A question keeps jumping into my head and it is starting to bug me – Why not Maitland? Are we that small a city to never generate interest from Sydney and Canberra for major events and more of the visitor economy spend? Are we just too close to Newcastle, or do we just not have anyone driving the point?
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Now I am not a rev head and don’t bleed blue like my fellow chamber executive committee member Kim (Ford) Munroe, so when Newcastle was recently awarded a five year contract to host the V8 Supercars my thoughts didn’t turn to speeding cars zooming around a street track but instead to the prospect that this is awesome for the Hunter and fantastic for the Newcastle economy but why not Maitland?
If you do know me you know I love hoops and Maitland recently hosted the U/14 National Basketball championships in conjunction with Newcastle and the event was a huge sporting success but also would have generated millions for our city.
The visitor economy is a gateway to jobs and economic growth and the council is working well with events such as Bitter Twisted, Riverlights and alike but I would love to see true big picture thinking with the completion of the Number One sportsground. Sport can be a great economic driver for our city and if we think big who knows where we may land.
Newcastle again received a massive injection to facilities in the sporting precinct of Broadmeadow last week with $10 million towards the hockey centre. This seems to be aimed at a drive to a bid for a future Commonwealth Games. If this is the case Maitland needs to be in the think of this to upgrade our chances to get some of the visitor dollars.
We missed out on major upgrades to our football facilities in the shadows of the Asian Cup, that flowed to Cessnock – here is my question again – Why not Maitland? Newcastle Airport has been upgraded and it won’t be long before international flights and better domestic services mean that our town, located about 30 minutes from touch-down, could host major sporting events and drive visitors into the Levee, to Morpeth, to Rutherford and alike. The chamber sees this as a major area of potential and we have plans afoot to start a conversation with key stakeholders – keep an eye out for developments in the area of sport and the visitor economy. Please get in touch with me if you know the answer or are keen to find out – why not Maitland?
