‘Gobsmacking’: Netball’s $15 million sponsorship deal with Visit Victoria sparks debate

Netball Australia’s fresh $15 million sponsorship deal with Visit Victoria has sparked fierce debate over the use of taxpayer dollars.

Netball Australia’s new sponsorship deal with Visit Victoria has divided opinion over the use of taxpayer dollars.

On Monday, Netball Australia announced it had signed a $15 million deal through to 2027 with Visit Victoria, the state government’s tourism agency.

The contract is a huge boost to netball and effectively replaces the same amount of funding Hancock Prospecting had committed before it pulled its support earlier this month.

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Under the new deal, the Australian Diamonds will wear Visit Victoria branding on the uniform and players and coaches will appear in tourism campaigns to promote Victoria as a travel destination.

Victoria will effectively become the home of the Diamonds and will host at least one international Test match for the next five years.

The Diamonds will also hold their high performance training camps in the state.

On top of that, the new deal means the 2023 Super Netball Grand Final will be held in Victoria.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he was “thrilled” to announce the deal, declaring it a “coup” for the state.

He said “other states wanted this but Visit Victoria got in”.

“Obviously, there was a sponsor, that sponsor was no more and so there was a gap and Visit Victoria raced to fill it,” Andrews added.

“It’s a great coup for the sport, but it’s a great coup for all of the content that will come from this, taking our brand (and) all that we have to offer to the rest of our country and indeed to the world.”

Visit Victoria has signed a $15 million deal with Netball Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images for Netball Australia)

Asked if the state government was setting a precedent for using taxpayer money to fund sports if sponsorship deals fall through, Andrews said: “It’s not a matter of precedents … We don’t just set precedents in Victoria, we set the standard for major events. Dua Lipa played last night, Billy Joel is here in a few weeks. So that’s not just sport, it’s about culture.”

Victorian Shadow Treasurer David Davis said a Liberal Victorian government would honour the deal if it won next month’s state election, but it would prefer to see the government spend money in other areas.

“Although this deal was announced the day prior to Caretaker (pre-election period, can confirm that we are not in the business of ripping up contracts and we will be honouring this sponsorship agreement should we be elected to Government,” Davis said.

“While the Netball Australia sponsorship is not undeserved, with $167.5 billion of debt and the deficit blowing out by another $1.8 billion this year, many people will be wondering why Daniel is able to fund netball, but can’t properly fund essential services such as health and fixing Triple-Zero.”

The $15 million investment from Visit Victoria has angered some who believe it could have been spent by the Andrews government elsewhere.

Liberal Democrats MP David Limbrick tweeted: “Did anyone ask the netball players if they’re happy to wear a Victorian Government logo?”

Channel 7 sports commentator David Culbert said: “I’m all for support for sport. But this is gobsmacking.”

It’s happy days for netball. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images for Netball Australia)

The Victorian government has come to Netball Australia’s rescue. (Photo by Martin Ollman/Getty Images)

But others said the outrage was overblown and there were far worse things governments could invest in other than women’s sport, netball, and attracting tourism.

Sports journalist Marnie Vinall posted: “You know what, I’m OK with my hard-earned taxes going to women’s sport, this rules.”

🥹 watching my tax dollars being invested in women’s sport while ALSO boosting tourism in regional Victoria 🥹

*pinch me*

— Jessica Currie (@Jess_M_Currie) October 31, 2022

To everyone who's cross that netball is now sponsored by taxpayers instead of mining billionaires, just get mining companies to pay more tax and then everyone's a winner

— Michael Hopkin (@mikehopkin) October 31, 2022

Junkee’s Lavender Baj said: “I promise you your tax dollars get spent on worse stuff.

“Also like your tax dollars fund politicians lunch every day but go off I guess.”

There had been calls for Australian billionaire companies including software firm Atlassian to intervene but Netball Australia has found an alternative.

Netball reporter Dan Coppel said: “Tourism boards have a mandate to spend taxpayer money to bring events and visitors into town. It’s the literal purpose for their existence. Taxpayers pay tourism boards to bring visitors who spend money on local businesses.

“Tourism boards are supposed to bring high quality events, and make positive associations about the location they are advertising. Destination NSW has been successful at this over the years. NT Tourism has been playing with house money ever since “C U in the NT”.

Netball Australia and the Diamonds have a new major sponsor. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images for Netball Australia)

“This deal is a job well done by @visitvictoria - no bones about it. Are there going to be questions about selling hosting rights to the SSN Grand Final? Maybe. Was it worth it? By the looks of things, absolutely yes. If you want to complain about this, it’s because it removes flexibility for SSN fixturing, Diamonds in small regions (South Aust, West Aust, ACT, etc.)

“It’s not because a taxpayer funded agency has fulfilled its mandate to the letter, and helped a national sporting body with a big financial hole. Job well done!”

Netball pundits also pointed out the new sponsorship deal includes a significant investment in grassroots netball and aligns with the upcoming 2026 Commonwealth Games to be held in regional Victoria.

The deal with Visit Victoria will only enhance Melbourne’s status as the so-called sporting capital of the Australia — adding to a calendar already boasting the Australian Open, AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, cricket’s Boxing Day Test match and the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park.

Meanwhile, West Coast Fever welcomed Netball Australia’s deal with Visit Victoria and said it’s hopeful on finding a new sponsorship after Roy Hill pulled its funding of the Super Netball premiers.

West Coast Fever CEO Simone Hansen said in a statement: “Netball WA is very pleased to hear about Netball Australia’s new partnership with Visit Victoria.

“Last season, WA hosted the SSN (Suncorp Super Netball) Grand Final so we were expecting that the match would be held on the eastern seaboard and this has now been confirmed.

“We have been overwhelmed by the support of the WA community, existing partners and members over the past two weeks and we want to thank everyone for their good will during this time.”