Lessons of Powerboat Weeks past
THIRTY years ago, a heyday of top-level sport in the island was coming to an end, with the demise of Powerboat Week just a couple of years away.
The Tourist Board, which backed the event to the tune of £75,000 – roughly double that figure to get today’s inflation-linked value – made great play on the extended value to the local tourism industry.
It said Powerboat Week filled 1,400 hotel beds over seven days in September and brought in an estimated £1.1m. It would have been remiss for its president not to have mentioned the ‘many hundreds of thousands of pounds’ worth of publicity value generated.
Far from everyone was convinced and within a couple of years, under serious pressure, the public funding was pulled, and the powerboats headed to new shores.
There are parallels here with the public funding of the Jersey Reds professional rugby team, which has collapsed with some £3m. of debts, having swallowed up £600,000 of public money in the past season. Every plea for government cash included largely intangible promotional value, and an argument about the extent of visiting support and shoulder-month bed nights.
It’s a reminder why CI sport dipping into overseas competition has to be carefully managed and expectations agreed. We love the spectacle and the challenge of off-island – but there is little taxpayer support to pay for it.