BAM willing to host Super Series Finals but with two conditions
Saturday June 22, 2013
http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2013/6/22/sports/13273063
KUALA LUMPUR: The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) are willing to host the BWF’s Super Series Finals from Dec 11-15 – but with two conditions.
They want the Badminton World Federation to guarantee that the national body will make profit and that all the top players will turn up for the premier event.
The US$500,000 Finals will be the BWF’s season-finale of their two-tier Super Series tournament.
All the top eight singles players and top eight pairs, after completing a total of 12 legs – five Premier Super Series and seven Super Series – will feature in the finale.
The sixth leg of the series is being held in Singapore.
BAM general manager Kenny Goh said that they had learnt their lesson from hosting the Sudirman Cup at the Putra Stadium in May.
Then, according to him, BAM suffered a loss of about RM500,000. In fact, the daily average attendance was less than 2,000 people, including the athletes and officials.
Under the BWF’s new ruling, the host of a major event can only take a smaller percentage of the profits.
“It all depends on the guarantee that the BWF can give us.
We should be able to make a profit and promote our event – by getting the top players to come,” said Kenny.
“In the past, top players have shied away from the Finals.
“We have sponsors who are willing to come in but we must be clear of BWF’s stand in giving the host some kind of advantage in terms of making a profit.”