Barranquilla loses venue for the 2027 Pan American Games for breaching the contract

The president of Panam Sports, Neven Ilic, confirmed this Wednesday the organization’s withdrawal from the Panamerican Games from 2027 to the Colombian city of Barranquillaconsidering that he failed to comply with the signed contract.

This is clear from a letter that Ilic sent to several leaders of the Andean country, in which he says that “Panam Sports withdraws the organization of the XX Pan American Games of the year 2027 from the Republic of Colombia, the department of Atlántico, the city of Barranquilla and the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC) and terminates as of this date (…) the Contract from Headquarters City”.

In it he argues that “failure to comply with established requirements” in a letter from last October “automatically cancels the extension of time provided to remedy breaches of the Host City Contract”.

The headquarters was in doubt due to a letter sent by Ilic in August to the then mayor of Barranquilla, Jaime Pumarejo, and the president of the Colombian Olympic Committee (COC), Ciro Solanoin which he asked them to fulfill the contract to organize the 2027 Pan American Games or, otherwise, they would be transferred to another country.

The parties had reached an agreement in October to fulfill the contract, which included the payment of four million dollars for “right of organization” of the Pan American Games, a figure that had to be disbursed on July 30 of last year.

Four million dollars also had to be paid, corresponding to “the granting of media rights”.

In that sense, Panam Sports indicated in a statement that it decided to remove the headquarters from Barranquilla for “the innumerable breaches of current contract”.

“However, given the lack of response once the new deadline has passed, the Executive Committee of Panam Sports, on January 3, 2024, has made the unwavering determination to withdraw the right to be the host city of the continental event in 2027.″added the information.