Sailing event a colossal ‘get’ for Christchurch
By any measure, it is a major event to score. ChristchurchNZ deserves huge plaudits for successfully bidding and securing SailGP’s inaugural New Zealand grand prix event, which will be the penultimate race leg in its 2021-22 global circuit.
The prospect of Lyttelton Harbour basking in the full glare of a global television audience, joining the likes of San Francisco, Cadiz, Plymouth, Bermuda and St Tropez as a premier fleet racing venue is a salivating one.
However, Thursday’s big reveal that Christchurch had scooped the New Zealand hosting rights swiftly sparked some debate over ChristchurchNZ’s refusal to divulge the funding details until after the event, citing ‘‘commercial sensitivity’’.
Christchurch list MP Gerry Brownlee branded it ‘‘an unacceptable position from a public agency’’.
Councillors Andrew Turner and Mike Davidson are the council appointees on the ChristchurchNZ board. Davidson declined to enter the fray over commercial sensitivity, while Turner, who is also the finance committee chair, believes ‘‘prematurely releasing commercially sensitive information could jeopardise the opportunity the event presents’’.
The deputy finance chair, Cr Sam Macdonald, tells me ‘‘whenever information can be put in the domain by ChristchurchNZ, they should. We need to rely on the chief executive’s professional judgment.’’
SailGP contractually bound ChristchurchNZ to withhold the funding arrangements until this time next year, so as not to compromise ongoing bidding processes.
However, events industry insiders advise me the New Zealand tender was vigorously contested by various cities, claiming Christchurch’s successful bid will have clocked in around $600,000.
I put that specific figure to ChristchurchNZ – pointedly, it didn’t refute it.
As of September, nearly $1.5 million was in the ChristchurchNZ Major and Business Events Reserve, boosted by a $1m allocation in major events seed funding by the city council last year.
ChristchurchNZ’s general manager destination and attraction, Loren Heaphy, confirms that existing seed funding is being utilised to support the hosting of SailGP.
Heaphy also tells me that ‘‘there are several major events that are still in the negotiation or bid stage which are confidential, but provide an exciting pipeline of events to be hosted in Christchurch’’.
I’m a believer in open transparency whenever possible, but let’s not lose sight of the big picture. This event is unquestionably a colossal ‘‘get’’ for the city, in a sport few would customarily associate with Christchurch.
It will help reframe and broaden the city’s perception as an events destination, while also elevating the underrated jewel of Lyttelton Harbour on the world stage.
Post-quake, Christchurch has constantly struggled to attract and sustain a regular roster of big gigs and signature events, critically hamstrung by the absence of fit-for-purpose facilities.
With the multi-use arena still three years away, the irony of Christchurch hosting a handful of games in the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup is that Orangetheory Stadium will need to undergo a
$3.4m upgrade to expand the seating capacity to
22,000. ChristchurchNZ will fork out $325,000 to help with that event’s marketing and project management.
It will help reframe and broaden the city’s perception as an events destination ...
Meanwhile, another recent ‘‘win’’ of note from the bidding wars for premier sports events was Christchurch’s share of matches in the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup. Five matches, including the final, will be played at Hagley Oval, which continues to demonstrate its worth as a visionary post-quake initiative.
Like Friday’s Black Clash, next month’s TransTasman T20 clash is already a sell-out. Winning the hosting rights for world-class sports and entertainment extravaganzas is a feverishly contested arms race and the delivery of the multiuse roofed arena will finally ensure Christchurch can confidently compete for a self-respecting share of the hosting spoils befitting New Zealand’s second-biggest city.
It’s all the more reason why snaring SailGP’s New Zealand Grand Prix for Lyttelton is a daring coup for ChristchurchNZ – helping to boost the city’s credentials as an events destination, breathing life into the Major Events Strategy and duly catalysing the economic spin-offs.
Over the weekend, SailGP boss Sir Russell Coutts outlined his desire that Christchurch becomes a permanent feature of the global circuit.
With the Naval Point upgrades set to be fasttracked, it’s destined to be a tantalising spectacle, with spectators being able to get so close to eight international teams fleet-racing in their hydrofoiling cats on the harbour. Bring it on.