BERLIN, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The sport of athletics will witness a 20 percent rise in television viewing figures at the first multi-sports European Championships in 2018, the continent's athletics chief Svein Arne Hansen said on Friday.
The new European Championships will combine the separate continental championships of seven sports into one event, hoping to become the top multi-sports competition in Europe ahead of the struggling European Games.
"We have a very clear purpose. To get more people interested in sports. For athletics we expect 20 percent more viewers (than at the traditional single-sport European athletics championships)," Hansen, European athletics association president, told Reuters in an interview.