If you are a Singapore Sports Hub official, it seems like the grass is greener just about anywhere else than in their own National Stadium.
The patchy and sandy pitch used for the friendly between Japan and Brazil on Oct. 14 has become the butt of jokes at home. It made news abroad. It also got the Singapore Sports Hub a stern rebuke from one of its own partners, the country's national sports board Sport Singapore.
The breathtaking skills of captain and star forward Neymar thrilled more than 51,000 fans who watched Brazil's 4-0 win. But the cheers did not last very long, as Sport Singapore issued a sharply-worded statement regarding the sorry state of the pitch soon after the final whistle was blown by the referee.
Many questions will be asked about how the ball was dropped on this one. Were enough studies done to understand how the stadium's dome-shaped roof might affect the amount of sunlight received by the pitch?
The management of the Sports Hub Private Limited (SHPL) -- conceptualised as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) -- knew there were delays in stadium construction. They had seen that the pitch was below par for the stadium's first event -- a rugby tournament -- in June. Therefore, were SHPL overly ambitious in lining up a string of high-profile events so soon after the launch in June?
The pitch saga should prompt those responsible to dig deep and address the core issues that fall under the PPP venture. Singapore's public transport sector could be a good case study. There has been a spate of breakdowns that have sullied the public transport system's reputation for reliability. Consequently, there have been opinions from some quarters that commercial concerns would take precedence over technical excellence when public services are outsourced to entities driven purely by profits.
In case of the Sports Hub PPP model, SHPL funded the construction of the $1.33 billion (Singapore dollars) project. In return, SHPL got the rights to manage and run the project for 25 years while receiving an annual payment from the Singapore Government.
The basic premise of any PPP is that the venture has to be commercially sound. This gives rise to an inherent tension between wanting the Sports Hub to be a place for everyone -- as the old National Stadium was -- while also seeking to establish the hub as a key player in the global sports and entertainment business.
It is therefore imperative that both the SPHL and Sport Singapore, and perhaps the entire nation, decide just what they expect of the Sports Hub. Should it aim to maximise the number of events hosted -- ranging from concerts to sporting events -- with an eye clearly on the bottom line? Or is it first a public venue, one which must cater to the interests of the nation and host the national team's football matches even if only a fifth of the arena is filled?
Any collaborative venture was always going to be tricky. But greater clarity will now be all the more critical. In response to Sport Singapore's criticism, the Chief Operating Officer of SHPL, Oon Jin Teik, said that rather than slugging it out in public, partners "should be working together". Getting the partners aligned will be crucial to tackle future issues.
Improving the condition of the pitch may be the most urgent goal right now, but it may be worth looking down the road to see how the PPP can last the 25-year distance. Two years ago, SHPL had solicited sponsorship for awarding naming rights to the entire Sports Hub, only to be told that it was never an option. And now comes the public war of words between partners in the venture following the high-profile international friendly.
Singapore's new sporting hub was meant to be a source of national pride and joy, reinforcing the country's reputation as a place where things work and projects are delivered as promised. Hence the dismay that Singapore Sports Hub officials are now left staring at their stadium's patchy pitch, literally watching the green grass grow.
This article first appeared in The Straits Times in Singapore.