Sport
Maharaj Hits Games Sponsorship Target
But he’s still going for more
If the South Pacific Games Organising Committee (SPGOC) Director of Marketing and Sponsorship Atma Maharaj was smiling more often the past few weeks, he has every reason to be. By February, about four months before the South Pacific Games (SPG) opens in Suva, the man has done what many sceptics had laughed off as an impossible mission: securing a total of F$9 million in sponsorship for the games.
Seven million dollars came from the major sponsors of the games, namely ANZ, FINTEL, Shell, Telecom Fiji, Punjas, Colonial, Post Fiji, Courts, Vinod Patel and Coca Cola. An additional $1.6 million came from the games’ official suppliers: Patara, Star Printers, J R White, Air Pacific, APM, Fiji Gas, Fiji Tattslotto and Fiji Bitter.
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By press time, Maharaj was in negotiation with the third and final strata of sponsorships for the games, what is termed as the nominated providers. They are those who will provide equipment and machines like photocopiers for use during the games, which starts at Suva’s newly upgraded National Stadium on June 28. It closes two weeks later on July 12. Maharaj says he’s talking to six companies already and the reaction has been positive.
In fact, Maharaj says the response from the private sector for sponsorship has been positive from the word go. The good history of the games has been a strong selling point, he feels.
“The SPG has always been associated with positive values and because of this, and given the troublesome times Fiji had gone through in 2000 and 2001, the sponsors were very, very keen to use the opportunity of the games to be able to project a positive focus for Fiji and the region, since some other parts of the region had also suffered. It was an opportunity for us to be able to, in partnership with our sponsors, the Fiji government and the host city, project a very, very positive focus and be able to create a renewable programme for Fiji. The sponsors were very amenable to the idea of having to put up the money, to be able to support the games because of its values.”
Total operational budget for the games is F$14.5 million. With private sponsorship at about F$9 million, the games committee says gatetakings and a levy on each athlete or official will make up the balance. SPGOC also expects to rake in another F$1 million through merchandise sales.
Maharaj believes getting private sector funding brought two other benefits. Part of the F$9 million sponsorship will be used to subsidise the cost of running the games. This means the levy on athletes/officials will remain at US$40 per participant per day.
As well, the massive sponsorship saw the formulation and enactment of the new Indicia Act that protects the games sponsors, their logos and slogans from ambush marketing.
“We’ve held discussions with government on the possibility of taking that Indicia Act and making it permanent to protect all sports and their sponsors in the future. That’s a very powerful thing for Fiji sports.
“What this legislation does, is that it gives credibility to sports. If sports are able to live up to the reputation that we’ve basically set out to do, what that means is that sports are going to be a credible product not only in Fiji but also the region.”
But SPG 2003 is not funded solely by the private sector. The Fiji Government’s direct funding for the games is F$19 million to date. Bulk of the money is for the construction of new sports facilities and the upgrading of existing ones. But it excludes the grant government gives directly to individual sports.
In addition, the Fiji Government secured Chinese aid which has seen the construction of a huge gymnasium that can comfortably sit 3000 people, a two-swimming pool aquatic centre and a synthetic hockey pitch complete with a concrete viewing stand and a big electronic score board. Total Chinese Government aid is F$60 million. This has triggered a flurry of building activities, a welcome development for the until now lethargic construction industry.
Public sector input is also channelled into the security of the SPG. The government, Maharaj says, is leaving no stone unturned. It has a team looking after the games security covering all aspects including immigration and right down to security at the games venues. Soldiers of the Fiji Military Forces will also act as volunteers during the games.
The military has also lent its soldiers and naval boats for the around-the-country torch relay which begins at Vuda near Nadi Airport on May 20 and ends at the National Stadium on June 28, at the games’ opening ceremony. The torch will visit 200 centres in Fiji’s 14 provinces including its northern most island of Rotuma. The games committee says the flame will travel by road, boat, plane and helicopter during the relay.
With the games sponsorship firmly in the bag, Maharaj and his team can now concentrate on perhaps the only other major hurdle: the securing of the University of the South Pacific’s (USP) Laucala Campus as the main games village. Negotiations with USP have been in progress and although the former Asco chief executive declined to disclose details, he was confident a deal would be announced shortly—long before the 4300 athletes and officials gather at Laucala for what’s been billed the “Pacific at its best.”
