Melbourne Named Worlds Best Sports City
Melbourne’s position as the sporting capital of the world was confirmed yesterday in London when it was awarded the title of the world’s ‘Best Sports City’.
Melbourne took the award ahead of a competitive field of cities including Berlin, which hosted the IAAF Athletics World Championships, and Singapore, which hosted the first night Formula One Grand Prix.
Tourism and Major Events Minister Tim Holding said it was a great achievement for Melbourne to win the Gold in the Sports City category at the SportBusiness Sports Event Management Awards, held at Lords Cricket Ground in London yesterday.
“This award confirms what we have all known for a long time – no other city puts on a major sporting event like Melbourne,” Mr Holding said.
“You only had to be at Flemington last week for the Melbourne Cup or be at Kingston Heath this week to see Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy competing in the Masters to see our major events strategy on show.
“In awarding Melbourne and the Victorian Major Events Company, the judges have recognised the passion that Melburnians and Victorians have for sport and major events, which sets us apart from other cities.
“These major sporting events are our tourism drawcard and bring tens of thousands of visitors from interstate and overseas to our city every year.”
Melbourne won the award for its year round calendar of major events, unrivalled sport’s precinct and infrastructure, strong event attendances and established events industry.
Melbourne will host a number of upcoming major international sporting events including:
- The Socceroos last match on Australian soil before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to be played at the MCG in June next year;
- The UCI Road World Championships which will take place in Melbourne and Geelong – Australian Cadel Evans is set to defend his world title on home soil after winning the 2009 event in Switzerland; and
- The 2011 Presidents Cup to be played at Royal Melbourne, making Melbourne the first city outside of the United States to host the Cup for a second time.
“Not only do we have a number of annual events like the Australian Open tennis, Spring Racing Carnival, Formula One Grand Prix and AFL Finals, we also have special one-off events with great international branding and profiling opportunities for Melbourne,” Mr Holding said.
“Victoria’s success in major sporting events is built on world class facilities such as the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, the organisations and individuals who deliver these major events and the city’s sporting public who continue to embrace these major sporting events.”
Melbourne also took out the number 1 ranking in the SportBusiness International Magazine Ultimate Sports City list in 2008, which every two years ranks the top cities at hosting events.
Topics: Australia, Best Sports City, Governance, IAAf, Melbourne, sporting capital of the world, sports
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