At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Bulgaria won 10 gold medals, an achievement surpassed by only six countries, while in the overall medal count, Bulgaria was fifth with 35.

A year later, the fall of communism put an end to the huge state subsidies for athletes and sports clubs, which resulted in a predictable drop-off in the number of medals won at subsequent Games. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bulgaria could boast only five medals, one of them gold, while the best result in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games was a seventh place.

Private owners of sports clubs, most prominently in football, have laid a big part of the blame at the feet of each Cabinet that governed Bulgaria since 1990, arguing that the state’s refusal to sell stadia and training grounds was the main reason why the owners were reluctant to invest in better facilities.

Despite heavy lobbying, Bulgarian governments of all political colours have rejected any initiatives to transfer the state-owned facilities into private hands. In February 2010, however, Boiko Borissov’s Cabinet made a big step towards granting sports clubs owners their wish.

On February 17, the Cabinet voted to accept the proposal put forth by Sports Minister Svilen Neikov to include the three largest state companies that manage sports facilities in Bulgaria into a short list of state companies that can sell, swop or rent out assets through direct negotiations, rather than being required to call a public tender.

Ironically, the decision was made just a day after Borissov gave Bulgarian local governments a stern warning to eschew direct negotiations when awarding contracts financed with European Union funds.

Public concern
Throughout the years, there has been strong public opposition to sports facilities being sold or given on concession with the right to build, as lobbied for by sports clubs owners.

The reason is that some of the facilities are in prime locations in Bulgaria’s biggest cities or on the Black Sea coast and there was a strong fear that should private interests be given control, there would be little to stop them from redeveloping the properties for a large profit.

Neikov has repeatedly rejected any speculation that his proposal would open the door for just that, but acknowledged that the concerns were justified.

"I am slightly concerned with the prospect of sports clubs and federations being used to serve other interests," he said on February 25.

The goal of his proposal, he said, was to make it easier for clubs and federations to rent the facilities at preferential prices and without competition from companies that could afford to pay higher rent but were not exclusively focused on sports.

"The contracts will not allow an outside firm that has nothing to do with sports to rent a sports facility and use it whichever way they like. This would not be subject to a regulation, but would be written into the contracts themselves," Neikov said.

Apparently, however, some guidelines would have to be spelt out.

"The rules for renting out sports facilities will have to be written down very strictly, so that it is clear what is happening. Let’s not focus on the negatives," he said.

Selling the assets was out of the question, he said, since the properties were part of the capital of the three facilities-management companies and as such could not be swopped or sold because the companies themselves were on the list banned from privatisation.

"While I am minister, I will not allow any privatisation of sports facilities by commercial entities," he said.

Searching for solutions
What was left unclear by Neikov’s first major initiative as sports minister was how the decision would help the development of Bulgarian sports.

Most sports facilities in Bulgaria are already used by sports clubs and federations for fees well below the going market price of the areas that the facilities are in. Furthermore, with rare exceptions – big name football clubs and a few volleyball and basketball clubs – sponsorship money and gate revenues are virtually nonexistent, which means that most small sports clubs and federations have to rely on their state subsidies to pay rent on state-owned properties. Little, if any, funding is ever available for improving the training conditions and sports federations owed 1.5 million leva in unpaid rent for 2009 alone.

The Sports Ministry’s budget for 2010 was 42 million leva, an 82 per cent increase over the previous year, but far from the amount necessary to repair and upgrade even the most important facilities. According to Neikov, to fully meet modern requirements, Bulgaria’s sports facilities would need between 300 million and 350 million leva, a figure that the Government, struggling to pay its debts to the private sector and make the books balance on the Budget, could not afford in the midst of an economic downturn and shrinking Budget revenue.

The assets managed by the three state firms are not insignificant, even if they are in far from perfect shape. These include the Vassil Levski national stadium, Yunak and Akademik stadiums in Sofia, the Winter Palace, Festivalna and Hristo Botev halls in Sofia, the Belmeken, Pamporovo and Borovets mountain training facilities, tennis courts and 11 water sports facilities throughout the country, among others.

Their number is set to be boosted by the transfer of properties managed by the Defence Ministry in Sofia at the fourth kilometre of Tsarigradsko Chaussee Boulevard next to the grounds of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, as decided by the Cabinet on February 24. The area will host Sofia’s future multi-functional sports hall, now being built by Glavbolgarstroi for 90 million leva.

However, these do not include the grounds used by football clubs, which are managed separately. Nevertheless, the same approach appears to be employed in this case, judging by speculation in Bulgarian media that CSKA Sofia football club was on the verge of securing a 30-year concession on the Bulgarska Armiya stadium where it plays its home games.

CSKA owners plan to demolish the existing grounds, deemed unsafe to host any event at its full 22 000 capacity, and replace it with a 30 000 modern football-only stadium, but needs to secure a building permit as part of a concession first.

Media reports said that the talks were in an advanced stage and an agreement could be secured as early as March, allowing the club to begin work in the summer. Should CSKA prove successful in its bid this time, having failed on several previous attempts, a host of other clubs were expected to follow suit.