Since when do local councils sponsor professional sports teams? Either way, good for the Eels. The next test is sorting out some TPAs.
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More stuff to read
"If anyone here has not listened to the Pykes Nursery call, do yourself a favour.
Even if you have heard it before, do yourself a favour hahahahah.
The golden tonsils is gone, but will be always be remembered. My Dad loved him and listened to him…"
Even if you have heard it before, do yourself a favour hahahahah.
The golden tonsils is gone, but will be always be remembered. My Dad loved him and listened to him…"
"Sounds like a lot of unlocking taking place. Pezet must have the key 🗝️ 🔐 "
John Laws passed away today. Very sad I used to enjoy his radio broadcast. Great Aussie. Condolences to his family. Aged 90
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As I said in another blog.
I bet their ratepayers are ecstatic about this spend.
Hmmmm, fix roads and collect rubbish or sponsor NRL club???
Good for the Eels but I reckon if I lived there I'd be a bit pissed. Especially if they jack up rates as well.
Can't read the article, but my bet is that the aim here is for the council to partner the Eels on game days whereby they will support the club with banners etc as well as activations throughout the city. This is a win/win as the more people attend games and also grab a meal and/or drinks in the CBD, the better off both the Eels and the city will be. Parramatta is pretty unique in that the home ground is right in the centre of the city.
COP do similar things for various festivals and would have a budget set aside for this. I doubt the ratepayer will be forking out anything additional.
I agree longfin, should be good for both if they can find incentives for the crowd to hang around and spend some cash after the game.
If you read the council minutes and the explanation of this it is rather clever!
What the council are doing is using the conduits that already exist and are provided currently by Parramatta Leagues Club as additional funding for these sources and a superior way of allocating funds through existing chanels.
It is actually smarter than creating new avenues and systems that the council can overview as an application rather than resourcing with there own infrastructure. The one thing that was overturned in the discussion was $76000 being spent on a directors table at home games as it would have appeared that councillors were getting a benefit, the real benefactors are the holiday camps and sporting facilities the funds will go towards, especially in school holidays.
Stop and take a breath people, as usual many have gone off "half cocked".
The last time I knew of it happening was in 1988 when Penrith Council (as it was then known) were the major sponsors of the Panthers after Radio 2KA ended their brief 1 year deal.
Sydney council strikes $2.4 million sponsorship deal with Parramatta Eels
The logo of Parramatta Council will adorn the jerseys of Parramatta Eels players in a $2.4 million sponsorship deal that has been derided by its mayor as an unwise use of ratepayer funds.
A late-night closed council meeting on Monday voted to strike a three-year partnership with the powerhouse NRL club for advertising and community sports clinics. A report given to councillors indicated the total cost of the three-year agreement would be about $2.47 million – $383,500 in the first year.
Labor mayor Pierre Esber, who voted against the arrangement, said the sponsorship was “not the best use of council money when people are struggling to put food on the table”.
“Spending this kind of money right now … is this value for the City of Parramatta?” he said. “But that was the will of the chamber, which I accept.”
Along with the mayor, four councillors voted against the deal and 10 supported it.
Parramatta Council’s $383,500 will be spent on “shared strategic areas” of community, brand and visitation in the first year of the agreement, according to a recommendation in the report. The council, however, could amend the spending breakdown for the second and third years of the deal.
The council’s logo will be displayed on the bottom of the back of player jerseys, as well as on screens and signage during home games at CommBank Stadium in Parramatta. Funding will also be invested in local women’s sport scholarships, player clinics, holiday camps and community events around the stadium on game day.
Councillors voted to reject one portion of the agreement that offered a 20-person “director’s table” at each home game for $79,600 after Our Local Community councillor Michelle Garrard moved an amendment to ditch it.
The report warned of “reputational risk” to the council if the recommendation was accepted.
Independent councillor Kellie Darley voted against the deal, saying she felt rushed to approve it ahead of the February launch of the NRL season.
“It doesn’t pass the pub test, whether it’s a pub full of Eels fans or not,” she said. “We actually don’t have the money and we have a backlog of \[infrastructure projects\].”
Garrard, who voted for the Eels sponsorship, said the deal was most focused on community benefit, not council branding.
“I don’t understand why there is so much backlash to this when we go out and sponsor the \[arts show\] Sydney Festival,” she said. “Why is the arts OK, but sport is not OK?”
She said the Eels’ school holiday programs were already full and the council’s funding would help increase the capacity for local programs.
“We want to become a global city, we want to be international. There’s no actual benefit in this agreement \[to\] the elected body, which is what usually causes a scandal.”
The council has a long history of financial partnership with its local NRL club. In 2015, the Herald revealed plans to pay club stars Tim Mannah, William Hopoate and Nathan Peats $25,000 each to be council ambassadors. The plans were ultimately scuppered amid extensive community backlash.
A spokesperson for the Eels referred the Herald’s questions to the council.
That's a repeat of the media article Rabz and it reinforces everything I said in my post......
Please advise how you feel about it and do you take up the point I was making, reproducing the article still doesn't tell where you stand?
The club bring millions in revenue around the city on game day , every business around the stadium benefits, from the eateries and accomodation to the parking station operators. If the residents can't see that the club directly gives them all these nice places around the stadium they get to enjoy , then they're morons. If that club wasn't there , Parramatta wouldn't be what it is, which in turn lifts their property values.
It's not as if the moneys going into the clubs coffers , it's being used to increase opportunities for residents.
well said.
Not complaining, but pretty amazing.
I imagine tax payers who live in Parra LGA that are not eels supporters would be filthy.
From our clubs perspective though. Good news. We need big corporate money though to be sponsoring us. Not a local government.
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