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Stadium Economic Impact Study Just Spin

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Hi Alan

Your article, “R217.8-million sevens economic impact” on 19.02.2014 and my e-mail below to you on 23.10.2013 refers.

Your article is similar to one which appeared in Die Burger earlier this week. I wasn’t able to work out who authored the article you published.

A friend of mine wrote the following piece to Die Burger:

“Yesterday’s article, “Sewesrugby was bonus vir die Baai” paints a rosy picture, but for who? No mention is made by the compilor of the article about how much it has cost us ratepayers in the last financial year and the other years since the stadium was built. The attached figures for the last financial year came from the municipality late in 2013. A very different picture to what was mentioned in the article.

From before the local stadium was built many of us were sceptical about it being a viable investment as well as affordable especially for the municipality.

Since then we have been proved right about this and it would seem Cape Town has the same financial burden as we do.

It has also come to light recently that their were bid-rigging shenanigans amongst the various stadium contractors. As far as I’m aware this matter has not been fully finalised yet.

Cheeky Watson comment a couple of months ago that, “The Kings have made the NM Stadium very active and it is important that all leadership should realise the positive economic impact rugby has had”, needs clarification by Watson as to who he means by “all leadership” and whose “positive economic impact” he is referring to. Certainly not the majority of ratepayers nor the man in the street.

With all the rugby played at the stadium in 2013 the stadium was able to make at the end of the financial year in July, 2013 a grand loss of FORTY MILLION RAND which the local ratepayers have to pay. Other expenditure was by those who attended matches for their tickets plus those foolish enough to buy food and drink at inflated prices at the stadium.

We are told that the local stadium, of all those built for the soccer world cup, has the best financial performance. It is a meaningless stadium trying to make us feel better about how much worse financially it could have been for us.

On top of this the municipality in its wisdom has recently allocated another few million to this lost cause.

We have also had Kings players and coaching staff, etc. jumping ship.

Who’s fooling who? “It all looks very much like a PRO exercise by a spin doctor on behalf of one or other or all stakeholders in the stadium, i.e. Access management, Cheeky Watson & Co plus the municipality.

How the author was able to obtain the figures given must be questioned. Their comment, “Du Pisani said that although it the marketing benefits derived from such an event means that Nelson Mandela Bay had been put in the league of other host cities, such as Dubai, Las Vegas, Wellington, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Glasgow and London.” can only be called wishful thinking.

Regards

Mike.

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Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.