In more welcome news for the Live Event industry in Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced today his government was intent on introducing rules that would allow stadia to sell up to 25% of their ticketed capacity, starting next month.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia’s eight states were working toward rules which would let stadia capable of seating up to 40,000 people host crowds of up to 10,000, and that the revised rules should be adopted by next month.
The changes would apply to events like sporting matches, concerts and festivals.
Morrison clarified: ‘It would have to be a large, open area. There would need to be seats at the appropriate distance. It would need to be ticketed, so people would be able to understand who was in attendance at that event,’ Mr Morrison said.
Under Australia’s federalised structure of government, the final say will rest with each of the states. It’s possible that what ultimately is agreed is a patchwork solution based on the perception of community risk.
Tasmania and the Northern Territories have not had a reported case of coronavirus for 27 and 40 days respectively. When the news was reported today Queensland and Victoria had cases reported just yesterday, and New South Wales had only managed to go one day without a fresh case
Mr Morrison said venues with capacities of more than 40,000 people could be allowed to fill a quarter of their seats, but said the details of that were still being worked out in conjunction with chief health officers around the country.
‘When you're up above 40,000, you've got more than 10,000 people going to a gathering, that has implications for the egress and access of and to those premises, public transport crushes, all those sorts of things,’ Morrison said.
It’s understood that closed-off official VIP Hospitality such as private suites would be covered by new restrictions.
Previously there had been a limit of 100 people on indoor gatherings. But this will be scrapped, with no limit on numbers now, but a requirement that venues allow for four square metres of space per person.
Australia has one of the world’s best-developed Live Event industries, spanning sport, culture, music and festivals.
Morrison’s news comes in the same week of the launch of trade body Live Performance Australia’s manifesto that champions the diverse interests of promoters, event producers, theatres, concert venues and performing arts centres.
The LPA have mapped out an AU$ 345m road map to rebuild the live entertainment industry which they say is worth AU$ 4 billion a year.
Particularly eye-catching initiatives include a AU$ 55 million ‘See It Live’ household e-voucher scheme.
Live Performance Australia draws the distinction between sport events, ticket access for which can be increased incrementally, and what the rest of the Live Event industry needs. In their manifesto/request to Government, pictured, they have costed out a spending need of AUD345m which is approximately the figure of ticket revenue that the LPA says the industry will forego this year.
‘Unlike some parts of the economy, a gradual re-opening process is not commercially viable for most of our industry,’ said Live Performance Australia CEO Evelyn Richardson. ‘We can’t re-open venues that only have dozens in the audience. That’s why we will need a sustained and strategic investment by the government to get our industry up and running again.’
