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The use of sport in place branding activity of the local government of Debrecen (Hungary) Gbor Kozma Associate Professor

Department of Social Geography and Regional Development Planning Uni versity of Debrecen 4032 Debrecen Egyetem tr 1. E-mail: gkozma@delfin.klte.hu Introduction From the early 1980s, first in the United States and then gradually in Western Europe as well, the attitude of the local governments (especially of the cities) has undergone a transformation on two levels. First of all, they started to pay more attention to their environment, to the processes which take place there and the analyses of how these events influence their own future. Secondly, while earlier they regarded the development of services and infrastructure and the control and regulation of the development generated by them as their primary task from the beginning of the decade they had to realise that they must be much more initiative in the formation of the fate of the area entrusted to them (Leitner, 1990). David Harvey stated clearly in his paper published in 1989 that the leaders of the cities should acquire an entrepreneurial approach instead of the formerly applied manager approach (Harvey, 1989). The new leadership of the city with an entrepreneurial approach is basically based on the co-operation between the private and public sphere (public-private partnership). It regards the support of investments and the development of economy as its primary task (for example, creation of industrial parks and congressional centres) and pays much less attention to the improvement of the living standards of the inhabitants (for instance, construction of flats and schools). Place marketing place branding The changes described so far raised the interest of the researchers dealing with urban policy and regional development too and since several elements of the new activity recalled the marketing of the traditional consumers goods, therefore they started talking about the selling and marketing of territorial units. By the late 1980s and early 1990s a new terminology was also created: certain authors (like Ashworth-Voogd, 1987) talked about geographical marketing, while the term place marketing became much more wide-spread/popular in the English-speaking countries. This refers to the marketing activities done by the certain areas and consequently on the one hand it includes the marketing activities of the villages, cities, counties, regions and countries, and on the other hand it does not only mean these kinds of activities of the local governments but also studies the steps made in this field by the other participants (like the representatives of the private sphere, inhabitants). The increasing role of place marketing, as well as its more conscious application in comparison with certain activities pursued we could observe earlier (see discussed below) can be essentially traced back to the fact that the economic and political changes that took place in Western Europe and North America in the 1970s and 1980, and subsequently during the decade of political transformation in Eastern and Central Europe, fundamentally shook the economies of the settlements, counties and regions (Ashworth - Voogd, 1990; van den Berg et al, 1990; Parkinson, 1991; Kotler et al, 1993). From among the new closely related processes which naturally affected the various areas in different ways the following need to be emphasised:

- economic structural change of the 1970s and 1980s; - new trends in urbanisation; - budgetary problems of the countries; - change in the attitude towards central planning; - globalisation of the world economy; - prosperity of tourism. At the same time, in the writings of researchers dealing with the topic, the expression place branding has played an increasingly important role since the late 1990s, which is also evidenced by the fact that a journal titled Place Branding and Public Diplomacy has also been devoted to this field since 2004. There have been many diverse opinions so far concerning the meaning of the new terminology. Some of the researchers believe that there is no fundamental difference between place marketing and place branding, and the two phrases can be considered as synonymous (e.g. Hall, 2008). By contrast, summarising the work of researchers (e.g. Bailey, 1989; Ward 1998) analysing the temporal aspects of the place marketing activity, Kavaratzis (2007) distinguished between three stages of development. In the first stage, place marketing primarily comprised advertising, and it was predominantly simply tools that were put to use (e.g. the attraction of tourists to British and French resorts in the early 1900s, or Londoners desiring to settle in suburbia in the 1920s). In the second stage (from the 1970s on), the activities of the local governments have become a lot more refined, and it also included the use of product development and various financial incentives. In the new millennium, then, researchers (e.g. Kavaratzis - Ashworth, 2005; Anholt, 2007; Moilanen - Rainisto, 2009) have increasingly realised the importance of image, as a factor influencing the decisions of the potential and the existing target groups, and this led to the emergence of the third stage associated with the label of place branding. In the spirit of the above, place branding can be defined as follows: Place branding is the management of place image through strategic innovation and coordinated economic, commercial, social, cultural and government policy (Moilanen - Rainisto, 2009, p. 7.). Sport as an element of the place branding activity In the course of the place branding activity, the formation of a strong and coherent place brand, the local governments can concentrate on various areas (e.g. culture, medicinal tourism), from among which one of the possibilities is placing sports in the centre. This statement, which may appear somewhat surprising at first sight (as the question may arise why we should spend on sports when education, transportation and social services all have significant financial problems) can be supported with the following reasons (Hall, 1992; Law, 1994; Ward, 1998; Gratton et al., 2005; Jun - Lee, 2007; Rein - Shields, 2007; Avraham Ketter, 2008; Maenning - du Plessis, 2009; Rosentraub - Joo, 2009;): - sporting events generate a significant amount of direct economic revenue; - participants of sporting events (e.g. athletes, spectators) may, in case of favourable impressions, later return to the settlement concerned; - the media interest the media interest accompanying sporting events can make the given settlement well-known in a short time which may play an important role in raising the interest of tourists and investors; - the infrastructural developments related to the sport also enhance the competitiveness of the city in other fields (e.g. cultural tourism); - the successful organization of these events adds to the pride and self-consciousness of the local population: the emotional link created between the participants and the spectators

