Competition

European Championships Secures Event Sponsorship, Promises to Pay 2022 Prize Purse Immediately

November 16, 2022 by
Photo Credit: The European Championships (@theeuropeanchampionships)
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The plan for the European Championships has changed once again.

On Tuesday, organizer Carl Saville sent yet another email addressed to “podium athletes & crew” informing them that The European Championships—which has yet to pay the £40,000 GBP prize purse from its 2022 event—has secured “a large event sponsorship,” meaning the 2022 purse will be “paid with immediate effect.”

How we got here: After racking up a “large amount of debt” from the August 2022 event in Nottingham, England, Saville was left unable to pay out the athlete prize purse.

  • Saville later told the athletes he was seeking solutions, including finding more sponsors or investors, or possibly trying to sell the event to pay the debt. But when he was unable to do that, he proposed a new plan on October 31: Host another event in 2023 in hopes of raising enough revenue to pay the debt. 
  • The proposal, however, was based on spectator attendance in 2023, thus it did not guarantee he would be able to pay 2022’s debt from 2023’s event. He then put it to the athletes to decide whether or not they supported his plan.
  • A few days later, Saville emailed the athletes again saying those he asked were “massively in favor of the proposal,”—something he reiterated in his most recent email on Tuesday—although five podium athletes told the Morning Chalk Up they did not support the proposal of a 2023 event.

What’s next: There are still more questions to be answered, including those this mystery sponsor is, but Saville promised more information is coming soon: “The details of this new sponsorship will be released in the coming weeks along with event updates but of course the top priority is to ensure your payments are made asap before we action anything else,” he said.

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