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Michael Schumacher at the 2010 Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park
Another Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, another Sydney politician popping up claiming the event would be better served north of the border. The race is being overshadowed for another year by the ongoing question marks over its future, fuelled by NSW Major Events Minister Ian Macdonald and his comments regarding Sydney’s goal to snare the race from 2015.
Apart from stoking the flames in the ongoing battle between Australia’s two biggest cities for bragging rights by casting further doubt on Melbourne’s ability to stage the race, there is little reason for the NSW minister to make such comments unless the state is serious about staging the race.
At present their posturing appears just that. After all, we’ve heard this all before from the NSW government, typically at this time of the year, funnily enough.
What they haven’t done is tell us of how they will snare the race, let alone how they are going to do anything differently from Melbourne to limit the financial losses the event inevitably delivers.
If the NSW do intent to use the Homebush precinct, which staged a successful V8 Supercar round last December, then it would cost a similar amount to what the Victorian government pays to build and dismantle the Albert Park facilities. The amount they would have to pay to Formula One Management would be equivalent to what Victoria pay. And considering the distance between Homebush and Sydney’s CBD is far greater from that of Albert Park and Melbourne’s CBD, it’s hard to understand how the event will be better welcomed, served and appreciated in NSW than it is in Victoria.
Also, significant work and improvement would be required to the Homebush circuit for it to be made suitable for Formula 1; work that would require an immense financial investment and commitment which would only multiply if they were forced to switch the event to a night race – as per Formula 1’s wishes – with all the necessary infrastructure.
We need to avoid the empty promises coming out of NSW. It took them years to overcome political bureaucracy and commercial concerns to agree to the Homebush race, and the success of that event was thanks to the promotional work of V8 Supercars Australia as opposed to anything the NSW government did.
All the childish statements being made by officials in both Sydney and Melbourne have achieved is casting doubts about the events future in Australia.
With speculation increasing that the Victorian government is reconsidering its commitment to the event, and reality casting doubts on Sydney’s suitability, the chequered flag could soon be falling on the Australian Grand Prix.
What has cost the event, apart from the financial cost, is Australia’s loss of appreciation for such international events.
Although we are told crowds are up, grandstand seating on the front straight at Albert Park has been significantly reduced in recent years, and yet there were still plenty of empty seats as Mark Webber was battling for pole position on Saturday.
In the media, the first round of the AFL season has overshadowed Webber and co with even F1 star Lewis Hamilton’s hoon antics unable to bump Gary Ablett off the Herald Sun frontpage today.
Australia’s increasingly insular and introverted view of sport is manifesting itself in the loss of interest of international events such as the Australian Open, Australian Grand Prix and more.
It would be no different in Sydney, no matter what the NSW government says.
As for the high cost of the event, the question for the Grand Prix, as well as Australia’s football World Cup bid, is whether it’s all worth the financial hit to taxpayers pockets.
The sort of international exposure and recognition these events generate cannot be quantified in dollar terms, making the debate a very murky one.
Perhaps the reason Australia has become so disinterested in major international sporting events or, more to the point, why so many of us become obsessed with figures and bottom-lines when it comes to such events, is because of a growing feeling we no longer need these events.
It’s a consensus I have increasingly come to believe as I watch Australia fail to embrace the Grand Prix despite the fact an Aussie is in contention.
It’s a real shame.
Without an Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix there would be few sporting events held regularly on Australian shores that can truly reach a substantial international audience.
Australia risks regressing on the international sporting scene if we don’t embrace and respect major sporting events when they visit our shores.