Game On

Sports business

“Best ever”: the Sydney Olympics showcased Australia’s expertise

At the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Australia proved to the world the high level of skill and technology it lays claim to in the area of sport – not just on the field, but in its capacity to stage and manage the greatest sporting event in the world, and have it proclaimed as the “best ever”.

Internationally recognised as a great sporting nation, Australia’s sport industry has advanced in leaps and bounds to become one of the most innovative and highly regarded in the world. As an industry that encompasses venues, events (including planning, construction and management), goods and equipment, media, professional athletes and coaches, sports medicine and professional services, Australia is host to a vast range of expertise that is in high international demand.

Game plan
The challenge posed after the Games? How best to harness the collective success and exposure of Australian companies that contributed to the Games and take advantage of the global demand for Australian sport business expertise generated by the Games?

Game Plan 2006 was a federal government initiative devised to meet the challenge of helping Australia’s sport and leisure businesses to be seen as world-class providers of sport and leisure goods and services, capitalising on Australia’s reputation as a sporting nation. Released in 2001, the plan’s key strategies include an increased emphasis on research and development, greater commercialisation of ideas, improved business networks and statistical analysis, and development of export markets for education and training products and services.

With the help of Australia Sport International, a non-profit organisation that promotes Australia’s sports-related capabilities internationally, Game Plan 2006 has set a target of increasing exports of sports-related goods and services to A$1.3bn per annum.

Leading the way for the Australian sports industry overseas are companies involved in venue and stadia design and construction, sports surfacing technologies, event facilitation and management, sport equipment, sports software technology, stadia and venue seating, and staff training and development programs.

International trade missions undertaken to the Middle East, Asia and the United States have enforced the perception that Australian companies are well qualified to manage and deliver large-scale projects of an international standard, and have formed the basis for a number of Australian companies to establish vital business contacts, often leading to negotiation of international contracts.

Australian success stories
Among the opportunities that Australian companies have successfully negotiated are:

• provision of lighting systems in Singapore sporting venues;
• stadium design contracts in Vietnam;
• provision of sports surfaces in South Korea;
• event planning services in Greece; and
• provision of waste management services at the American Superbowl.

Rebound Ace®: a world-class Australian playing surface

Stunning stadia
For many, the standout feature at the Sydney Games was the uniquely-designed Telstra Stadium. The result of a joint venture between HOK Sport+LOBB and Bligh Voller Nield Architects, both companies have enjoyed post-games success.

Bligh Voller Nield’s contribution to the Olympics has seen it gain a number of projects in Asia, notably the design of the Guangdong International Rowing Centre, the site for the 2001 China National Games, and design contracts for several venues at the 2003 South-East Asian Games, to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam. Bligh Voller Nield will also be contributing to the 2004 Olympics in Athens by providing designs for the redevelopment of the National Pan-Peloponnesian Stadium in Patras, Greece. The stadium will be one of the three sites for the preliminary football competitions for the 2004 Olympic Games and will involve the existing athletics stadium being expanded to a capacity of around 20,000 spectators (currently 12,000), also hosting training facilities for athletics, judo, wrestling, gymnastics, taekwondo, boxing and weightlifting.

World-class equipment
But of course, Australia’s success is not limited to sporting venues. We are also paving the way for technological advancement in the design of sporting goods and equipment.

Croker Oars, the winner of the 2002 Australian Sport Export Award, has been manufacturing sculling and surfboat oars from their factory on the lower north coast of New South Wales since 1962. Croker Oars currently exports approximately 61% of total sales and began manufacturing carbon composite oars in 1990. Among the lightest in the world, Croker Oars provides oars to international rowing teams including the UK, Canada, Romania and New Zealand, all of which won medals at the Sydney Games. Croker’s usage of the latest materials is complemented by three-dimensional computer design programs to create a technologically-enhanced product that is thoroughly tested by elite athletes before being released onto the market.

On the Rebound
World leaders in developing, manufacturing and exporting advanced technology playing surfaces, industrial adhesives and coatings for construction, AV Syntec, based in Queensland, is also the manufacturer of one of the world’s most popular sporting surfaces, Rebound Ace. Selected as the court surface for the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne, AV Syntec’s Rebound Ace is one of only two synthetic court surfaces approved for Grand Slam Tournaments worldwide, and has launched the company onto the international market.

Currently exporting to Asia, Europe, North America, the Middle East and the South Pacific, AV Syntec now sells to more than 40 countries. In addition to being the official playing surface for the Australian Open, one of only four Grand Slam events on the international circuit, Rebound Ace was also chosen as the playing surface for the Homebush Bay Tennis Centre, host to the Olympic Tennis Centre and the Sydney International. It was chosen for the 2004 Asian Games in Pusan, Korea, and is also specified for the 2006 Asian Games in Qatar.

Event management
Great Big Events is internationally recognised as a world leader in sport production, having produced many major international sporting events, including the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, 2000 Paralympic Games, Brisbane 2001 Goodwill Games and the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth Games.

Great Big Events approaches every sporting event as though it is a “piece of theatre”, aiming to create the perfect environment for players to perform and spectators to enjoy. They achieve this by uniquely integrating all elements of sport production, from the moment spectators walk through the turnstiles, to the player entries, to the national anthems, to the drama of a sport in action, to the entertainment, to spectators making their way home. Great Big Events weaves creative, technical and musical magic to enhance the sporting event.

The new Wembley: construction of the UK’s premier sports venue is managed by Australia’s Multiplex

Performance analysis
Sportstec is an all-Australian company leading the world in a highly specialised sporting technology designed to enhance individual and team sports performance. The revolutionary video analysis software program was first developed in Australia to help hockey coaches analyse the performance of their teams – with instant feedback. Coaches can analyse performance during the game and make ‘real-time’ decisions that could change the course of a game!

The product was then applied to competitive analysis – enabling coaches to identify weaknesses in competition and to formulate winning strategies. Sportstec products helped generate significant competitive advantages for those coaches and their teams.

Sportstec’s products have been helping Australian individual sports people and teams in various sporting events, including extensive use at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.
Teams and sporting bodies that have utilised Sportstec’s products include FIFA, Irish Rugby Football Union, Australian Institute of Sport, UK Sports Institute and the Australian men’s and women’s hockey teams. Other key Asian and European markets coming on line will almost certainly propel Sportstec into the international big league. Stephen Porter, Chief Executive Officer of Australia Sport International – with whom Sportstec has been working closely – says, “the potential export benefits to Australia are significant and unprecedented in the sports industry”.

Further information on the capabilities of the Australian sports industry may be sourced through Australia Sport International, a non-profit, member-based public company established in 1997 with the support of the Australian government, to connect Australian sports-related business expertise to international clients.

Telephone: +61 2 9299 0993
Fax: +61 2 9299 0793
Email: info@australiasportinternational.com
Website: www.australiasportinternational.com