A rally in the volunteer spirit of the IOC?

The so-called pre-project group, i.e. the Olympic advertising department of the Senate financed with several million euros in tax money, sent a message to its partners on 10 April with the subject ‘Hamburg trains for OlympJA’ on 24 April at 4 p.m. at Jungfernstieg. Contrary to what the sender might suggest, the call is signed by three ‘stimulators’: Neuland Concerts, Bergmanngruppe, Onken+Partner.

Neuland concerts is known to the public in particular through the visualizations of the opening ceremony on the Binnenalster from the Hamburg Olympic bid. Neuland Concerts offers and implements holistic event concepts. In the financial concept for ceremonies & culture such as e.g. Opening and closing ceremony 110.000.000 EUR (GOB-5) planned. Neuland Concerts also offers ticketing solutions. The so-called implementation budget for Ticketing & Hospitality is expected to generate revenues of EUR 1,400,000,000.

The Group of miners was responsible for organising and running the public viewing and fan zone on the Heiligengeistfeld at UEFA 2024. Event-related services, catering and logistics are part of budget item GOB-2 (EUR 940,000,000).

Onken+Partner is a communication agency that offers agenda setting and crisis communication, among other things. On 25 March, the NDR published a survey, according to which 50% the Hamburger the Olympic advertising rather bad and 40% rather well. On March 30, the first post on OlympJA's Instagram profile, which has 180 followers, was posted. It states that OlympJA is an independent, voluntary initiative from the center of society.
Matthias Onken He was editor-in-chief of the regional edition of Bild-Hamburg. He acts as spokesman for OlympJA.

Eckart Maudrich, spokesperson for NOlympia-Hamburg:

“Volunteers deserve recognition, the members of the International Olympic Committee annually millions. Could it be that the volunteer work for OlympJA of Neuland Concerts, Bermanngruppe and Onken+Parnter is based on this IOC model? In any case, our proposal to invest an additional 167 million euros in sports venues in Hamburg certainly promotes training.”

(s. PM Open letter dated 30.03.2026)
Website OlympJA: https://olympja.hamburg