Audit rips organizers of 2011 Sacramento WMA world meet
According to the latest report on the Sacramento Sports Commission’s role in WMA 2012, noted by the local paper: “The regional sports foundation tasked with putting on last year’s World Masters Athletics Championships has not paid off a $400,000 loan to the city and may have spent the money on other events, an audit has found. The Sacramento Region Sports Education Foundation was granted the loan by the City Council in March 2010 from the city’s parking fund to pay for WMA-related expenses. But revenues from the event fell more than $250,000 short of expenses and the loan was not repaid.”
Click to read audit of Sacto Sports Foundation regarding WMA meet.
A column by the SacBee’s Ryan Lillis continued:
A report by City Auditor Jorge Oseguera said the foundation “did not segregate the City loan funds and can therefore not ensure that City money was only used for its intended purpose.” The audit found that the foundation – an arm of the Sacramento Sports Commission – spent money on other events during the time it was funding the WMA.
The executive director of the foundation has acknowledged it was a mistake not to segregate the city’s loan into a separate account. But he also said “he believed that the loan funds were only used for the WMA event because of the timing of when they were made.”
I have left messages for the executive director of the foundation, with foundation board members and with the chair of the Sports Commission.
The audit also found that the SRSEF’s “annual spending has exceeded annual revenues for several years;” that the foundation’s budgeting process “lacked formal approval and complete information;” and that “while no evidence of unauthorized transactions was found (during the audit), SRSEF lacked strong internal controls.”
11 Responses
Interesting follow up on what had been reported earlier about the Sacto Sports Foundation and its management of the WMA 2011 meet.
Here is one for you to follow Ken – The WMG – in Turin next summer has been considered a threat to the WMA Porto Alegre meet, although the dates are now quite far apart as the European Masters athletes might opt to stay closer to home and some USA masters might opt for a trip to Italy over Brazil.
OTOH – the Italian government has imposed a very strict medical certificate requirement for the Turin meet. This is much more than the medical certificate required in 2011 for the European Masters Games – just a certificate signed by a medical doctor that one is physically able to compete.
What is now required I have copied below
1. Medical-sports check up;
2. A regular urine test;
3. Electrocardiogram both at rest and esercize; (sic)
4. Spirometry (breathing test)
There have been comments on the WMA FB page about this – expressing concern about the cost of such testing. #3 and #4 are expensive tests. Without medical necessity – will health insurance cover because you want this for a track meet? I doubt it. (This is required by Italian Law.)
In addition the entry fee is very high – especially if you decide to make your own arrangements for housing.
here is the URL for any reader who is interested.
http://wmg2013.jumbograndieventi.it/registrazione.aspx
I had considered going to Turin but this is now off my list.
I have very good health insurance – but it is not “that” good that it will pay for medically unnecessary electrocardiograms – especially the exercise one, and the out of pocket cost could be more than the air fare to Italy.
WMG Turin looks good despite the enhanced medical requirement. But on a related topic, I am still a bit irritated by an experience at 2011 EMG Lignano where I and other 70+ athletes participated in the voluntary fitness tests, blood tests etc. I even went out of my way to persuade two friends to particpate. We were promised the test results straight away. They have not been sent us and nobody at EMG and WMG wants to know. That is all very unfortunate because it gives these games a bad reputation; reducing the incentive for masters athletes to participate in such tests next time around. I won’t anyway. Anyone from EMG out there? We would still appreciate our test results you promised us.
Interesting story on the Sacramento 2011 situation, and some interesting commentary on the Turin situation (2013 World Masters Games). It’s always something, Mary, correct? Personally, I don’t think you will see too many Americans at that meet, given the total cost of those medical tests in the U.S.
As for the WMA champs in Brazil next year, it seems there could be quite a problem for some people in getting visas. And where is Porto Alegre, anyway? No, I won’t be going.
I still haven’t gotten over the shockingly low number of entrants for Sacramento worlds in 2011 (4804), and I wonder whether Porto Alegre will actually do even worse.
