The Turku Valentine’s Day pole vaulting competition is a big financial risk for the organizers. 3,600 tickets had been sold before the race day.
In Finland, competitions based on pole vault alone have been organized under the roof in the past at least in Lempääää’s Ideapark, but on Wednesday night the Paavo Nurmi Games Valentine’s Meet will be played in a completely different league, already starting from the competition venue: the Turku arena in Artukainen.
The superstar of Finnish athletics Wilma Murron The background of the Valentine’s Day invitational contest, which is built on attraction, is a heavy financial risk-taking, admits the CEO of PNG Jari Salonen.
– The budget is around 100,000 euros, of which the goal was to cover two-thirds with partnerships and the rest with ticket sales, but now the balance seems to tilt more in the direction of partnerships, Salonen said on Wednesday a few hours before the start of the event.
About 3,600 tickets had been sold. According to the managing director, an audience of about 4,000 people would be good news for the organizers and would encourage them to continue the tradition. No entry fee is charged for juniors of Turku athletics clubs.
Almost 10,000 euros
For the main star, Murro, who has already jumped 475 and 481 during this administration, the invitational competition also opens up a financially pleasing prospect. Salonen says that if all the conditions, i.e. a win and a sufficiently hard winning result, are met, Murro’s income from the jumping night in his hometown can be almost 10,000 euros.
– It requires Wilma to be completely successful. There is no such thing in Finnish athletics Tero Pitkämäki and Antti Ruuskanen and before them Arsi Harjun paid. Wilma has of course deserved everything in that scenario, without her this event wouldn’t even have started to be built, says Salonen.
Athlete budget 30,000 euros
The managing director states that, in addition to the jumping star of his own village, a traditional, attractive and compact indoor athletics sport was also needed, which is exactly what pole vaulting is.
For example, dominant galas have been built abroad Armand I would double plant around Sweden, Renaud Lavillenien in France and Sergei Bubkan in Ukraine.
The athlete budget for Arena Night is around 30,000 euros. For comparison, the budget of Paavo Nurmi Games in June is about 800,000 euros and the athlete budget is about 450,000 euros.
– That 30,000 euros is roughly the amount that organizing one sport in PNG costs in total, states Jari Salonen.
He started feeling out Murro’s desire to work together already after the European Championship gold in München in 2022. The purpose was then to organize a jumping evening in the Arena, the other main star of which would have been a silver 3-jump in München Kristiina Mäkelä. The schedule turned out to be too demanding then.