Bid for $30m games rights

Hamish Heard
Geelong is bidding to host Australia’s largest multi-sport festival for eight years from 2009.
Organisers of the Australian Masters Games said the 10-day event’s 25,000 athletes, spectators and officials injected up to $30 million into host regions’ economies.
Councillor Bruce Harwood, who holds council’s major events portfolio, said Geelong was seeking State Government support for the games bid.
In 2004 the Independent revealed Geelong’s first bid for the games, which failed after State Government refused to give its support.
The new bid is for Geelong to host the event four times over eight years.
“The Geelong Major Events committee has had recent discussions regarding the Australian Masters Games being held in Geelong in 2009,” Cr Harwood said.
“GME is very excited by the prospect as traditionally thousands of participants get involved in this very popular event.”
Cr Harwood said organisers were only interested in giving Geelong the opportunity to stage the games if the city had State Government’s backing.
“GME has a very good relationship with Victorian Major Events Company and will continue to vigorously campaign to bring this event to our region,” he said.
Geelong or State Government would have to pay event manager Sport Industry Australia $1 million each time it staged the games in the region.
A spokesperson for Sports Minister Justin Madden expected a decision on whether the Government would support the bid within three weeks.
“We’re always keen to see major events throughout Victoria but we’ve got to make sure they stack up financially and they’re well run,” the spokesperson said.
“VMEC is looking at that at the moment to ensure everything falls into place before it makes that decision.”