In 1995, Buffalo had 5335 entrants, but in 1997 and 1999, escaping from the U.S., the meet had 5788 (Durban) and then 5949 (Gateshead). And those meets had quite a disadvantage versus Sacramento 2011, as men had to be 40+ to compete, not 35+ as in Sacramento. Just imagine what those earlier meets would have drawn if the “young men” had been allowed to compete. Oh, well.
With Olathe nationals and Cleveland Sr Games in 2013 there will be quite a lot of choice for us next year, especially if we are 50+, but I must admit to a bit of pessimism. It’s always something.
Back on topic. This audit by Sacramento City Auditor Jose Oseguera is really very transparent and fair; again confirming my lasting positive impression of the efficiency of the Yanks from my experiences as a kid – “Got any gum chum” – in wartime England.” I have been involved in large commercial projects that would never have survived such an audit. In fact most such projects would never have been sold and got off the ground if they had been honestly costed with what people knew from the start. One cannot really blame this one on WMA either because WMA could reasonably have expected larger participation in the US and anyway an appreciable share of the shortfall was due to the expenses override, which was easier to predict and under the control of Sacramento City anyway. Are we looking for blame here? Any conclusions for the future – calculate on 4,500 participants for Porto Alegre and people spending less?
Anthony, I am looking for 3603 for Porto Alegre in 2013. That would be 75% of the number for Sacramento, the capital of the most populous state in the U.S., a country of over 300 milion people. I hope the athletes and their friends spend quite a bit of money down there.
Peter, I wonder. There may be many participants from Latin America itself. We have seen enthusiastic Latin American masters athletics at competitions in Europe. I was surprised by the number of affluent Latin American tourists in Italy this summer.
Could be, Anthony. I was heavily influenced by the experience in 2003, when the worlds were held in Carolina, Puerto Rico. To quote the August 2003 National Masters News:
“More than 2700 masters athletes …participated.”
“The U.S. topped the entry list with 442, followed by Germany, 275, and Great Britain, 182.”
Those numbers were/are rather frightening for a world championship. I do believe that quite a few residents of Brazil/Brasil and other South American nations will show up in 2013, but I now feel that my prediction of 3603 (above) is a bit optimistic. With your permission I will drop it to 3525.
I think that WMA Porto Alegre will attract many South American and Central American masters athletes. Many of those masters cannot afford to travel to Europe etc. The wealthy South Americans one sees in Europe are not masters athletes any more than the masters athletes in the US are among the 1%. But the question is – what about athletes from North America, Europe and the rest of the world? Not so many will travel to Brazil. Those I spoke with in Finland last spring said they were not going – a small sample to be sure.
Perhaps the medical systems in Europe will pay for the expensive and seemingly unnecessary tests mandated by Italy for the WMG will not stand in the way of European Masters going to Turin but even if it does and the numbers are not great, I doubt that there will be large numbers from Europe going to Brazil. It is a long and expensive trip. And Brazil is an expensive country to visit. The days of bargins there are gone. Yes visitors will spend a lot of money but not get so much for that money.
I think the numbers for Porto Alegre will be disappointingly small.
Too bad WMA Brazil couldn’t be held AFTER the 2016 Rio Olympics in the actual Rio Olympic Stadium. Porto Alegre is 700 miles from Rio and certainly not as interesting as Rio.
One suspects that WMA Porto Alegre will be used as a training ground for some officials for the 2016 Rio Olympics…there were some Britishers at the Sacramento WMA cutting their teeth for the London Olympics.
WMG Sydney had 28,000 athletes from 95 countries competing in 28 different sports. And Sydney is expensive and time-consuming to get to from any place in the world other than Australia and New Zealand.
One suspects that WMG Turin will have a huge turnout, despite the medical requirements, because it is easy to get to…and it’s an interesting place, unlike Porto Alegre.
Another report on the audit, from Sacto Press:
http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/73588/The_city_of_Sacramentos_bad_loan_to_a_troubled_nonprofit
So I guess this means I really won’t get my medal I am still waiting for…….:(
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