Slippery Wickets! : Comparing Two Venues

ANZ Stadium

Today we had the chance to tour Allianz stadium, and the Sydney Cricket Grounds (SGC). It was a sweltering 115 degrees out today and a lot of it was spent outside, but that didn’t stop this from being a great trip. Now that we have seen both the Sydney Swans and the GWS Giants of the AFL practice, I can safely compare the two. It is pretty obvious that these two teams are in very different stages of their history right now. The GWS Giants are coming off their first year in the league and a last place finish. The Swans on the other hand, are coming off a premiership (league champions), their fifth one of all time. They were both very welcoming and gave us a great look at their team and facilities, but I think I am more likely to follow the Giants in the future. Something about talking to their manager, coach, and staff, made me see their plan and I would love to see how they progress in the years to come. They talked about having a 5 year plan to competing at a high level, and they had such a young team. I really like the idea of seeing these boys grow up and start dominating the league, and really growing the sport here. It is kind of similar to the Minnesota Wild, it is hard to be a start up, but it is awesome when you stick with them and grow and finally get some success. Although the Swans did give us free hats, I would feel too much like a fair weather fan to cheer for them right after a championship season.

 (AFL Premier Cup)

When comparing the two stadiums, they really couldn’t be more different. ANZ is much newer, and focuses on a state of the art experience, as well as holding twice as many people. The SCG on the other hand was staying relevant, but still very much embracing and honoring the history that was there. I think for the regular season I would want to play in the SCG and make myself a part of that history. Comparing it to the old Yankee Stadium, or Fenway kind of sealed the deal for me, I love the history. That being said, for a championship game or series, I would love to play in the ANZ and have a full house cheering me on, for obvious reasons. I think 80,000 fans going nuts and rooting for oyu would be unreal.

 "If it's difficult, I'll do it now. If its impossible, I'll do it presently" - Don Bradman

As a fan I think I would prefer to go to a game at ANZ. What it comes down to is the atmosphere. It is great and historical at the SCG, but you can’t beat going crazy with 80,000 other people and rooting for the home team. I love being part of an amazing crowd that gives its team an advantage. In addition to that, I am a big fan of state of the art stadiums with some amenities, and ANZ clearly wins that category. This extends to the view of an executive hosting an event. ANZ is just so much more versatile. It holds all four codes of football, cricket, and concerts that are all raging successes. Couple that with the large amount of corporate sponsors like Coca-Cola and you know that from a business perspective this stadium makes more sense. I honestly think that you can’t go wrong with either stadium, and each is good for its own reasons. History or a world class venue? Take your pick.

No Worries or Bugger Off? : The Impact of the Olympics.

Whenever you host an event as large as the Olympic Games, there are bound to be far reaching and unexpected impacts on the host country. Before the games began, there were worries about ticketing, public transport, and respect to indigenous people. Luckily none of these turned out to be problems, and reports said that public transport actually ran better than normal during the games. The biggest unexpected winner of these games seems to be the volunteers.  47,000 volunteers from Sydney showed up to help logging thousands of hours, and by all accounts they were the picture of a friendly Australian welcoming people to their country, and being generally helpful. When we visited the Olympic Park today, one of the first things the guide mentioned was how crucial and indispensable the volunteers were, and pointed us to the monument in their honor. In addition to their names being commemorated in the Park, they were thrown a ticker tape parade that over 100,000 people attended. So I would say that one big impact of these games would be the positive views of volunteers and volunteering as an activity.

Each Olympic Games are a little different, but there is no denying that they have an impact on the economy, whether it is positive of negative is a whole other story.. Although these games might not have made a ton of money, they cost 6.5 billion dollars, which is a long way off from the 40 plus billion Beijing spent on theirs. Regardless of the cost vs. revenue of the games themselves, Sydney did something that no one else has managed to replicate so far. What they did was turn the Olympic Park into a sporting venue and destination in the twelve years since. We were lucky enough to get a presentation from a main manager of the Park, in charge of growing events and interest in the Park itself. To see how they have grown in the years after the games, lets look at some stats: (a little dated, all numbers are actually bigger now..)

