Cape Town 100108- Tour of Cape Town Stadium. Here a Fish Eye shot of the Stadium with Table Mountain. PHOTO SAM CLARK, CA, Murry Williams Cape Town 100108- Tour of Cape Town Stadium. Here a Fish Eye shot of the Stadium with Table Mountain. PHOTO SAM CLARK, CA, Murry Williams
Cape Town Stadium is open for business to Capetonians as the city tries to turn the venue into a moneymaker.
And while it’s still making a significant financial loss, the city says it has plans to open the stadium to more commercial opportunities – weddings, parties, conferences and other events – to raise income.
The city explained that it had taken over the stadium from SAIL/Stade de France on January 1, 2011, and it had had to start “from scratch”.
“There were no service providers in place, there was no marketing plan, nothing,” explained executive director of tourism, events and marketing Anton Groenewald.
Despite this, in the financial year July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012, the city projects that the stadium could have earned income of around R12.5m.
The yearly running cost of the stadium is far more – around R57m.
Groenewald explained the stadium had been bound by 14 restrictions which were part of the province’s Record of Decision (ROD), which authorised the building of the stadium, but severely impeded the ways in which the stadium could earn money.
“These conditions ideally need to be lifted, as a large part of the income-generating capacity will only be realisable after the lifting of ROD restrictions,” Groenewald said.
He stressed that the mayoral committee approval followed by a council decision later this month would signify the beginning of the public engagement process – hearing what Cape- tonians had to say about potential new ways for the stadium to make money.
Despite the restrictions, the city confirmed that there were about 35 events booked at the stadium between now and January 31.
Groenewald said the cost of hiring the stadium was calculated according to exactly what parts of the stadium clients wanted to hire, and what services they wanted – traffic, security, catering, etc.
Groenewald said the city had only launched a “soft marketing campaign” for the stadium so far because of the restricted range of activities at present.
He said expanded ways of making the stadium pay for itself could only start if and when the 14 ROD restrictions were lifted. - The Cape Argus