Berni lvarez, Sports Minister of the Generalitat de Catalunya, a newly created Ministry in Salvador Illa's Government, was very clear this Monday to MD, at the presentation ceremony at Foment del Treball of the PlaySpain.Golf project, regarding the organisation of the Ryder Cup in 2031 in the province of Girona. "We are very open to the Ryder but first we have to have budgets," said the Minister to this newspaper.
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Ryder Cup, future
The Generalitat is the entity that has yet to sign the contract for Camiral Golf, in Caldes de Malavella (Girona), to host the event that pits the USA against Europe in seven years. lvarez assured MD that "the Ryder Cup is on the table, it is a viable option, but many things need to be worked out between all the parties involved."
"When we arrived at the Ministry, we found the options for the 2031 Ryder Cup to be held in Catalonia and now we are gathering all the information from the Higher Sports Council, the Catalan Golf Federation and the people of Girona, which is the proposed location. With the launch of the Ministry of Sports we want many things to happen around sport but not everything has to be endogamous, due to few people or an economic assessment but rather there has to be a social impact and also at the level of sustainability; and for these two aspects we have to work to bet on great sporting events," added the Minister.
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"The first thing to do is listen, sit down with them. We have already met with the Council, with the Federation... but at the level of the Ministry as such there has not been a budget and that is what I demand given that the great sporting events have always been made by the Presidency, by the Economy, and the part, in quotation marks, of sports did not participate. Now we demand an 'I want to be at the table' and that our opinion as a Ministry counts. The events that are on the table we value and take into account and the decision from the sporting point of view must really count. And also, always make decisions in a consensual manner between those who participate."
The deadline is the end of 2024. The economic amount is 40 million to be distributed over seven years. "Between now and January we have to have all the information on the table to make a consensual decision. It is true that a decision must be made in the next few months but it is not a matter of three days either," said lvarez.
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"If I finally want to be at a big event I need information. Before we were not involved in the decision making. And just as I have gone to other places, my visit to Camiral Golf was to gather as much information as possible. Everything that surrounds an event of this type and from here to sit down and talk. We were at the Council and this Thursday we have a meeting with the Minister Pilar Alegra in Madrid to find out all the details." This meeting seems important for the future of the Ryder Cup.
"One of the issues that is on the table is the budget of the Generalitat. As a Sports Council we do not have a budget because the Council as such has never existed. We live, so to speak, off of what is the Catalan Council of Sports. lEsport, of the autonomous bodies, INEFC, CAR, Circuit de Catalunya de Motocros... We have made a budget proposal that we are negotiating internally and then these budgets have to be approved. The road is not easy. And if we have to take on things at a sporting level, which we are prepared for, perfect but with some budgets," concluded the Minister.
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In this sense, Mundo Deportivo can assure that only the signature of the Generalitat is missing. That they are negotiating internally, without making noise. The negotiation has been long and with many obstacles, but it is going very well and at the end of the year there will surely be official confirmation of the celebration of the Ryder Cup 2031 at Camiral Golf, in Caldes de Malavella (Girona). "Before we had to go on roads with many curves and now we are driving on large highways," Ramn Nogu, President of the FCGolf, told MD. To a good listener, words are superfluous.
