Overview

The cost of bidding on events has grown dramatically over the past decade as rights holders have become savvier and their hosting demands have escalated accordingly. They have become adept at determining what their event can mean to a host, whether its economic impact, community profiling or facility / infrastructure upgrades. Additionally, National Sports Organizations (NSOs) have required potential hosts to commit a financial deposit as part of the bid process for certain events.

Through its partnership with Destination St. John’s, STEP St. John’s can provide assistance to organizations that are looking to develop bids for events to be hosted in the Metro St. John’s area. Whether it’s a financial contribution specifically for the bid or provision of in-house resources to assist with costs such as:

  • Document printing
  • Graphic design
  • Web development
  • Site visits / Familiarization Tours
  • Hotel RFPs
  • Event Promotion
  • Venue Selection / Negotiation
  • Economic Impact evaluations

Funding Criteria

Unfortunately, STEP St. John’s does not have the financial resources to fund all bid development requests it receives in any given year. In order to properly identify and prioritize individual requests, STEP St. John’s has established criteria that all organizations must meet in order to be considered, including:

  1. Events must be organized and/or sanctioned by an International Sport Organization (ISO), National Sport Organization (NSO), Provincial Sport Organization (PSO) or Local Sport Organization (LSO). Such endorsement is not required for corporate , private sector, professional or occupational based events;
  2. Majority of the event (competition venues) must be hosted in the region;
  3. Host must have the technical capability, financial resources and organizational ability to produce a high quality event;
  4. Event must comply with municipal rules, policies, regulations and bylaws, and have sufficient event insurance in place when required;
  5. Event must meet health, environmental and safety requirements;
  6. The level of media, marketing, and associated potential must be demonstrated with regards to advancing the region’s profile in sport tourism;
  7. Event must show recognition for contributing partners to each event. These may include the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, City of St. John’s and/or Destination St. John’s. This can take the form of venue signage, program advertising, public announcements, online presence or other forms of media.
  8. Bid funding requests must be submitted within a minimum of four (4) months prior to bid deadline;
  9. Other considerations in the decision to provide bid support funding include event opportunities:
    i. that capitalize on trends and aging;
    ii. that help overcome identified competitive weaknesses (e.g. high cost of travel to the Province);
    iii. that occur during tourism shoulder season (November – March);
    iv. that consent to reinvest potential event surpluses back into sport tourism;
    v. that achieve significant cultural impacts
  10. Events that have previously received funding support from STEP St. John’s will not be eligible for further funding unless it can be demonstrated that there is a significant change in the scope and size of the event and or that there is a potential for growth or expansion.
  11. There is no limit to the number of times that bid funding can be requested for various events by a sports organization in any given year.
  12. Consideration may also be given to new events being created in the region or to existing events that are looking to expand and grow their event. In such cases, new events may be considered for funding on a sliding scale basis with reduced funding each year over three years with sustainability as the goal for the fourth year. Expanding events may receive similar support. Amounts of funding for these events are subject to board approval.
  13. Support may be awarded to a non-profit or for profit organizations. In the case of a private business enterprise, support would only be approved whereby it can be demonstrated that the event will bring significant media exposure/profile to the destination. In any case, a final financial report will be required, and where a profit is shown, the organization shall be expected to give back a portion of these profits to the bid support fund for future project support.

In order to start the funding request process, please complete the following form:

[gravityform id=3 title=false description=false ajax=true tabindex=49]

Once we have received your application, we will be in touch to discuss specific funding requirements.