ANDREW Barr says the ACT Government’s commitment to hosting major sporting and community events is continuing to deliver positive outcomes, with strong crowds flocking to venues throughout the summer to enjoy these events and delivering unprecedented national and international exposure to the capital.

“The city’s jam-packed calendar of summer events has provided further confirmation that Canberra is up to the task of hosting major international events,” Andrew said.

“The first of two international sporting events in the capital commenced with the AFC Asian Cup in January, achieving a combined attendance of 82,452 – an average of almost 11,800 attendees per game. This is a remarkable achievement considering Canberra’s matches were staged across a 13 day period and did not feature an appearance by the Socceroos. The culmination of Canberra’s seven matches was a gripping quarter final between Iraq and Iran that many consider to be one of the greatest games in Asian Cup history.

“The ACT Government’s investment of $3.5 million in the AFC Asian Cup has also attracted a range of business, trade and investment opportunities to Canberra along with television exposure in key Asian markets. The sold-out match between China and North Korea at Canberra Stadium on 18 January achieved an average viewership of 16.17 million in China, with a peak viewing audience of 30 million.

“Hosting the tournament has also created a legacy of positive outcomes including improvements to key sporting and event infrastructure along with other flow-on benefits such as an expected increase in grass roots football participation.

“One of Australia’s best boutique cricket grounds, Manuka Oval, started a busy season in November with Australia playing South Africa in a one-day international match. This attracted a 10,583 strong crowd, less than a week after two one-day internationals in Perth struggled to garner a solid crowd.

“A crowd of 8,077 attended the Prime Minister’s XI match against England on 14 January with a sell out crowd of 11,741 to the KFC T20 Big Bash final on 28 January. The final achieved a peak television viewing audience of 1.4 million through the Channel Ten broadcast and featured stunning aerial shots of Manuka Oval and priceless exposure of Canberra throughout the match.

“The capital’s summer of cricket has placed us well to host three ICC Cricket World Cup matches and our second major international sporting tournament this season.

“The ICC Cricket World Cup is the fourth largest sporting event in the world and will be broadcast to over 200 countries with an estimated global audience of one billion. Last’s night game between Bangladesh and Afghanistan had a magnificent atmosphere courtesy of an exuberant crowd of 11,000.

“The build up to the ICC Cricket World Cup has also seen significant upgrades to broadcast facilities, seating capacity and improvements to the playing surface at Manuka Oval, complementing the recent addition of state-of-the-art lighting towers.

“It’s not just sporting events that our city does well. Floriade, the country’s premier spring festival, was a huge success in 2014, recording its largest ever attendance of 481,853 an increase of 7 percent on last year. This included 103,290 interstate and international visitors who travelled to Canberra for the event.

“Our Special Event Fund has also attracted another blockbuster art exhibition with James Turrell: A Retrospective currently on display at the National Gallery of Australia. The exhibition will run until June and has already attracted a strong national and international audience.

“The overwhelming success of Canberra’s involvement in major sporting tournaments and community and cultural events has given us a fantastic opportunity to raise the profile of our city and provided massive domestic and international exposure. Canberra has well and truly cemented its place on the global sporting and festival stage.”