Sport falls prey to slump

Johannesburg - The recession is taking its toll on a number of major sporting events, as sponsors and supporters have tightened their purse strings.

Two of those events which appear to be feeling the pinch are the Summer Cup horse race which was run last weekend, and the Nedbank Challenge under way at Sun City.

Less than 2 000 people went to Turffontein to watch the Summer Cup, Gauteng's biggest horse race.

Racing fans have criticised the organisers for what they believe are high ticket prices (R75) as well as insufficient marketing to attract race-goers.

"Did the people of Johannesburg actually know that Gauteng's biggest race meeting was taking place?" said one commentator on the African Betting Clan forum. "A few adverts on Tellytrack (preaching to the converted) and maybe one or two on other channels does not do Sansui (as the sponsor) much good."

Tiger wins out over Sun City lions

The lack of marketing is being blamed on cutbacks in budgets, particularly as sponsors review their spend on sport.

"There has definitely been a cutback in spending from both sponsors and consumers over the year," said Brent Graham, editor of local sports betting site Good For The Game.

Professionals polled by Fin24.com said there appears to have been a cutback in corporate golf invites in 2009.

There has been a great deal of concern in golfing circles over the fact that the Nedbank Challenge clashes with an event organised by the world's leading golfer, Tiger Woods. Many international players have elected to play in Woods' tournament, rather than make the trek to South Africa.

This has robbed the Sun City event of 16 of the world's top 20 players

"The reality is that we haven't had many of the big US name players for a couple of years now," said Graham. "Prize money-wise it is pretty much in line with many of the other big US tournaments, so the money isn't enough of a pull."

- Fin24.com