symbolises the energy, vital force and the strength of a rising society (cultural or eco-tourism, for example, are hardly capable of the same); - the increasing popularity of sports plays an important role in the promotion of a healthy society; - it strengthens the relationship between the private and the public sectors; - due to the more popular nature of sport, the general public accepts them better than the other types of events; - the volunteers assisting in the organization of the sporting events come from various layers of society, and the event concerned also promotes networking between them. The territorial scope is an important factor in the increasing popularity of sports, fundamentally encompassing two things. On the one hand, due to developments in the field of telecommunication, sporting events can be followed all around the world (Table 1). On the other hand, there are also efforts for individual branches of sports to conquer new continents, thereby reinforcing their own position (football, or soccer as it is called in North America, for example, was considered for a long time a European and South American sport; most recently, however, it has become increasingly important in the United States of America, Asia and Africa as well). Table 1 The increase between 1936 and 2008 in the number of countries in which the Summer Olympic Games were broadcast 1936 Berlin 1 1980 - Moscow 111 1948 London 1 1984 Los Angeles 156 1952 Helsinki 2 1988 - Seoul 160 1956 Melbourne 1 1992 - Barcelona 193 1960 Rome 21 1996 - Atlanta 214 1964 Tokyo 40 2000 - Sydney 220 1968 Mexico City n.a. 2004 - Athens 220 1972 Munich 98 2008 - Beijing 220 1976 Montreal 124 Source: Olympic Marketing Fact File, 2010, http://www.olympic.org/Documents/fact_file_2010.pdf With respect to using sports in the framework of place branding, Rein and Shields (2007) fundamentally differentiated between three platforms: - event platform: the organisation of sporting events ensuring large-scale media attention (e.g., Olympic Games, European and World Championships, conferences/general meetings related to an important branch of sports; - team platform: supporting teams (or perhaps individual athletes) who can be associated with the given location; - place platform: city development that relies entirely on sports (e.g. the Dubai Sports City investment project). The authors emphasised that, due to the scarcity of financial resources, the places should emphasise the one or two platforms that are most suitable for them (due to the very high financial demands, it is likely that the third one will be the least attractive in most cases). At the same time, the basic condition of success on each of the various platforms is that the places should take the appropriate steps in the following areas: - concept: drawing up clear ideas, the definition of the objectives to be reached; - infrastructure: providing the human and physical conditions necessary for the successful activities;

- communication: ensuring familiarity with and the availability of information on the given location, introducing it onto the market. Concentrating on the above areas, my paper will use the example of Debrecen, a city of approximately 204,000 inhabitants, located in the eastern part of Hungary (Fig. 1), which has recently become regarded as one of the sports capitals of the country, to illustrate the steps taken, and then in the final chapter I will examine how successful the activities of the local government was, what successes and failures can be identified, and what are the most important conditions of making further progress.

