It's good that the Mega Events Fund (MEF) has relaxed its rules about who can apply for a helping hand from the government to run events that will help raise the city's profile as well as attract visitors.
By allowing commercial organisations to apply for funds from the HK$150 million kitty, the people behind the MEF have admitted that they were wrong in the first place to restrict applicants solely to non-profit organisations. It took them three years to realise this.
Departing chairman of the MEF, Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung, admitted that without the involvement of for-profit organisations, it would be difficult to attract the best athletes to Hong Kong. Duh!
Everyone knows that this is a town which worships heroes. Big names are a must for any tournament organiser if their event is to be a crowd-puller. Lam and company seem to have awoken to this fact only now.
'Some asked us why we were not inviting teams like Real Madrid or Manchester United, but they are profit-making organisations,' lamented Lam. What Lam and others at the MEF had failed to understand was that the only people who would make the attempt to stage an event featuring such big teams are those who are in it for the money.
Also the fact that just under HK$51 million was disbursed since the fund was set up in 2009 with an initial pool of HK$100 million, goes to show how much red tape an applicant has to negotiate in a bid to get money. The difficulty in meeting requirements must have turned off many prospective candidates.