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Bid WHBPC 2010: Berlin

How many polo players in your city? : 

20-30

Weather that time of year in your city: 

Summer temperatures are quite pleasant; daily temperatures range from 22-23 °C (72°F), but can go up to around 30°C (86°F).

Housing: 

There is a sports hall (Gymnasium) right next to the courts. Up to 100 people can sleep there, don´t forget your sleeping bag and camping mat.
Outside camping will be possible too.
A hotel right next to the court, we will try to arrange a special rate for players.
Couch surfing for at least 60 people, possibly more.

Transportation: 

There are to main airports TXL and SXF
For public transport within the city (also for getting from the airport into the city) check: http://www.bvg.de/index.php/en/index.html

Proposed dates: 

August 6,7,8 - preferred
or July 30, 31, August 1st

Main contact: 

Stefan

Phone: 
+491633125829
Organizing team: 

Morgan - Website, North American coordination and communication
Mark,Danny and Nico - Food and Drink, plus our 'At the courts guys, as they live in the neighborhood'
Olli - Court construction, our guys with a hammer.
Miguel - PR and Media
Stefan - Sponsors, Coordination, Housing

Secondary contact (especially for N. Americans)
Morgan
Phone: (510) 842-6332
morganrallen@gmail.com

Description of courts: 

Four courts on one site. Each about 40x16 meters (130x52 feet).
One is where we currently play. It has 1 meter (3 feet) high boards all around.
The other three courts currently have 30-45 centimeter (12-16 inches) boards all around. 1 meter backboards will be erected for sure, likely all the way around. Sorry, hay bails are too hard to come by in Berlin.
Large viewing areas around each court.
This is all city owned and from the first meeting with the city, we will not be charged for it's use. This will free up money for courts.
Additionally we still have at least 2 of the ECMC courts for supplies.

Photos of your court: 
DSC_0799.JPG
Sponsor commitment: 

Above.

Sponsors: 

We have a good contact at Brooks (also a coordinator from ECMC)(not that you need a contact to get Brooks to help out :)) that has already offered support, several local sponsors (bike shops, clothing company,...). We have many contacts from ECMC that offered 'blanket support' for future events.

Anticipated cost of registration: 

Maximum 50 to 60€ per team, but hopefully much cheaper.

Proceeds : 

Passed to the European host of Worlds.

Finances: 
City donation (space), reuse of old courts, sponsors, registration last (to keep it low).
Food and drink: 

First: Drinking in public is legal in Germany! Anywhere, anytime!

We will offer at least a free breakfast and free water. You can drink water out of the tap, its even better than bottled water here.
There will be a barbecue and beer on tap at reasonable prices on site.

Format: 

First day would be 8 groups of 8 in round-robins. Second day would be double elimination of top 32 teams. Numbers are being crunched, looks good so far. The day is also extreme long this time of the year, with around 15 hours of sunlight.

Eligibility: 

As we have four courts we could handle up to sixty teams.
Format/eligibility/rules/refs will be coordinated with several cities from Europe and N. America (any others?)

How many teams will you have capacity for? : 

64+

Website: 

Coming soon (I guess when we know we're hosting)

Promotion: 

Discussion not finished yet, we have already received offer of support from other cities. Early flyering campaign at local tournaments.

Long term goals: 

Provide awesome polo without leaving farm yard animals hungry.

What else do you want to add? : 

More pictures of the area on Flickr (link below).

Location

Rennbahnstr. 62, 13086 Berlin http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=10721652
Berlin, BE
Germany
See map: Google Maps

YOUHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

:::: vimeo profil: http://www.vimeo.com/user1214048 :::::

:::: vimeo profil: http://www.vimeo.com/user1214048 :::::

in addition to the organizing part:

Morgan, Stefan and Miguel all are experienced coordinators. Morgan throwing alleycats for many years. Stefan was head organizer for the ECMC in Berlin last May. Miguel ran the polo tournament, including wrangling his own sponsors.
Olli also build 3 very successful freestanding courts for that tournament, two of which are still in Berlin.

I love how in the "Logistics" section the first item addressed is the public consumption of alcohol.

Also, "Sorry, hay bails are too hard to come by in Berlin." Zing.

This looks awesome.

