March 20, 2002

Council Looks To Private Sector For Cup Sponsorship

Auckland City council will look for more sponsorship to help pay for America’s Cup parades.

While today’s meeting of the council’s combined committees decided to reduce the parades budget by $25,000, it was agreed the difference would be found from sponsorship from the private sector.

The council will spend $260,000 which includes $100,000 on the welcome parade and opening ceremony, $115,000 on the victory parade and $45,000 on traffic safety measures.

This year’s parade is planned for September 28 at the start of the challenge series.

The chairperson of Recreation and Events committee, Councillor Scott Milne, says he would like to see the $25,000 savings spent on lifting the city’s profile by “getting our brand out there”.

In 1999 the Louis Vuitton challenge series began with a welcome parade and opening ceremony which was funded equally by the council, Team New Zealand and Louis Vuitton to the tune of $100,000.

There were 1000 participants:12 teams from eight countries and hundreds of street entertainers; about 40,000 people turned out to watch the parade.

Meanwhile, the council has also decided to reduce the amount of money it puts in to free events.

Councillor Milne says the budget will be reduced by $93,000 over two years, but the emphasis will be on value for ratepayers.

“We’ll be concentrating on quality – not quantity – and there will be even better events to come.”

The money saved, he says, will be spent on finding out about the kind of events people want to attend and raising awareness of the council’s involvement in events such as Music in the Parks series.

ENDS

© Scoop Media