IF PROOF were needed that the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Bank Invitation Sevens had entered the big league of sports events it came last week with a call from a business contact of this column.
He had been telephoned by Fiona Holland, of International Events, asking if he was interested in a hospitality package for the Sevens on March 26 and 27. Normally priced at $260,000, she could offer it to him at a knock-down $180,000, since another firm had dropped out.
For this price a client and guests are to be domiciled in a 'chalet-style' box on the roof of the South China Athletic Association (SCAA) opposite the stadium, where they would be offered food and drink, knowledgeable insights from 'rugby personalities' and, most importantly, a guarantee of tickets on the halfway line of the lower tier of the 40,000 seat venue.
This is the sort of corporate hospitality package that in the United Kingdom has grown up around sports events like Ascot, Wimbledon and the rugby internationals at Twickenham. Companies organise a facility where food and drink and 'celebrities' are sold to corporations anxious to show their clients a good time.
The discovery that one of these firms is trying to sell packages for an event generally means that event has reached world-class status.
Unfortunately for International Events, part of the Hospitality Group, neither the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (HKRFU), which owns the rights to the Sevens, or Wembley International, which won the Urban Council contract to run the stadium, were pleased to hear the news.