Does Australia still want international sporting events?

The biggest international event that Australia will be hosting since the Olympics will be the Asia cup in 2015. There is no fee payable for this event, it will use existing facilties, it will not have massive costs. The thing that is embarassing though is its like the event doesn;t exist in the media's mindset. The F1 grand priz is a big event but definetly the costs are substantial and the F1 body charges too much for the event. With the Malaysia grand prix came in apart from New Zealand everyone else can find a closer F1 gp. Commonwealth games is the worst, an event no one is interested in internationally anymore, brings very few toursists and costs exorbitant amounts. Other events should be looked at in terms of costs and benefits. The farce surrounding the anti world cup push by a brain dead media is the rock bottom in stupidity.. Half a million tourists from overseas, and the major cost would have been in building stadiums that would be mainly used by other sports afterwards and are going to be have tp be mostly done anyway.

The Australian Open tennis will likely remain in Melbourne for the foreseeable future, while it was traditionally an event that moved around a bit Melbourne certainly has the most history with it especially after 30 years or so static there. While it had poor returns this year it only requires 1 Aussie going deep in the second week for it to rebound in the local consciousness. The golf has been mentioned around this thread a bit which is a little unusual. The Australian Open golf tournament moves around but is seemingly most often played in Sydney these days. The circus over the last couple of years with the Masters in Melbourne shelling out on Tiger Woods doesn't suddenly make it the more prestigious tournament. If the Golden Slipper gets the world's best (randiest?) horse to run it won't make it suddenly more prestigious than the Melbourne Cup.

F1 sold its soul ages ago.

You're right Megaman.... The Melbourne Cup is a great opportunity for young people to get drunk in a suit or frock. The City to Surf has 70,000 participants and another 40,000 volunteers spending a day in the sunshine getting fit and making money for charities. It isn't in the same league at all. I'm being a smart alec sorry. The Sydney City Council and NSW Govt have made very little effort to go for major sport in the decade since the Olympics. Although lets not kid ourselves, they did run the best olympics ever so fair decision. They are far more interested in promoting cultural and social events such as the Sydney Festival each year and having half the planet watch them on the news for three seconds every new years day for the fireworks. (Funny that the same mob which is all about Earth hour and reducing pollution etc are happy to set of thousands of firecrackers in the middle of bushfire season but that is a conversation for another day). Melbourne is a fabulous city for major events (Grand Prix is freaking awesome) but there has to come a time when the costs outweigh the benefits. I think everyone in the world interested in sport would recognise that Melbourne is a top sports city. And on the running topic, why doesn't one Australian city have a major marathon. Look at the stars that race in the big races overseas with thirty odd thousand other runners. Maybe Melbourne could take just 1 of the 40 million they were going to pay Bernie for the race and attract some superstars to the Melbourne Marathon?

I agree Jiggles. Unfortunately, there is something rotten with my beloved F1 at the moment. Bernie charges a stupidly high amount of money for anyone who wants to host a race. Which is why the last half dozen races have been rewarded to smaller countries trying to make a name for themselves internationally (Bahrain, Turkey, Malaysia) or Giant countries that can afford it (China, India, Korea). I fear that if it leaves Melbourne, there is no Govt in Australia stupid enough to spend $40M on a car race instead of Police, Hospitals, Teachers, Roads etc. Also, F1 has become kind of wussy recently with the tracks they are willing to race on. Have a look at the billard table flat tracks with acres of run off that they have all over the world. They would have kittens if they had to race on the Indy track. Shame, a sport so awesome to be so lame.

I think whats happening here is Victoria tried to get every major sporting event to their city. But is it too many sports events for one state to handle? Also the Victorian government are spending well over $360 million dollars to upgrade Melbourne Park for the Australian open tennis, due to fears, that the event would be lost elsewhere, like China, beyond 2016. So ATM, Victoria, the sporting capital of the universe, is under pressure to keep, the Formula 1 and the Aussie Open tennis. As for the Australian masters golf, its only an event if Tiger comes to town. Melbourne will still have "boxing day test", "afl grand final" and of course, the" MELBOURNE cup". But Melbourne do have their work cut out for the other events to remain in Victoria. Despite this, chances are the Aussie tennis open will remain in Melbourne with the planned upgrades, but Melbourne shouldn't rest on their laurals. But given an opportunity, the other states can stage successful sporting events as well. Adelaide did stage a terrific grand prix for many years, Sydney staged a wonderful olympics, so I think Australia in general can stage and host successful major sporting events. Its not confined just to melbourne.

Redb - firstly, nice name ;-) Secondly - I don't think it's had its day; the F1 in Melbourne gets record crowds almost every single year (maybe apart from the years around the GFC) - are you worried that the F1 will take away people from the AFL's opening round? Or are you worried the tens of thousands overseas tourists will attend the F1 instead of the AFL? The AFL games which may be affected are: FRI 7:40 MCG - Geelong Vs Saints? NO, last F1 practice finishes at 6pm SAT 2:10 Etihad - Collingwood Vs Port? Maybe, but doubt any Collingwood supporters will attend the F1 Practice 3/Qualifying anyway! lol SUN 1:10 Etihad - Bombers Vs Bulldogs? Potentially....most likely game to suffer! SUN 2:10 MCG - Melbourne Vs Swans? They'd be lucky to get anyone to that game! It's one week mate, just one! I'm sure the AFL and Demetriou will recover from it...especially now that they don't have to give up the MCG for a couple of months for the FIFA WC! More importantly we stick it up to those northerners still trying to ride the opera house and harbour bridge wave!!! We don't have an Opera House; we have the Australian Open tennis. No harbour bridge; we have the F1 Grand Prix. They can keep Mardi Gras! haha MLF - Ecclestone isn't just playing us, he's playing everyone hosting an F1 race (the big boys). The FIA is laughing all the way to the bank, but like I said on a previous post, the F1 GP is a World entertainment spectacle and if you want to keep up with the big boys, you gotta pay up ;-) We get all that money we spend on transforming Albert Park into a world-class race track back anyway through tourism, infrastructure upgrades, jobs, etc...

redordead, The GP has probably had its day. Its gone from running at a loss of $1M to about $50M+ That is fact not media spin. Who cares about sports city titles, it seems it irks those outside Melbourne more than brings joy to those who live here. Although that it irks Sydney folk is a bonus. :) In fact March is getting increasingly crowded. As the GP has moved away from the labour day weekend in early March it has clashed with the AFL opening round a few times.

