Advertising ban rescinded

Press, 11 June 1980, Page 36

Advertising ban rescinded

By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

A ban on ground advertising has been rescinded by the Victory Park Board. For most of the board’s 60 years, the only advertising at Lancaster Park has been that on display in recent years, when sponsors of individual events have been allowed to use signs on stands inside the enclosure. Announcing the change of policy, the chairman of the board, Mr R. G. Knowles, said that Lancaster Park was one of the last, if not the last, of sporting venues anywhere in the world to agree to advertising on the ground. The revenue from the proposed advertising is likely to bring in something between $30,000 and $40,000 a year to a board which has considerable debts, and which has

a revenue which does not meet its needs. “It has now been agreed that negotiations be entered into with a view to signing a firm contract,” Mr Knowles said.

“The board was fully conscious in making this decision of the responsibility to weigh the traditional view that there be no advertising against the need for additional income in order that much-needed improvements and some deferred maintenance could be contemplated,” he said. “In recent years the income of the board has been quite insufficient to do what all board members consider should be done.

“Lancaster Park is the only ground in Christchurch capable of holding a major sporting event, such as a rugby test which attracts

crowds of 50,000 and more. Apart from being such an important asset to Canterbury, and Christchurch in particular, the public should be reminded that all improvements and the not inconsiderable maintenance and upkeep of Lancaster Park has been done at no cost to the ratepayers of the city or adjacent local bodies. The total cost has been paid for entirely from proceeds of rugby and cricket matches played on the ground, including the support of ground membership schemes,” said Mr Knowles.. "As a result of the additional income which the board should now receive, it is confidently hoped that within a few years improvements should be effected which will allow Lancaster Park to remain one of, if not

the best,- sporting stadiums in New Zealand.” Mr Knowles explained that the new advertising would not be in the form of permanently-fixed displays on the fence. They would be free-standing signs, inside the fence, and would be used only for a limited number of events. That, so far, is the limit of the board’s entry into this commercial world. But clearly there would be further revenue for fixed hoardings, and this may well be considered by the board in the future. There is a strong possibility, too, that the ground will be made available for other major gatherings, pop concerts among them, as a pursuance of a policy of making the. widest and most profitable use of the ground.