Fig. 1 The location of Debrecen The areas of the use of sports in place branding The formulation of the branding concept For places wishing to put sports into the centre of their place branding activities, the first important task is the formulation of a concept in which they determine - their endowments related to sports, i.e. their strengths and weaknesses; - the opportunities and threats inherent in the external environment; - on the basis of the above, the objectives they wish to achieve in the course of their branding activities. In the past, similarly to other cities in the country, there was no real branding concept developed in Debrecen; however, in the new millennium, the leadership of the city started to consider the development of sports as one of the break-out points for the city. In the spirit of the above, the sports concept accepted as early as 2000 set forth that International and outstanding national sporting events have a significant impact for the development of marketing, infrastructure and the branches of sports, and therefore the local governments must, as far as its strength allows, support the organisation of outstanding sporting events. In addition, with respect to the supporting of team sports, the local government set as a condition to the provision of financial support to the business organisations operating the teams that they should

- manage their business and operate in compliance with legal regulations; - achieve good results in the highest league of the relevant Hungarian championship; - participate in international competitions and championships as far as possible. Secondly, the Tourism Development Concept, Strategic and Operative Programme of Debrecen, adopted in 2004, regarded sport tourism as a separate development priority, the significance of which was given as follows: Larger events always provides excellent opportunities for the organising countries to improve their image, induces major investment projects and developments, and the resulting facilities can be used for a long time by both the local communities and the visitors." It is in the interest of achieving the above objectives, they emphasised the importance of constructing/developing sports facilities, as well as organising sporting events. Thirdly, the strategic and operative programme of the city for the period between 2007 and 2013 includes as a separate measure, in the priority titled The creation of the conditions necessary for the development of a more efficient economy, the development of sports tourism, the main areas of which (in harmony with the tourism document) are the development of facilities and the organisation of events. Infrastructure development The second element of the creation of the sports brand is infrastructure development, which comprises the creation of the physical (construction/modernisation of sports facilities) and human (ensuring a supply of young athletes, establishing the appropriate organisations) infrastructure. With respect to the physical infrastructure, we must differentiate between projects that support the development of sports directly and indirectly. In the former category we can find investment projects related to venues, in which case we can observe an interesting situation in case of Debrecen to the extent that in case of all four major facilities, the right to host the event was won first, before the actual physical investment project was started. It was in the framework of the IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics that the Olh Gbor Street Athletic Stadium was renovated (8-lane recortan track, new service building), which won the title of IAAF International Training Center in 2003, and then in 2006 was named Istvn Gyulai Athletic Stadium and Training Center (Photo 1).

Photo 1 Istvn Gyulai Athletic Stadium and Training Center

The second largest events hall of the country, Fnix Hall (Photo 2), was constructed in 2002 in just 8 months, after the successful bid of the city to stage the 36th World Gymnastics Championships (this right to host this event was originally given to Budapest, but after the Budapest Arena burnt down, there was no proper venue to be found in the capital city). The IIHF World U18 Championship Division II was the event to which the erection of the Debrecen Ice Hall (Photo 3) can be linked (it served as the training venue for teams warming up for the matches). The latest large-scale investment in the field of sports took place in 20062007, when the Debrecen Indoor Sports Swimming Pool was constructed after the city won the right to organize the 11th LEN Short Course Swimming European Championships (Photo 4).

Photo 2 Fnix Hall

Photo 3 Debrecen Ice Hall

Photo 4 Debrecen Indoor Sports Swimming Pool The researchers (e.g. Essex - Chalkley, 1998; van den Berg et al., 2002; Thornley, 2002; Maenning. - du Plessis, 2009) formulate the following for expectations in connection with sports facilities: - image creation: with their appearance and external shape, facilities should contribute to the creation of an attractive image; - tourism development: the facilities themselves should also serve as tourist attractions (e.g. stadiums of football teams in Western Europe, along with the museums in them); - urban development: the facilities should contribute to the renewal of the given neighbourhood or district of the city; - multifunctionality: the facilities, partly in the interest of ensuring profitable operation, should be suitable as venues for different types of events. If we consider the sports facilities in Debrecen, we can conclude that from the four expectations listed above they only meet the latter two. On the one hand, during the investment projects, the most important criteria were speed (Fnix Hall, for example, was constructed on the basis of the blueprints of the Arena in Tallinn, which meant saving the time necessary for designing the building) and functionality, and therefore, no attention was given to ensuring that the buildings should also carry some additional meaning. On the other hand, the facilities themselves do not serve as tourist attractions, and the idea of a museum specifically dedicated to sports did not arise in the city either. From the point of view of urban development, it is of great important that the majority of the facilities (e.g. the Gyulai Istvn Athletic Stadium and International Training Center, Fnix Hall, the Debrecen Indoors Sports Swimming Pool Fig. 2) are all located in the northeastern part of the city, and these developments played an important role in the renewal of the given areas (in the place where Fnix Hall currently stands there used to be a deteriorated outdoor water park complex, while Debrecen Indoors Sports Swimming Pool and Campus Hotel, mentioned below, are both located on the area of the former Soviet barracks). Multifunctionality can primarily be found in case of Fnix Hall, with sporting events accounting for less than 50% of its utilisation in recent years (Table 2).