2nd City

maybe montana can ship the hay bales along with the monies.

any interest in moving those dates towards the end of August more the beginning of September? Cheaper airfare for all and more room for the NA and Euros

X 2 on the dates september is much better. the NA's still have to happen and most likely that will be the first week of august.

Berlin würde großartig!

WOOOHOOOOO! Looks great, although the pavement on the other 3 courts looks pretty sketchy.

Jesse
Collar City Bike Polo
Troy, NY

the j is for jesse
Troy, NY: 2008 - 2010
Seattle, WA: 2010 - present

epicness!

Rik
Berlin Bike Polo 2010
London Bike Polo 2008 - 2010

i got to go to this one

you are in the Forest

you are in the Forest

Congratulations to Stefan, Miguel, Morgan, Marc, Danny, Nico, and Olli.
First step for hosting the World's done!
Many steps to follow.

Bid looks good.
In regards to the 2 courts that you're talking about from the ECMC's, do you mean that you will re-use the materials or that you will have 2 courts in the airport?

Just reusing the materials in the new location.

Unfortunately the first weekend in August is the latest we can do it and get the sports hall included. A local football club or league starts games the following weekend and will take the sports hall likely.

This would only affect the 100-person indoor lodging, right? The courts and outdoor camping would still be available in late August / early September?

I believe so, but have to check with Stefan.

Berlin for Worlds O-10!

Oh this would be fun. I'll probably be too broke by then to go, however.
OGT-COMOPOLO

BEEEEEEERLIIINN !

yes, why july or august for a world championship? isn't that more of an end-of-season thing? isn't berlin smoking hot at the end of july?

more kenball played by more people in more places more often

BAAAAAAALIIINN !

My friends will move by the end of the year from p-berg to weissensee. that will be perfect!

Wouldn't there be a problem with the guys riding fixed and all the bullshit with the german cops?

It's close to The Netherlands so I say, it's a go!

That's a valid point, you should make sure to mention that it's illegal to ride brakeless in Berlin and that bikes have been confiscated in the past.

http://www.thelocal.de/society/20090630-20291.html

I think isn't working any more....

_______________________________________________________________
El Vaquilla hubiese jugado Bike Polo.

This is not the case anymore. Earlier this year it was proven it was unconstitutional (or what ever their equivalent is) to take peoples bike. I have not heard an update in a while, but last I heard they where no longer ticketing people or taking bikes. Personally, I rode there for 3 months over the summer with no problems. Everyone I know who personally had some problem all got nailed in Mitte. Stay out of Mitte, it is boring anyhow.

Agreed on the Mitte front, Kruezberg or broke!

Cheers for the clarification Morgan. Glad to hear the brakeless fixed riders will be okay.

can you guys finalize the date cause I wanna start checking out tickets.
Skid & Destroy
Axles of Evil

Skid & Destroy
Axles of Evil

x2 on the ticket front. Now it's on to finding a team!

EAST VAN: WE'VE BUILT IT AND THEY'RE COMING.

MMMMMBOP

yeeeessssss

I prefer End of july!!!!!!!!!! GO BERLIN
Messmann
bikepologuru
seattlebikepolo
since 1998

Messmann
bikepologuru
seattlebikepolo
since 1998

X2

DMM Polo

DMM Polo

How does the recently reignited Berliner passion for burning cars and rioting factor into this bid?

http://tinyurl.com/ykst4yp

Oh, and if you question the credibility of Der Spiegel as a news source, check out this video report:

http://www.spiegel.de/video/video-1032758.html

T&A at work may be grounds for termination. Maybe review this later.

www.mkebikepolo.com
www.mkebikepolo.com/wordpress

Wisconsin is taking over YOU!
www.mkebikepolo.com/wordpress

Worlds should be in september

I like this, Sounds like a great place to have the WHBPC 2010

Any updates on Berlin hosting worlds?? Set date? For sure happening? Let us know.

DMM Polo

DMM Polo

talked to the city about doing it later in the year. our prefered date is august 13th-15th now (it´s the latest possible too), but we´ll check with geneva and madison again and then fix it.
our website will probably be up next week, we´ll let you know.

sounds good. I'm trying to move to Berlin next winter so i'm pretty excited to check out the bike polo scene in Berlin.

DMM Polo

DMM Polo

this sounds great. Im in
Pierre? Guthrie?

