Despite singing the event’s praises in 2016, Border mayors have done nothing to secure a lucrative round of the Supercars, potentially worth $26 million to the twin cities.
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In December 2016 Albury mayor Kevin Mack told The Border Mail it would “be remiss of the two cities not to consider a bid” on the lucrative event after Supercars chief executive James Warburton revealed a long-term plan for an event in regional Victoria to replace the Sandown 500.
His Wodonga counterpart mayor Anna Speedie agreed, saying at the time “it would be great for Wodonga and the Border to host such a high-profile sport”.
More than a year on, Cr Mack was unavailable for comment but a representative for Albury City confirmed that there had been “no change at all” since, and that no inquiries had been made.
Cr Speedie was also unavailable for comment but a council representative confirmed “things hadn’t changed”, saying they had not been approached by any key parties and no formal discussions had occurred.
Supercars chief operating officer Shane Howard said no one from Wodonga or Albury councils had contacted him about hosting the lucrative regional event.
“We’re still looking to host in regional Victoria, these things tend to work well in regional areas,” he said.
Mr Howard said feasibility studies were vital once a council expressed interest.
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Australia Industry Group regional manager and motorsports identity Tim Farrah said professionally and personally he’d love to see the event on the Border as it would bring enormous financial benefits.
“The race has been running in Townsville, which has a fairly similar profile to Albury-Wodonga, for seven or eight years and it brings $26 million in economic benefits over one weekend,” he said.
“We’ve got nothing close to that, the Gold Cup doesn’t even come close.”
Supercars general manager Cole Hitchcock said a new permanent facility had been discussed to replace Sandown and the event would bring long and lasting benefits to any centre.
“Supercars is always keen to hear from regional areas wanting to host an event and benefit from the significant economic and profile benefits,” he said. “We have a deal to compete at Sandown until 2019; and we expect the circuit will inevitably be snapped up for commercial purposes at some stage in the future.”
Mr Farrah said the effects would be felt well beyond the race weekend.
“It’s a massive advertisement for the region through television and national press online and in print,” he said.
In 2014, 4.65 million people watched the televised V8 Supercars.