Bars and restaurants around the MCG and Melbourne Park would enliven city
The MCG and Melbourne Park should be the centrepiece for a bustling district of bars and restaurants to cement ourselves as a sporting capital.
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Melbourne’s world-famous sporting precinct should be transformed into a bustling hub of bars and restaurants and the city should get behind a bid for the Rugby World Cup to cement itself as one of the world’s sporting capitals.
Sport administration heavyweight Bart Campbell – who has owned the Melbourne Storm and now sits on the boards of New Zealand Rugby, World Rugby and the Rugby World Cup – believes Melbourne is in the box seat to propel itself to the highest levels of world sport following the Covid pandemic.
Turning the areas around Melbourne’s iconic stadiums, such as the MCG and Rod Laver Arena, into dining destinations, sharing our world-leading knowledge of sports management with other countries and staging the world’s biggest events are the keys to Mr Campbell’s strategy.
The NBA and elite European football are on a hit list of sports Mr Campbell, who is also behind the SportNXT conference to be held here next year, says Melbourne needs to secure in the next decade.
He has developed five key goals Melbourne needs to work with in order to make our city the world-beating capital it should be.
He says suggestions of “brand damage” overseas because of Victoria’s response to Covid have been “overblown” – and can instead be used to promote a reputation of being a safe destination.
With major overseas sporting leagues now seeking opportunities to expand their franchises internationally as interest grows, Mr Campbell said Melbourne would be a “great launch pad for them into the Asia-Pacific region”.
He said it started with Melbourne embedding sport into its design and development so visitors and residents both automatically associated the city with sport and felt encouraged to go to events.
“Few cities in the world offer the opportunity for fans to take a short walk or tram to our entertainment and sporting venues,” Mr Campbell said.
“In a post-Covid world, Melbourne needs to maximise this unique competitive advantage, capitalising on creating new outdoor entertainment and dining spaces in the event precincts and in doing so delivering an immersive event experience from the moment fans leave home or their accommodation.”
He said domestic and international competition for sport would be “fierce” in coming years and that Melbourne “can take nothing for granted”.
A “cold pie and warm beer” were also relics of sports stadiums that needed to be tossed in favour of higher-end food and drinks to set Melbourne apart.
“Victoria has some of the world’s best local produce and beverages which should be integrated into our event experiences,” Mr Campbell said.
According to a recent KPMG study, sport creates more than $4 billion of economic activity for Victoria each year and employs about 36,000 people – the highest proportion of sport-related employees in the country.
Melbourne is the only city in the world that hosts both an F1 Grand Prix and Grand Slam tennis tournament every year.
Mr Campbell said Melbourne “must” attract major American sports, including the NBA and NFL, as well as elite European and international soccer, premium golf tournaments and world cups, such as the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
The Australian bid for the event is being headed by Herald and Weekly Times board member Sir Rod Eddington.
“Victoria’s Major Event calendar in normal times delivers $2.53bn to the state’s economy,” Mr Campbell said.
“It is intrinsically linked to Melbourne’s identity and a source of pride for Victorians.”
“Our Major Events also present the perfect platform to showcase our city and state to the world and with powerful broadcast and digital channels at our disposal, our major events can profile our state as open for business.”
He also believed an under-utilised aspect of Melbourne’s sporting prowess was its cutting-edge knowledge of sport and event management, which could be exported worldwide to further boost Melbourne’s reputation.
He said Victoria was leading in “areas as diverse as stadium design and build, sports integrity, wagering, turf and course management, equine services, sports medicine, strength and conditioning to major event delivery and management”.
“As it has done successfully over many decades, now is the time for Melbourne to lead and not follow in the event industry,” Mr Campbell said.
“The story needs to be told globally.”
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