• ·      1.6 million spectators annually.
• ·      1.7 million participants annually.
• ·      55 sports headquarters located in the Park.
• ·      5,000 events per year.
• ·      10 Million visitors a year.

As you can see they haven’t thrown locks on the venues and the Park and let it go to ruin, they have grown it substantially. Going off of the amount of visitors, another thing this does is boost tourism. Besides tourism people come just for enjoyment, they host events for kids to play sports, have areas people can swim in the Aquatic Center where all the Olympians swam. Finally, they can host concerts and events, they are preparing for a huge festival right now called “the Big Day Out” which is headlined by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. In 2010 they set the Australian attendance record for a concert series with 213,045 people who showed up for AC/DC.

They are making this space work for them.

I think one of the biggest things that came from these games was pride. The Olympic Chairman called it “The Best Games Ever!” and its widely held to be one of the smoothest, sustainable, and successful games ever. You can bet that Australians are proud of this. They have a country of just around 22 million people, something that most people forget. Even with this, they put a lot of pride in their sports, and finished 4^th in medals in Sydney, and routinely finish top 10 in every game. They view anything higher than that as a disappointment. Not bad for a country with about the same amount of people as New York state. Considering you never know how these Games will turn out, they could be great or they could be a huge disappointment (see Atlanta, 1996). Given all the positives that have come out of this I would say it is absolutely worth it to host one of these mega events to innovate, and grow some pride in the process. There really is no exact formula for a successful mega event like this, or the world cup, and it really does vary for if they will be profitable or worth it. I think almost everyone will agree that these games were worth it.

Stickybeaking the Blue Mountains - Blog #8

One look at a view of the Three Sisters and the rest of the Blue Mountains and you will know exactly why it was worth it for us to spend a day there. But for the purpose of this blog, I will elaborate.

First, we hopped on a bus and drove to the amazing Blue Mountains, learning the general things, including legends on the Three Sisters, and why they call them "the blue mountains" I saw the most beautiful and awesome landscapes I have ever witnessed. Waterfalls, cliffs, sprawling forests of eucalyptus trees just some of the amazing things we saw on this hike. It felt great to get out of the city and see some nature, and hike with such an informed guide.

I feel like this was a big part of why we went on this adventure. Yes, Sydney is an amazing city and the sports scene is great as well, but unless we view other parts of what it means to be an Australian and what they hold as important, we can't get the most of this class, or this trip. As our guide pointed out, the state government puts a premium on preserving this land so we can all enjoy it. It was great to see someone so passionate about his job, and for him to give us such an in depth tour that informed us on all sorts of subjects, not just sports. Before this, I knew nothing about trees and plants indigenous to Australia, especially how the aborigines used them. This includes the "devils guts" which was used for rope, the "bandaid tree" (self explanatory) and many others. It was also important to me to learn the history of these mountains with that wonderful museum that was hosted in the town of Kotoomba. It had interactive exhibits that taught us all about the animals, wildlife, and culture surrounding this beautiful place. I am so glad we went all out and did that before we did the hike.

I never would complain about getting outside in this weather, but this was simply incredible. Another great thing about getting out to these mountains was to see the animals that call this diverse place home.   The sounds that I heard throughout the course of this hike were amazing. Just a place that was absolutely teeming with life.. Birds, insects and everything in between. We saw Bearded Water-Dragon Lizards, Blue Mountain Skinks, Cockatoos, and crawfish all in a three hour walk.

A trip like this just astounded me, I was awe-struck. Yes, some of this stuff really makes you think about the world around you, and how small we all our. Learning that every meter of the canyon we went through took a million years to make will do that. That being said, the biggest thing I will take away from this is motivation. I want to get out and see more of the world, and what other beautiful landscapes it holds. I have never been to the grand canyon, or many other places like Yosemite that are right in my very own country, let alone all the other countries out there. I know for sure now that I don't want to spend all my days inside staring at a screen, but rather to get out there and experience more of this world, and that makes this trip to the blue mountains all the more worth it.