Fig. 2 The location of facilities in Debrecen directly and indirectly related to sports 1 - Fnix Hall, 2 - Debrecen Indoor Sports Swimming Pool, 3 - Istvn Gyulai Athletic Stadium and Training Center, 4 - Imre Hdos Sport Hall, 5 - DVSC Football (Soccer) Stadium, 6 - Debrecen Ice Hall, 7 - Olh Gbor Sport Hall, 8 - Sport Hotel, 9 - Campus Hotel, 10 - Hotel Divinus Table 2 The utilization of Fnix Hall in the between 2003 and 2009 Events event days Concert 44 44 Exhibition 34 91 Conference 27 78 Sports event 91 194 Other event 101 167 Total 297 574 Source: Fnix Events Organising Public Utility Co. number of visitors n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 1,681,630

From among indirect investment projects we should emphasise first and foremost high-quality hotel developments: in contrast with 2000 (two 4-star hotels with a total of 245 beds), in 2008 there were six 4-star hotels (with a total number of 946 beds), and in 2008 the first 5-star hotel in Eastern Hungary Hotel Divinus (362 beds) was opened. Of special significance from the point of view of sporting events was, in the framework of improving the accommodation offerings of the city, the renovation in 2004 of Sport Hotel (Fig. 2), as a result of which on the one hand, the number of available beds was increased to 119, and on the other hand, it also created a much higher standard of quality (instead of the earlier one-star category, the hotel was now a three-star facility). In addition, Campus Hotel, the new residence hall of the University of Debrecen, was opened in 2005 in the vicinity of the main venues of the sporting

events (Fig. 2), and thanks to the high-standard services it can offer, this facility also served as the accommodation of choice for various sports teams visiting the city. A very important element of the development of human infrastructure is the identification of children with talent in various branches of sports, followed by the professional training and management of these young talents. In the spirit of the above, a highly developed system was developed in the city in recent years aimed at the training of young athletes, which includes the municipal sports school, the youth teams of individual sports associations, as well as the football schools. In the interest of creating harmony between education and sports, there are public education type sports classes in a number of primary and secondary schools in the city (e.g. boy's football, girls' handball), the curriculum of which helps to achieve better preparation for sports and competitions. In the field of football, the decision was made in early 2010 in order to create the conditions of further successes that, following several foreign and Hungarian examples, the University of Debrecen, DVSC Football Co. and the local government would jointly create a football academy, which would provide more harmony between academic and athletic activities for talented young players in the framework of a six-grade grammar school. The other important element of the development of human infrastructure is the creation of the appropriate organisational background, which in the case of Debrecen fundamentally encompasses two areas. One of these consists of the various units of the local government (the competent organisational unit of the Mayors Office, the Sports Committee of the General Assembly and the General Assembly itself), whose tasks primarily consists of the preparation and the making of strategic decisions related to sports (e.g. the sports concept, the amount of the allocation to sports from the municipal budget, support for the organisation of various sporting events). An examination of the decisions made in the past decade reveals that the local government has invested considerable amounts in the development of sports, in the framework of which we can differentiate between three groups (Table 3). Table 3 The most important sports-related expense categories of the local government of Debrecen between 2001 and 2008 A B C total 2001 41,750 112,303 129,332 283,385 (0.92x) 2002 41,863 85,020 158,750 285,633 (0.83) 2003 145,000 30,000 323,750 498,750 (1.24) 2004 295,000 78,500 248,801 622,301 (1.42) 2005 340,000 115,805 306,000 761,805 (1.61) 2006 326,000 83,444 260,433 669,877 (1.36) 2007 211,000 202,350 381,678 795,028 (1.61) 2008 211500 30,000 417,426 658,926 (1.18) X percentage from the total municipal expenditure (%) A support to prioritised sports associations (football, handball, basketball); B support for the organisation of the most important sporting events (European and world championships); C support to the activities of Debrecen Sport Centre Public Utility Co. Source: budgets of the local government of Debrecen The other group of major players includes those companies, in municipal ownership, which in the course of the performance of their activities partly or entirely carry out such tasks. Firstly, for the purpose of managing sports-related issues in a prioritised and concentrated way, in

