15 major highlights

Sporting events cost Klagenfurt 4.5 million euros

The United World Games will attract 12,000 young people to Klagenfurt from June 20 to 23.

(Bild: United World Games)

Many sporting highlights are coming up this year. Councillor Franz Petritz gives an overview. KAC and Austria Klagenfurt cost the most money. Events such as Sportschnuppern have become evergreens.

A total of 15 major sporting events lasting 95 days are still to come in Klagenfurt this year, with the city spending around 4.5 million euros on them. These include events such as the Altstadtlauf (June 6), Ironman (June 16) and the United World Games (June 20-23) with 12,000 participants.

City Councillor for Sport Franz Petritz: "The Austria Academy receives 116,000 euros in funding, 200 children benefit from this. The big clubs cost a lot of money - the city has to transfer 1.3 million euros in rent to the trade fairs for the KAC games. Austria Klagenfurt uses the sports park, which makes an annual loss of around 1.2 million euros."

Many events are evergreens: "For decades, children have been able to get to know new sports for 26 days at Sportschnuppern," says Petritz. "When it comes to basic subsidies, the motto is: the more young people are involved, the more funding there is."

"Need more money"
Many projects such as the renovation of the KAC soccer stadiums are imminent. All floodlights will be converted to LED, the ASV will receive an artificial turf pitch. The maintenance of the sports halls (St. Ruprecht, Waidmannsdorf, St. Peter, Lerchenfeld, Viktring) will cost 277,000 euros. "We need more money. Many facilities are old and often lack infrastructure. The St. Ruprecht hall, for example, is 50 years old and needs to be completely renovated. That would cost ten million euros, which we don't currently have."

Positive: the KTV gymnasium is finished.