Emirates dumps Victorian Racing Club
THE world’s fourth largest airline, Emirates, has officially ceased sponsorship of all horse racing in Australia, including golf’s Australian Open.
In an article released by The Australian, Emirates, has formally withdrawn its $2 million sponsorship of the Emirates Stakes at Flemington.
Emirates’ worldwide sponsorship boss Boutros Boutros, confirming to The Australian the termination followed a disagreement with the Victorian Racing Club (VRC) about the location of its Birdcage marquee after Lexus replaced Emirates as the naming rights sponsor for the $6.2m Melbourne Cup.
“I wanted the same marquee location, and they said, ‘We can’t give it to you because we committed to Lexus for this location’.
“I would have hung on to the Emirates Stakes if we had the same marquee position.”
“I don’t think we will sponsor any Australian races in 2018 and 2019,” Boutros said.
Emirates had previously been paying the VRC $4m a year to sponsor the Melbourne Cup and Emirates Stakes with the Emirates marquee at the spring carnival alone costing the airline $1m a year.
Mr Boutros said in February that when sponsoring sports such as racing, “you have to work harder (for publicity)”.
Mr Boutros told the Australian he was being more judicious with his spending on sponsorships globally.
“You have to be more careful to get value for money,” he said, adding that Emirates could not keep simply “spending and spending” on sponsorships in Australia.
He said Emirates would likely maintain its sponsorships of the Australian Open tennis ($8m a year), and the AFL’s Collingwood ($2m a year).
The current Australian Open contract has one year to go. Negotiations for a new deal will start soon.
Original Article here