DITCHER! Blog assignment post # 7

I am almost positive no one I know back in America has played, or even heard of, lawn bowling. The thing is, you would be surprised at how fun it was.My team with my roommates, “The Swedish Bakers” won a thrilling match of lawn bowling. It was a tough game to play, but very fun. The entertainment level might have had to do with the light attitude, great weather, and incredible view more than the sport itself, but it was fantastic.

I have noticed a lot of little differences about sports and the participants in Australia versus the United States. It seems like sports and overall fitness are just a very important part to all sorts of people, regardless of age. You see just about everyone participating in sports, little kids just learning the game, to older folks just having a good time and staying active. I love that everyone has some sort of sport they follow and try to do here. For example, lawn bowling is not a very physically taxing sport, but they made it out to be more than competitive activity and I love that. They made it a club feel, more important to stay active, social, and having fun than any one thing. Everyone at the club were older guys just having a beer, hanging out and making sure they were still having good time, not taking life to seriously at that age. In addition to those people, just looking around parks and beaches we see people doing whatever they could, frisbees and footballs being tossed, soccer balls being kicked, and everything in between. 

Obviously the professional athletes are in incredible shape, but more surprisingly the general population is in great shape too. Tons of people are always running all over the city, the bridge and in parks. On a lot of these beach paths there are little work out stations periodically where you can do stretches, pull-ups and all sorts of non-weight work outs, and people are ALWAYS using them. Very cool to see that being such a well used thing, and I thought it was a great idea. There is another thing I believe we should do back home, I think Minneapolis would jump all over something like that.

 I haven’t gotten to ask too many average people about what they do for sports on a daily basis, but I would like to. I get the feel that everyone is doing something. That is one big change I would like to see in there be leagues for all sports, regardless of skill level, for those who are aging. Just about everyone loves playing one sport or another, and most people kind of stop after college. Sports obviously are one of the best ways to stay fit, and we as a country could use a little more fitness all around. I feel like there are just many benefits to be had through sports and we could explore that a little more through out the ages in America.

Australian Rules Football- Blog Assignment #6

Today we went to the training facilities of the Greater Western Sydney Giants team of the Australian Football League (AFL). It was one of my favorite experiences so far. As someone who is extremely interested in how sports work and everything that goes on both on the fields and behind the scenes, this was a amazing insight into a professional sport. I was shocked at how accessible and accommodating everyone involved was. We met professional trainers, directors of player developments, all-time legendary coaches of the team, and the General Manager of the team.  They were all the nicest people you could meet and wanted nothing more than to just inform and educate us on their sport. I honestly couldn't believe how I could just pick the brain of the general manager of a professional sports team, I never thought that would happen to me, and it was great. From this you might think this is a small league, but the AFL is a 1 billion dollar industry...

That kind of puts the differences between American and Australian sports into perspective. Besides the accessibility and openness, another huge difference is how the government views sports. In Australia, they view sports as part of wellness and health, to better the fitness of the general public. They love growing sports because they know that it is a great thing for the public to have access to, and it makes the quality of life better here. For example, the Giants we visited today were funded as an investment by the government. They have a 20 year plan to grow this sport in an area that is very up and coming and 90% of the people don't follow Australian Rules Footie. I would say this sums up how they feel about sports pretty well, they care about the industry, and spreading the sport they love.

The game of Australian Rules Football is much different from our own version of the sport. Firstly, the ball is different, it is much more similar to a rugby ball. Secondly, they play on a much bigger field. It is a oval that is much larger than our own fields. Thirdly, on this field they don't run in straight lines and have downs, but rather in any direction all over the field. Finally, the sport is probably more appropriately named because you have to kick the ball to score, and feet are extremely important to the game. Oh, and they don't where ANY pads...

