Commercial operations needed to boost viability: Olympic venue makeovers
- Source: Global Times
- [15:37 June 23 2009]
- Comments
By Cong Mu
Models parade at the final of the Hosa Cup Swimwear Design Contest held at the Water Cube earlier this month. Photo: ImageChina
Two Olympic icons, the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube, are heading for opertaional facelifts to boost the venues’ commercial viability, according to local government sources.
Liang Xueqin, spokesperson from the Chaoyang District government, told the Global Times Friday that the National Stadium’s owners, CITIC Consortium and Beijing State-owned Assets Management (BSAM), had submitted a transformation proposal to the Beijing municipal government to help boost the number of visitors to the national icon.
The National Aquatic Center has submitted similar modification plans, Wang Chun, executive deputy director of Beijing Olympic Park Administration Committee, was quoted as saying by Beijing Business Today newspaper.
All operators involved declined to comment when contacted by the Global Times.
The National Stadium has recently seen revenue and tourist numbers plummet.
Only 5,000 to 6,000 people visited the Bird’s Nest each day in the first two weeks of the month compared with peak daily attendances in October of 80,000, the Beijing Times reported Wednesday.
The international attraction had received over 3.5 million visitors by the beginning of May, with an income over the past six months of 300 million yuan ($44.1 million), according to Beijing News.
Media reports earlier this year stated that the stadium’s operator had tried several ways to boost revenue, including selling the venue’s naming rights.
The auction of the rights, which foresaw an income of $300 million, came to a halt when people voiced their opposition to the move, warning that the integrity of the nation’s pride would be impeached, according to a report in the National Business Daily.
Potential bidders included adidas, Coca-Cola and Lenovo, the report stated.
The 91,000-seat stadium costs at least $30 million a year to maintain, Wang Chun was quoted by Beijing Times as saying Wednesday.
“It would be very difficult to maintain such a project without any business development,” Professor Lu Dongbing of the School of Business at the Renmin University of China told the Global Times Thursday.
However, Dong Liming from Beijing University said that the Bird’s Nest’s status should not be lowered by commercialism.
Previous plans for the stadium’s 3 to 5-year development included a shopping complex and entertainment outlets, Xinhua reported January, citing CITIC Group.
Tourism would also be developed alongside sporting and entertainment events, according to the plans.
Li Qing, from the Research Center for Urban Development and Environment at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that introducing commercial operations to sporting venues after their main design purpose was fulfilled should be the norm.
Li said that commercial development could increase facility use and lower fiscal burdens.
However, too drastic a change could affect a venue’s image and reduce its public appeal, Li added.