank offices where they met the Province of Buenos Aires Governor, Mr Daniel Scioli, the Mayor of Mar del Plata, Mr Gustavo Pulti, Argentina's Sports Secretary, Mr Claudio Morresi, and the President of the Argentinean Olympic Committee, Mr Gerardo Werthein. The objective of the meeting was to heighten Mar del Plata's profile as host of the 2011 FIBA Americas Championship, a qualifier event for the 2012 Olympics in London.

The other candidates for this event are Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Toronto, Canada. The committee already visited Brazil and will go to Canada next week.

Mr Garcia said: "This is one of the normal visits of a city that is a candidate for an event of this nature. We have been to Brazil, we are here in Argentina now and next week we will be in Canada.

"The other countries that were interested, Puerto Rico and Mexico, are out. They didn't continue for different reasons. We have three important candidates that are very strong on the continent and have a lot of possibilities."

Mr Garcia went on to say that the selection process only gets harder from this point forward.

"It is not easy to organise an event like this. It is not for everybody," he warned. "Sadly the money plays a big role. The only possibility of genuine income that our organisation has is the FIBA Americas senior tournaments. We have to ask a lot in order to select the host. It gets harder every time because we are asking a lot and not everyone can do it."

"The governments have to collaborate to make a tournament like this. We met with the Province of Buenos Aires Governor, Mr Daniel Scioli, to see if they were committed to give the money that was needed.

"The Argentinean Federation can't risk it all in this tournament. We don't want to put the federations at risk to make a tournament like this and then have debts. The most important thing is the development of Argentinean Basketball and the federation plays a vital role in that. We are not going to give Argentina the opportunity to host this event if they don't have support from the government."

The meetings from the Evaluation Committee and the Argentinean authorities end on Friday.

On 22nd May, during the FIBA Americas Central Board meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the countries that are still bidding will make official presentations.
Finally, the FIBA Americas Executive Committee will meet during the FIBA Americas U18 Championship for Men in San Antonio, Texas at the end of June and announce the final decision.

The last FIBA Americas Championship (World Qualifier) was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2009. Brazil, Puerto Rico, Argentina and Canada qualified for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

The last Olympic qualifier was held in 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where USA won Gold and Argentina Silver.

Both events were a success thanks to this process prior to the tournament.

FIBA