Major sporting and community events could be on the cards for the Greater Hamilton region with the Southern Grampians Shire Council committing to a three-year partnership with events placement specialists, Sports Marketing Australia. The partnership is designed to help attract more major events to the region, not only to strengthen the existing calendar of events but to inject money into the local economy, improve the reputation of the Greater Hamilton region as a destination of choice for events, and provide enriching and engaging opportunities for the wider community.
Southern Grampians Shire Mayor, Cr Mary-Ann Brown says it’s a positive step for Council to be working with an organisation passionate about shifting major events away from metropolitan centres into regional areas.
“Council are looking forward to working closely with Sports Marketing Australia and benefitting from the relationships that they have with 240 event owners across Australia, including sporting organisations and event promoters. They have been placing such events through partnerships with more than 46 Councils over the past 14 years, including Horsham and Warrnambool, so we’re looking forward to seeing what kind of events we can bring to our beautiful part of Australia,” Cr Brown said.
The first step in the partnership is a comprehensive report on the region’s capacity and capability in regards to events. This report considers infrastructure and event spaces, links to transport, accommodation capacity, existing event calendar and the region’s local clubs and associations.
The report is based on a series of informal meetings with local clubs and associations operating in fields in which SMA may be able to secure events. Information from such elements of the report will help SMA to represent our region in the marketplace, and match our offering with suitable events for Council’s consideration. These meeting are taking place over the coming weeks.
SMA’s Managing Director, Rick Sleeman, says the Sports Marketing Australia event attraction team are looking forward to working with Council to build on the foundation of events that take place in the region.
“We’re excited to develop a strategy with Council to proactively bring more state, national and international events to the region.
“Major events bring significant economic, branding and community benefits to regional areas, and being proactive in the events marketplace through SMA’s national relationship base is an important part of having a strong event attraction strategy,” Mr Sleeman said.
The first SMA event being held within the Greater Hamilton region will be the National Cinema Pop-Up, taking place over four nights at Hamilton’s Melville Oval from Dec 7-10. Council is already in discussions about bringing a range of sporting events to the region early next year.