Adelaide 500 scrapped
A Supercars tradition that dates back to 1999 is no more, with the Adelaide 500 cut from the calendar following the SA Government’s withdrawal from hosting the event.
The announcement, made on 29 October, means the last year of the category’s current contract with the South Australian Tourism Commission (SATC) in 2021 will not be honoured and the contract will not be renewed.
This follows a 2020 Superloop Adelaide 500, held on the eve of the coronavirus outbreak, that saw the event attract its lowest crowd in 17 years. Compared to a high of 291,000 in 2008, this year’s four-day total of 206,000 was down substantially on 2019 and 2018 figures (254,000 and 273,500, respectively, according to Events SA).
Several factors were cited as a reason for the drop in spectators this year, including the summer bushfires, extreme heat, the lack of an international-level concert act and even Holden’s closure.
Regardless of the reasons, this year’s crowd numbers meant an extension beyond the current contract was always going to be a battle, but the early withdrawal caught Supercars by surprise, especially given that discussions had already been held around moving the 2021 event to later in the year in an effort to make it COVID-safe.
SATC has cited the coronavirus as the main reason not to host the event in 2021, however SA Health say they had not been contacted about recommendations to hold a COVID-safe event.
More pertinently, both SATC chief executive Rodney Harrex and SA Premier Steven Marshall (who also happens to be Tourism Minister) suggested the event cost too much and returned too little, making it unviable moving forward.
The SA Government spend an estimated $10+ million on the Adelaide 500 each year, which includes setting up temporary grandstands and infrastructure in Victoria Park that takes more than three months to assemble and disassemble each year.
"The building of a street circuit is not viable nor sustainable," Harrex said. “We have The Bend and that really is South Australia's home of motorsport racing going forward."
Marshall said that, acting on SATC advice, the state money that went into the Adelaide 500 will now go into other events, but whether any of those will be motorsports events – like an expansion of Supercars’ presence at The Bend, for example – has not been revealed.
Following this year’s Adelaide 500, most of the similar street circuits were dropped from the revised Supercars calendar issued in the wake of the pandemic, and will be unlikely to return in 2021, due to the additional challenges in keeping fans “locked out” of street circuits compared to dedicated racetracks.
Naturally, motorsport fans are disappointed by the decision and have questioned the SA Government’s reasoning. Supercars issued a statement expressing regret that the South Australian Government has decided to cease holding the event, adding that, if that if the South Australian Government decides to recommence the Adelaide 500, Supercars would be delighted to be there.
The season opener for next year’s championship is now expected to be in NSW, possibly Bathurst, in the same February slot. A draft calendar for the 2021 Repco Supercars Championship is expected to be announced this month.
