Major sporting event renews contract with NEC Group
FRESH from securing the return of the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year event, the Genting Arena has retained the staging rights for another big sporting occasion, the Horse of the Year Show.
The arena has hosted the Horse of the Year Show for the past 15 years with sister venue the NEC. The renewed contract, which extends the run for another three years, will see the NEC campus play home to the 70th anniversary of the show in 2018.
The event attracts around 1,600 horses and 60,000 spectators annually, with the 15,700-seat area at near capacity almost every day.
Gary Dunstan, general manager, Genting Arena, said: “September will mark our 15th year of hosting the annual Horse of the Year Show. In this time the show has developed into one of the highlights of our event calendar, having brought in over half a million visitors through our doors.
“A three-year contract extension is a fantastic endorsement of the facilities we provide across the NEC campus, and we look forward to working in partnership with HOYS in the years to come.”
Richard Todd, show director at event owner, Grandstand Media, said the arena’s unique location made it the ideal one for such a nationally popular event.
Horse of the Year Show 2016 will be held October 5-9 and will host the finals of the Showing and Showjumping Championships, alongside International Showjumping and a line-up of equestrian entertainment including the Gilles Fortier ‘Vulcanium – Dreams of Fire’ Performance, a Dressage Master Class with Olympian Carl Hester, the Virbac 3D Worming Pony Club Mounted Games for the Prince Philip Cup, Osborne Refrigerators Scurry Racing, as well as the world famous HOYS Puissance.
Incorporated with the event is the HOYS Retail Village, which features hundreds of trade stands.
