Auckland has been shortlisted in the top five SportBusiness Ultimate Sports Cities Awards, reinforcing Auckland’s global reputation for hosting international sporting events. Auckland features alongside great international sporting cities including London, Melbourne, Copenhagen and Calgary. Auckland Mayor Len Brown said it’s fantastic to see Auckland recognised on the global stage with the world’s best.
“This announcement helps to reinforce how events can transform a city. We have a very clear vision to build Auckland into a great major events destination, and this recognition supports the Auckland Major Events Strategy set out to achieve this vision,” he stated.
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development Chairman David McConnell said, “Accolades like this demonstrate that Auckland is delivering on our ambitious Major Events Strategy. Our growing reputation as an events city is a boost to the visitor economy, which in turn is an enabler of social and cultural development of Auckland.”
The nomination for the SportBusiness Ultimate Sports City Awards follows Auckland being named in the top three sporting cities in the world for the second year in a row at the 2013 International Sports Event Management (ISEM) Awards.
“The shortlisted cities are chosen not just for staging great events, but also for their quality of life, transport and infrastructure. In this way our events are truly showcasing Auckland as one of the world’s most livable cities.”
Auckland has just completed a successful summer of major sporting events and is building up for a bumper year in 2015 – reinforcing that the show never stops in Auckland. Auckland has hosted the highly successful inaugural Dick Smith NRL Auckland Nines, the Heineken Open and ASB Classic tennis events, Ironman 70.3 Asia Pacific Championships and this weekend the world’s best triathletes will race on a stellar course for the ITU Triathlon World Champs. The summer will round off with the NZ Badminton Open and the ITM 500 Auckland (V8 Supercars) in April.
