Sydney, Melbourne in prize fight for sports events

The ABC says that the fierce rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne has erupted again, with this time, the major events organisers of ‘Tinsel Town’ standing accused of trying to poach big-ticket sporting events from ‘Bleak City’.

In this prize fight, the challenger New South Wales is reportedly hoping to wrestle from Victoria the rights to host some of the nation’s major events, including the Australian Tennis Open and the Formula One Grand Prix.

Politicians in both capitals seem to be enjoying the chance for some cross-border sniping with NSW Premier Morris Iemma shooting the first jab.

“Sydney’s always a better place than Melbourne for everything,” he said.

But Victorian Tourism Minister Tim Holding hits back.  “We think of course that Sydney have got some way to go, they’ve got some learning to do”.

“Victoria and Melbourne, not without reason, have been judged by some of the leading authorities around the world as the best city anywhere in the world to host major events, particularly major sporting events.”

It is familiar turf – Australia’s largest capitals often compete for events and attention., but this time, it is the appointment of sports administrator John O’Neill as the head of the major NSW events body that has reignited the rivalry.

Mr O’Neill has an impressive resume of achievements, including managing the Rugby World Cup tournament in Sydney and the successful revamp of soccer in Australia. Now, he is reportedly keen to poach Victoria’s big-ticket events.

But Mr Iemma says Victoria already has long-term contracts with the events’ promoters.  Of course, the tennis, the AFL grand final and the Grand Prix would be better located in Sydney but we have no ambitions for the F1 Grand Prix,” he said.

“It’s locked up in a long-term contract but it’s not one of those events that we’ll be pitching for.”

Melbourne has already been through one big fight over the Grand Prix back in 1993, when it snatched the event away from under Adelaide’s nose.

So why are major events so valuable to the cities that host them? Professor Leo Jago, the director of research with the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre, says there is a huge benefit in helping to brand a destination.

“Melbourne would be the best example of that, where it’s used a whole suite of events to give it a profile over the last 20 years,” he said.

“Events also lead to substantial induced tourism down the track. People who hear of the event, who see the event, will often visit subsequently.”

Professor Jago says it is sometimes difficult to measure the long-term impact of major events but the social benefit should not be underestimated.

“There’s a real psychic income, as they term it, that local communities feel good about hosting events,” he said. “Look at what happened in Sydney when the Olympics were on – there was this real sense of pride.”

Tourism and Transport Forum managing director Christopher Brown denies that such battles for events push up their prices, taking money out of taxpayers’ pockets and into promoters’ hands.

“We’ll have all of these states working hard against each other and in the right circumstances with each other to ensure that we fill those dark venues,” he said.

“What should happen is you should have a bidding process before someone leaves Australian shores to bid for it.”

Victorian Premier Steve Bracks says he is not worried about competing with NSW for big events.  “We’re competing not against Sydney.”  “For goodness sake, we’re competing against the Brazils, the Dubais, the Montreals, the other great cities in the world who are really trying to get some of the big events in the world,” he said.

“That’s where the competition is and that’s where Sydney will find themselves competing as well.”

Major event administrators in both states may have to put any competitive streak aside in the near future, as they decide whether or not to join forces to bid for the Soccer World Cup in 2018.  Then, the competition will be global.

Report by The Mole and the ABC