Singapore's sports future lies in the heart of the city

TODAY 17 April 2008
Singapore's sports future lies in the heart of the city
By Leonard Thomas

SINGAPORE : It has been turfed resplendently green and the lines have
been drawn. When goalposts with nets are fitted at both ends, the
facility will be ready for football action.

Twenty-eight floors above, the TODAY office has a marvellous view of
the floating platform on Marina Bay. It is a magnificent venue for a
football game.

The Singapore Sports Council say matches can be held there after
Formula 1's SingTel Singapore Grand Prix 2008 race on Sept 28.

Football enthusiasts will be excited, because for the first time
games will be played on an artificially-turfed pitch floating on
water against a spectacular Singapore skyline that will surely whet
the players' appetites.

The 2008 RHB Singapore Cup Final on Nov 28 could well be staged on
the floating platform because the National Stadium is due to be torn
down soon to make way for the Sports Hub and with a 27,000-capacity,
the platform will be the biggest venue available.

It is also an ideal venue for a corporate titan to purchase naming
rights to, because it offers a unique marketing opportunity.

On Wednesday, sports minister Vivian Balakrishnan mingled with some
of the country's top business leaders at the Singapore Sports
Council's 3rd CEO Gala at Sentosa.

In his speech, he said the aim was to grow Singapore's sports
industry to the extent it contributes $2 billion to the GDP by 2015.

Saying that the private sector must lead the way, Balakrishnan is
optimistic chief executives are aware the sports industry is set for
a boom, citing the occasion when 700 companies pledged their support
for the country's bid to host the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.

A pledge of support that warmed the heart, now it is time for the 170
or so chief executives who gathered at Sentosa on Wednesday and
others around the country to show they genuinely believe there is
tremendous potential in the sports industry, and what better place to
start then a bid for the naming rights to the floating platform.

For the next five years at least the facility will be featured on
television screens around the world as Ferraris, BMWs, Renaults and
Mercedes Formula 1 cars, among others, race along in front of its
grandstand.

In the heart of the city, the field should prove to be a popular
venue for football, both for competitive games as well as for events
staged by corporations and members of the public.

Those who remember how fans used to flock to the field in front of
the old St Joseph's Institution (now the Singapore Art Museum) at
Bras Basah Road will know how hot a football venue in the heart of
the city can be.

Parties can be held under the stars, companies can host dinner-and-
dance events on the Bay, the National Day Parade will be held there
until at least 2011, when the Sports Hub will be ready.

Last night, SSC's chief of sports marketing, Kelven Tan, revealed
that Citigroup Inc had paid US$20 million ($27 million), a sum it
will continue to shell out annually over the next 20 years, for the
construction in New York of the Citi Field Stadium, set to be the
home to Major League Baseball team, the New York Mets.

Whenever games are played, the name of Citi Field Stadium will be
brought up — on television and radio, in print and on the Internet.
It will stand out in maps of New York City, it will be on the lips of
taxi drivers.

One corporate giant here could enjoy similar exposure. The time has
come for chief executives to pledge their support, through deed.