2000 the local authority established Debrecen Sport Centre NPO, a company in 100% municipal ownership (renamed in April 2009 as Debrecen Sport Centre Public Utility Co.), whose main activity is the operation of the sports facilities given into its management under the public benefit contract (e.g. Sport Hotel and the Debrecen Indoor Sports Swimming Pool), as well as the operation of the Debrecen Sports School, the renting out of properties and the organisation of sporting events. Secondly, Fnix Events Organising NPO was established in 2003 (renamed as Fnix Events Organising Public Utility Co. in 2009), the sports-related functions of which include the operation of Fnix Hall, as well as the organisation of various events. The number of employees in the two organisations is between 100 and 110, and they also have a sizable body of volunteers (approximately 250-300 persons) with considerable practice and experience in this area. Communication In the communication of the close link between Debrecen and sport, there are two major phases that can be distinguished: the formulation of the message and the conveying of the same to the target groups in an efficient manner. In the course of the formulation of the message it is necessary to place it in the centre that the municipal authority considers sports an important thing, and therefore it provides both moral and financial support for its development and operation. The communication activity related to disseminating the message can be fundamentally divided into two parts: on the one hand it must be achieved that the mentioning of the name of the city the image of sports should be evoked in people, and on the other hand, it must be also promoted that sport-related events should remind people of the name of the city. The first task can be achieved with the help of various kinds of communication tools. The publications issued by the city, aimed at tourists and economic stakeholders, included references to the very active sports life of the city (Photo 5), with two fundamental objectives behind this: convincing the given target groups of the fact that Debrecen is also capable of meeting demands/expectations of this type, as well as proving that the city is capable of successfully organising a sporting event requiring extensive organisation efforts. In case of the INTERNET as a communication tool, commitment toward sports is evidenced by the fact that the home page of the website of Debrecen features a direct link to the pages related to sports (Photo 6 and 7), which then contain further, detailed information.

Photo 5 Picture form the brochure of Debrecen Your choice - Our success targeting potential investors

Photo 6 The home page of the website of Debrecen

Photo 7 The page on the website of Debrecen dealing with sports

In the course of the second task related to the communication activity (the linking of sports and the city), several types of tools are used as well. Advertisements are predominantly used in connection with sporting events, and since in the majority of cases the name of Debrecen is also included in these advertisements, they have an advertising value for the city as well: in case of the UEFA Futsal Championship, for example, in Nemzeti Sport, the only Hungarian sports daily, a total of 13 advertisements of the even appeared, and the name of Debrecen was mentioned in each of those (Photo 8). With respect to the INTERNET, it should be mentioned that from the websites of the events in most cases one could easily get to the website of the city with the use of a separate link (Photo 9).

Photo 8 The advertisement of the UEFA Futsal Championship

Photo 9 The introduction of Debrecen on the home page of UEFA Futsal Championship 2010

