The Chess Federation of Azerbaijan has come up with a rich offer to host the 2016 Chess Olympiad and 2015 World Cup in Baku.
The proposed venue is the Baku Crystal Hall, a new multi-functional indoor complex that was built in order to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2012.
The budget for the 2015 World Cup is set to 2,2 million EUR. From this sum 1,28 million EUR is the prize fund, while 256.000 would be the FIDE fee.
The budget for the 2016 Chess Olympiad is the astounding 13,3 million EUR! 6,8 million is set for the first-class accommodation for the players and delegates. Another 1 million is planned for the FIDE Commission for World Championships & Olympiads and intellectual rights.
On the top of everything, Azerbaijan offers a special travel grant of 1,5 million EUR to FIDE to allocate for teams requiring travel subsidy. Great news for the federations like Australia and others where players have to pay for the airfare on their own.
The other two bids, coming from Albena, Bulgaria and Tallinn, Estonia, appear to be much more modest. The bids are included in Agenda for the 83rd FIDE Congress in Istanbul.
This is a great city.