Guthrie is ours again Hugo...sorry ;)
www.mkebikepolo.com

Reckon World Hardcourt Bike Polo Championship 2010 in Berlin might be the best event ever.

MALICE for the people.

you know it has a lot to live up too in terms of philadelphia.

Yeah. No, but just in terms of the first really international tourney in such an amazing city. One year later, teams that much better. 64 teams. It is going to be fucking epic.

MALICE for the people.

first really "international" oh come on.......

Really international = not dominated by North Americans. The 2008 worlds had two countries, the 2009s had 5 counties. I estimate at least 15 for the 2010s, with North Americans being a minority for the first time ever.

Toronto 2008 = ~40 teams (only Canada and US)
Philly 2009 = 48 teams (43 Canadian and US teams, 2 UK teams, 2 German, 1 Swiss, one French kid)

Berlin 2010 = Probably 30 Euro teams, 30 NA teams, and very likely a few from Oz, Japan and more.

MALICE for the people.

There was a 2008 Worlds?

2 French teams,my friend!

Epic indeed!
Messmann
bikepologuru
seattlebikepolo
since 1998

Messmann
bikepologuru
seattlebikepolo
since 1998

Any word on if WHBPC will be reasonably after NAHBPC?

www.mkebikepolo.com
www.mkebikepolo.com/wordpress

Wisconsin is taking over YOU!
www.mkebikepolo.com/wordpress

My guess at the odds.

75% chance it'll be 4 weeks
20% chance it'll be 3 weeks
5% chance it'll be 2 weeks

so can we have dates?

Sorry, I had thought for certain Stefan posted the dates.
We managed to push back to 13th-15h of August, 1 month after NAs

So those dates are confirmed then?

Ride, bake, polo, repeat.

Ride, bake, polo, repeat.

Yup. Mark your calendars, book your flights, start swimming, what ever it takes! See you there.

you coming rowing I hear

Rik
Berlin Bike Polo 2010
London Bike Polo 2008 - 2010

Trying too, flights are so expensive this coming year, and now with this fucking nutter bringing a bomb on a plane security is going be a nightmare. Turns out cargo ships are really expensive too, bah.

Catania - Sicily, The South Polo community, supports WHBPC 2010 Berlin's Bid!!!!!
Dates (13-15 Aug) and location are perfect. We'll see you there guys .... go Berlin go ....
Ich bin ein Berliner!!!!

Luckily, Berliners don't have holes. I hear that in L.A. they serve up the ones with holes.

http://www.leagueofbikepolo.com/forum/general/2009/12/30/5-0ed-skunked-b...

Berlin or bust!

--
"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
attributed to Benjamin Disraeli by Mark Twain

started looking at flights. Anybody in Europe hosting the pre-party? Looking at arriving about a week early. London/Dublin/Amsterdam all make sense for a first stop. Flights around Europe are much cheaper than their American equivalents.

Lon-don! Lon-don! Lon-don!

MMMMMBOP

MMMMMBOP

I will like this to be a German affair

Rik
London Bike Polo

Rik
Berlin Bike Polo 2010
London Bike Polo 2008 - 2010

For North Americans heading to Europe, these are the companies that currently will take your bike for free:

* Air Lingus
* American Airlines (though this seems a bit sketchy)
* Air India
* Air Transat (from Canada)
* KLM
* Virgin (to London)

bookmark this page: http://www.ibike.org/encouragement/travel/bagregs.htm

Watch out for Delta ($300 each way), United, and codeshares (the above airlines contracting with other firms).

Pretty sure you can add British Airways to this list. They also have free booze.

American Airlines charges you $150 each way. It lets you check in your bike as a bag, and pay only $50, but only if it's under 62 inches total (H+W+L).
http://www.aa.com/i18n/travelInformation/baggage/baggageAllowance.jsp&an...
British Airways takes it for free and it doesn't even count as a bag...

*Somebody please think of the children!!*

*Somebody please think of the children!!*

if you follow some of the links on the ibike website i posted above, it seems people are having pretty good luck with AA.

air france takes bike for free, if you dont carry more than 20kg!

anyway, london pre-party would be awesome. I cancel all my hollyday plans for the worlds, so would be cool to move a bit around in europe for polo instead.

so how the places will be sorted out? It is damn close to the europeans....