Guidelines for Area Permit Meetings

(approved by NACAC Council on 1 August , 2004)

The IAAF Competition Rules for 2004-2005 provide that “all International Competitions, or any other competitions in which a foreign athlete takes part, must be authorized by the IAAF, an Area Association or a Member (Rule 2)

IAAF Competition Rule 5 requires that

(a) Authorizations by Area Associations or Members for Meetings under Rules 1.1(g) and (h) respectively must be presented to the Council for approval.

(b)  Before authorizing any Meeting under Rules 1.1 (g) or (h) above, the Area Association or Member must obtain from the meeting organizer an undertaking in writing:

            - that all Rules and Regulations will be observed

- that information on all aspects of the organization of the Meeting will be forwarded within 30 days to the Area Association or Member authorizing such a meeting, if so requested.

©  No Member may grant its authorization under Rule 1.1 (h) for a Meeting which extends invitations to athletes appearing in the world’s best 100 performance list of the previous year from more than five Members (other than the host Member).

Meetings authorized by the Area Group Associations (commonly referred to as “area permit meetings”) must be presented to the IAAF Council for approval at its mid-November meeting. It is therefore imperative that all parties interested in organizing an international invitational meeting under Rule 1.1 (g) submit their applications to the NACAC offices prior to 30 September.

The Meeting Organizer must be the National Federation or a Member of the National Federation and, as noted above, must agree to abide by the Rules and Regulations of the IAAF.  At least one person from the National Federation, selected in agreement with the Organizing Committee, must be co-opted onto the Organizing Committee for the purposes of liaison.

The area calendar visualizes an eight week window during the months of May and June when international invitational meetings may be held in our area. Over the past several years, a number of such meetings have been staged and, upon applying shall have first priority for the dates on which they have previously been held.

In approving any applications for an international meeting, the area office shall attempt to insure that there shall be no conflict with other major international competitions or similar level meetings. Cooperation by all parties is therefore imperative.

An Area Permit Meeting may not be staged on the same day as an IAAF World Outdoor Meeting, unless the two Meetings are in different countries which do not have a common border.

The distribution of the Area Permit Meetings shall be at the discretion of the Area Association, but the IAAF Calendar and the above scheduling guideline must be respected.

General and specific requirements

A.  Number of events

The meeting shall have a minimum of 12 events of which there must be a minimum of five events for each gender.

An Outdoor Meeting must be staged at one venue during one day.  Only Hammer Throw may be staged at another venue and/or on a different day.  Thirty-five events (18 Men and 17 Women) are eligible for inclusion in the program, from which the meeting organizer may choose any twelve (12).  Organizers are free to stage any event in addition to the above minimum number and on a prize money level of their own choice.  A minimum of six athletes must be entered in each event.

B.  Monetary awards

Meeting Organizers are required to provide a minimum total Prize Money of $50,000 in awards to participating athletes.  Following the IAAF Guidelines, we recommend that these awards be distributed as follows:

Four (4) Premium events @ $5,000 each

Four (4) Classic Events @ $4,500 each

Four (4) Promotional Events @ $3,000 each

The proposed distribution by position is as follows:

Pos.   Premium      Classic       Promotional

1              1,500                     1,300                           1,000

2              1,200                     1,100                              750

3                 800                        750                              400

4                 500                        475                              350

5                 400                        350                              200

6                 300                        250                              150

7                 200                        175                              100

8                 100                        100                                50

              $5,000                   $4,500                           $3,000

Totals     $20,000                 $18,000                           $12,000

Grand Total: $50,000.00

Upon request of the Meeting Director,  NACAC may examine possible exceptions to the above prize money structure (under exceptional circumstances).

The prize money structure for each meeting should be published on the official meeting website no later than two months prior to the competition.  Payments to qualifying athletes should be made as soon as possible following the conclusion of the meeting (pending receipt of doping control results where applicable).

Prize money will be distributed in accordance with IAAF Rules and payments may be made, according to IAAF procedure, either to the athletes, their Representative, to a trust fund administered by the IAAF or to the athlete’s national federation.

Official recognition by NACAC will be extended to qualifying meetings upon submittal of the proposed awards structure with guarantees that the funding for same will be available.  Available awards will be published on the NACAC web page as part of the promotion of the circuit of invitational meetings.

C. Participation of Ranked Athletes

In order to assure an adequate quality of the participating field, the Meeting Organizer should make every effort to invite, for each event, two athletes in the Top 100 of the IAAF World Rankings List published two months prior to the meeting’s date.  Where applicable, the Meeting Organizer should allow at least one starting place in each event for national athletes.  The Meeting Organizer should, at least seven days prior to the meeting, send to the NACAC a list of the athletes who have accepted invitations to compete.

D. Television and Media

The organizer should make every effort to stage the main program for the purpose of TV coverage within a two hour time limit.

Television production, coverage and service to broadcasters must comply with IAAF Broadcast Guidelines.  Each meeting shall provide the NACAC with a tape of the competition and allow the NACAC to use, free of charge, up to five minutes footage for promotional purposes.

Media.  The services to be provided to the press and photographers must comply with the IAAF Media Guidelines.  There should be a dedicated area in the Tribune for the accredited press where results services and internet access is readily available.

At least one press conference should be held on the eve of the meeting

Advertising should comply with the IAAF Rules and Regulations.   There must be at least one IAAF/NACAC infield and perimeter board in addition to the Title sponsor perimeter board(s).  There must also be an IAAF/NACAC page in the official program if one is printed.

E. Other requirements

The Stadium must have a capacity of not less than 4,000 spectators and the running track a minimum of eight (8) lanes.  The track surface, which must be synthetic, must have a Class 2 certification (Class 1 for newly laid tracks).  An adequate warm up area must be provided and all equipment and personal implements used in the meeting must be IAAF certified.

Electronic timing is mandatory and electronic false start is strongly recommended.

A technical meeting should be held by the Meeting Organizer on the eve of the competition.

Medical. A minimum of five (5) anti-doping controls must be carried out in accordance with IAAF Rules and Anti-Doping Regulations and the samples sent immediately to a WADA accredited laboratory.  Copies of the accompanying documentation must be forwarded immediately to the IAAF in Monaco. These tests are conducted at the sole expense of the Meeting Organizer.

Logistics.  Meeting headquarters hotel(s) at which the athletes will be accommodated must be of at least three (3) star and meals provided must be adequate.  Adequate transportation to and from the stadium/airport must be provided and pool cars should be available for delegates.  Transport and storage facilities must be provided for competitors’ vaulting poles.

Program. The foreseen program of events must be submitted with the Application Form

The minimum number of events to be staged must be respected.

The Program submitted on the original Application Form may be changed by 25% prior to 15 February in the year of the competition.  Thereafter the Meeting Director may only add or delete five events from the program.  Any changes made to the Program after 15 February must be immediately notified to the NACAC Secretariat and to the Meeting Directors of international meetings which take place within a period of one week before and two weeks after the meeting.

August 1, 2004