Prime Minister of Thuringia Mario Voigt has promised increased state funding for the city’s sports facilities. In the current financial year, the state supported sports with 42 million euros, including 21.6 million euros for the construction of municipal sports facilities. “And with our draft budget, we will ensure that Thuringia remains a successful sports state in the future with a small increase in funding for 2026 and 2027,” the CDU politician said at a general meeting of the Thuringia State Sports Association (LSB) on Saturday. The LSB announced that increased funding for the city’s sports facilities should also be announced in the future.
Municipal Association President: “Big problem, high costs”
The backlog of investments in sports halls, swimming pools and other municipal sports facilities has reached 1.3 billion euros, said Steffen Kania (CDU), President of the Association of Cities and Municipalities. Thuringia. The federal “Billion Sports” funding program launched in October for city facility renovations is not enough. “The problem is big, the costs are high. It’s difficult to talk about the ability to clear the renovation backlog quickly,” said Kania.
LSB President Stefan Hügel also called for steps to solve the funding problem: “Without sports facilities and sports clubs, we no longer have social glue – funds for sport are funds for society!” Hugel said. According to its own information, the state sports association set a new record this year with 385,000 members.
Voigt: Thuringia supports her Olympic bid
Ahead of the meeting, Prime Minister Voigt also assured Thuringia of support for a possible German bid for the Olympics. In Bad Blankenburg, CDU politicians called on society to think bigger about the future of sport in Thuringia. “We have the opportunity to be bolder. Thuringia could be the location of a big competition.”
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