At least you're honest - you're only interested in niche sports where Australians do well? I think that's what most Australian sports fans prefer as well. Rather than great international sports we prefer local and parochial. The problem is that we want to have it both ways. We want to be a 'sporting capital' or 'world beaters' but that's impossible without global sports or big international sporting events. It's not the quantity of sports that you have it's all about the quality. One of the reasons that Adelaide lost the Grand Prix was the constant media attention on the cost of the event rather than the benefits. Instead of having a World Class Grand Prix we now get to watch taxis racing around town. It may not cost much, it may even make a profit but who really cares?

thanks Ken, that was my point - who cares for "internatioanl sporting reputation" . i also am particularly sceptical of "economic benefit" numbers that are thrown out willy nilly by sports promotors that have been show in most cases to be highly exaggerated

I'm not against Formula One (or motor sports more generally) per se, but there comes a time to consider the cost - there are limits, and we have reached the stage where it would appear that Ecclestone is playing us (the taxpayer).

MLF - we'll see how you feel about your hard-earned tax payers money when you're not earning any in the first place! Maybe not you specifically, but the many jobs the Australian F1 GP generates; from the bitumen caretakers, gardeners, temporary fence providers, stand builders to the stewards, marshals, administrators and even the models and grid girls! These people earn money because of the F1 GP and pay their taxes just like every other working Australian. An independent analysis was conducted a couple of years ago at the government's request prior to the extension being granted which analysed the impact the Australian F1 GP has on Australia's economy and it was deemed to be a profitable event and advised it'd be wise to extend the contract for another term...smart move! ;-) Just like any business - you have to spend money to make money. We spend $70million dollars to host this even and make that almost 3-fold in return whilst simultaneously we are advertising and showing off our magnificent city to the world and what we can do! This unique city with the largest tram-network in the world, yet with not even 4million population is the world's Ultimate Sports' City! Melbourne not only needs the F1 GP to stay a top as the Ultimate Sports' city, but also wants the Australian F1 GP doing circles around a historic lake (which also hosted the Australian Grand Prix in the 1950s) between our world famous St Kilda beach and our beautiful cityscape! How can that not make you proud being a Melburnian? Oh sorry, but you have your beloved AFL to keep you content...well I'm an AFL fan too, but just like many other Melburnians, it doesn't mean we don't want to show case our city to the world!

Just because it's 'International' doesn't automatically qualify it as best and yes, there is a glut of international sport which i feel is beyond saturation point, year round, with seasonal lines of respective sporting brands now very much blurred. Personally I am not interested in international sport per say with the exception being some Olympic events i.e. Hockey, Swimming and Track Cycling. I am least interested in fixtures between NZ and Oz becuase I feel they are done to death and are little more than glorified domestic events with very little exotic appeal given NZ features in just about every Australian domestic comp on offer. I enjoy the tradition of some of the old club rivalries in Australian Footy which also exist in League and despite not being an avid League follower, i have been known to enjoy the SOO, which for my money offers the best calibre of League anywhere in the world. Cheers

Well you never really appreciate the importance of it until you have dressed up in a mankini and run to Bondi with a hangover.

No offense but City to Surf, Sydney to Hobart are hardly in the same league as Melbourne Cup, Australian Open.

Sydney to Hobart Yacht race, City to Surf, whatever Golf thingy we have I'm sure is just as important as Melbournes, even if we don't buy Tiger Woods. Best sporting fireworks in the world. Along with Adelaide the only Cricket Ground with character. Autumn Racing, Surfing world tour, What does Melbourne really have? Australian Tennis Open, Ok it's the Aus open, we're not going to try and steal it off you and it allows Sydneysiders to do a bit of shopping at the same time. Melbourne Cup, fare enough, it's acceptance by the rest of Australia has allowed it to become a world wide event. The AFL Grand Final, ummm...no one outside of the Southern half of Australia really cares. And now you want to get rid of the Grand Prix, hardly the sporting capital of the world to my eyes.

Still can't work out what big sporting event Sydney hosts on a regular basis, ignoring the Olympics? NRL grand final is all I can thing of. And don't say SCG Test cause Melbourne has Boxing Day.

That's great - it's yours!

RorD don't tell us, lobby your parliamentary rep if you want to host the Formula One in whatever city you live. Melbourne doesn't need it, and taxpayers will be thankful for giving it the flick.

Thanks Megaman – I am aware of the history of setbacks the event has had on the gold coast, however Locals still refer to the event (even in V8 only format) as “Indy”, so when I stated Indy will be gone in a few years I was more referring to street racing on the gold coast in any form. The event went from a total sell out to struggling to stay viable last year, and it has to do with racing V8s on that circuit, it is just to thing and often leads to very boring races. If the QLD govt did support moving the F1 to the gold coast, I have no doubt it would be a massive success. The Gold Coast is just built for these sorts of events. Loud, Brash and Bling.