PR (public relations) activity, as a communication took, encompasses several areas. Firstly, in case of both individual and team sports, the name of the cities is usually also shown together with their names, and therefore, the appearance and especially the successful performance (e.g. among top three) of these athletes also directs attention to the settlement. This effect can be further reinforced by the fact that in the names of the various teams (e.g. under a sponsorship agreement), the favourable endowments of the settlements with respect to various target groups are emphasised (e.g. DVSC-Aquaticum spa and aqua park; DKSE-Airport the municipal airport). Secondly, at the press conferences preceding the various sporting events, the (deputy) mayor usually also appears who then as the (vice) president or member of the local organising committee discusses the commitment of the settlement toward sports. (In 2009, at opening of the IIHF U20 Ice Hockey Division II World Championship, for example, Lajos Ksa, the mayor of Debrecen said the following: Next up again is ice hockey, and together with us everybody knows that Debrecen, with its experienced organising staff, will do everything within its capabilities to ensure the success of the event. I hope that in the little free time they will have, visitors to our city will also take time to take some walks in the streets and squares of Debrecen, get to know our cultural assets and sample some of the exquisite food available in the city.) Thirdly, at the closing ceremonies and the press conference following it, the leaders of the international associations of the given branch of sport also appear, and in most cases they express their recognition to the high standard of the event organisation, which also means the recognition for the city itself (for example, Bruno Grandi, president of the International Federation of Gymnastics, called the 36th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships organised in 2002 as the most successful gymnastics championship of all times, while Bartolo Consolo, president of LEN, wrote the following to the local organising committee of the 11th LEN Short Course Swimming European Championships held in 2007: Please convey our congratulations and thanks to all hard working members of the Organising Committee, and rest assured that we left Debrecen with great memories and the precious friendship of its people). Table 4 The number of foreign journalists reporting on each of the sporting events in a breakdown according to countries A B C A B C Austria 2 5 1 Germany 39 8 2 Belarus 0 1 Norway 0 1 Bulgaria 1 0 Italy 5 5 4 Denmark 1 0 Russia 3 0 Finland 3 1 Portugal 2 1 9 France 8 11 2 Romania 33 0 5 Greece 1 1 1 Spain 2 0 4 The Netherlands 18 6 Switzerland 13 1 Croatia 1 2 1 Sweden 3 3 Japan 4 0 1 Serbia 0 3 3 Poland 1 5 1 Slovakia 2 3 Great-Britain 2 1 1 Slovenia 8 4 5 A - 1st Man and Woman European Gymnastics Championships, B - 11th LEN Short Course Swimming European Championships, C UEFA Futsal Championship Source: Debrecen Sport Centre Public Utility Co.

Fourthly, the events (and here we should primarily think of high-profile sporting events) often raise the attention of the international media as well (Table 4), and both the reports of the accredited journalists and the short films that are introducing the city and the venue provide good opportunities for communication. Summary I believe that my study convincingly shows that the local government, having recognised the opportunity at the beginning of the new millennium, took significant steps in order to give sports an important role in the branding activities of Debrecen. In the course of its activities, it concentrated on two platforms (event platform and team platform), and on both of these platforms, - it clearly formulated the objectives to be reached; - it performed major infrastructural developments; - in the course of its communication activities, it strove to emphasis the link between the city and sports. In the course of the evaluation of the results of the activities so far, both positive and negative findings can be identified. In the former category, we should mention that the city has achieved recognition in the fields of both Hungarian and international sports, which is shown in the high number of events held in the city (15 large international events in 10 years: e.g. 2002 - 36th World Gymnastics Championships, 2004 - 6th Womens Handball European Championships, 2006 - 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships, 2007 - 11th LEN Short Course Swimming European Championships, 2010 UEFA Futsal Championships), as well as by the fact that several of the Hungarian sports associations have asked the city to serve as the venue for sporting events already won by the country (e.g. this is what happened in case of the U23 Fencing European Championship of 2009 and the IIHF U20 Ice Hockey Division II, Group A World Championship in 2009). On the other hand, both the financial support provided by the local government and its assistance in the area of youth athletes played a role in the DVSC-TEVA football teams qualification into the group stage of UEFA Champions League, which placed the name of the team on the football map of Europe. Among the failures, three things should be mentioned that in the international context did not strengthen the link between the name of Debrecen and sports. In 2007, Debrecen unsuccessfully bid to host the First Youth Olympic Games (the city did not get past the first round of candidacy), and the worst scores it received (in spite of the developments described above) in the category of facilities (it is also true, however, that the even the bid itself created significant media interest). Secondly, due to the inadequacy of the local football stadium, the DVSC-TEVA football team was forced to play its Champions League group stage matches in Budapest, which posed difficulties in terms of connecting the successes of the team with the name of the city (and in addition also had detrimental influences on tourism in the city). The third negative fact is related to speedway, a branch of sports that looks back on a long history in Debrecen and one that has earned considerable recognition for the city in this field (the qualifying races of the individual and pairs speedway European championship). As a result of privatization, the track went into private ownership in recent years, and even though the local government did attempt to help in several different ways (e.g. by way of offering a real property swap to the new owner), for the time being the future of this well-established sport is uncertain in the city. From the point of view of further development it is of fundamental importance, on the one hand, that the local government should also strive in subsequent years, to provide similar

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