We didn't get to see an australian rules game because it is the off season right now, so I am basing my views of the fans off of the soccer match we went to. Mostly, I would say they are just more passionate about their teams specifically, if not the sport in general. They have a huge fan section that cheers for literally the entire match. I know in America we have pretty passionate fans and take it really seriously, but I just loved the sense of unity they had here, singing different songs and chants throughout the entire game, which everyone knows every single word. You can tell this is loved by the players because they return the favor and respect and acknowledge all their fans too.

The players are treated a lot like in the states as in that they are celebrities and superstars here. Especially with this being the national sport. But in contrast to most sports, this team has an average age of 19. I was really impressed with how they handled having that many young people and educating them and putting them on the right path. Whether its teaching them to cook, or providing housing, training and people to help them with any problems they might have, you can tell they care about them. This is a little different from the NCAA or the NFL..

I loved being able to see all the little things this team is doing to become a household name and it was amazing to see them in just their second year. I can tell they have big plans for this club and can't wait to see how they are doing 10 or 20 years from now.

Sydney Festival

The Sydney Festival is an on going festival that goes from the first saturday in January (the 5th) to the day after Australia Day. (the 27th) It is an arts festival that features music, dance, theatre and local artwork. It is a big celebration of the culture here.

We attended a concert at the Domain, which is a park here, and it was great. It was amazing to see the turn out. Everyone just came to the park with blankets and wine and enjoyed the show, even though it wasnt exactly a big name performer. It seems to me that your average australian is just someone who enjoys the arts, and having a good time, and looks just like you and me.

Travel wise this is a great city for public transportation. We have used trains, ferries, busses and just about everything in between to get around. Since events are all around the city we used a couple of modes of transportation to get to the different events, mostly the train.

Blog Assignment 4 - Day at the Motorsports Track

Today marked the first day we got a behind the scenes look at a sport in Australia. It didn't disappoint. We headed to the Sydney Motor Sports Park. It was an up and coming raceway that had recently come under new management. It was really interesting to hear the comparisons of how it used to be run with mismanagement, and then an extremely in depth talk from an event planner who has seen the new management and the challenges that went along with getting this place on the right track (Great pun right there).

It is hard to say if racing is defined as an important sport in the australian economy because it is so new. The V8 racing is only 20 years old in this country, but has absolutely exploded and had tons of interest drawn. It's easy to see that this has some importance though because they viewed this as a raceway worth saving and fixing. When you look at it that way, plus the fact that they work closely with the local government, as well as being given funds close to 7 million dollars from the government for expansions and renovations, you can tell they view this as something worth investing in. 

As for sponsors we saw that were important, I saw few sponsors at the raceway because there wasn't a race going on. That being said, the one car we did see had a heavy Nissan sponsorship, and Jack Daniels. In addition to these, big companies and institutions are hosting events at these raceways. For example, and most famously, the British smash hit show "Top Gear" is hosting an event there that is bound to bring tons of publicity to the track. Obviously a great event to host and be sponsored by. But looking back on our rugby and tennis experience, I saw a heavy corporate sponsorship. These included a stadium sponsored by KFC, a tournament sponsored by APIA (a large over 50 insurance company in Sydney) as well as influential companies like Commonwealth Bank, Toyota and Corona. Obviously sponsorship is a big deal with sports here.

Companies have a very important decision to make when choosing sponsorships. What they choose to sponsor and not sponsor, and how they go about it sends a message, and tells alot about their company, and their mission statements. Companies who are more financially focused prefer to sponsor individual athletes because they can tie themselves to the success of that athlete. In contrast companies founded on the focus of employees are focused on a team, and the atmosphere and entertainment that goes with that. When talking to Simon, you could tell he was very conscious of which companies and events they hosted and were always thinking of every angle and how it effects their brand. Sponsorship is rooted heavily in the business here and is clearly effects how they think.